While walking the Southern Upland Way, I came across a seemingly abandoned arch on the top of Benbrack (during day 4 of the walk so I feared I was hallucinating from the exertion of walking).

Quite a while later it all clicked into place – it was better signposted from a road than approaching by walking!

Striding Arches is an artist-led project ‘which celebrates and interprets a little known area of Dumfries & Galloway in south-west Scotland’. Andy Goldsworthy’s red sandstone arches ‘stride’ around a natural amphitheatre deep in the Southern Uplands.

The Arches are formed from 31 hand-dressed blocks of red sandstone from a nearby quarry, each arch stands just under four metres high, with a span of seven metres, weighing approximately 27 tons, and is totally self-supporting.

So that explains it!  Glad I didn’t have to carry a piece up there.

If you are wanting a more sociable time then either chose a different National Trail, or complete the Southern Upland Way going east to west – and you might well meet one or two people each day walking the other way.

While there is quite a bit of plantation forest walking, and some road walking (but on very quiet lanes), the Southern Upland Way takes in some wonderful scenery with magnificent views. There are some long challenging days of walking, which might well deter many people, though with vehicle support or using some of the bothies the route can easily be broken down into manageable chunks.

If I had been sensible I would have planned to use the numerous bothies (there are 5) to split up some of the longer days. Undertaking the whole route in 11 days was probably too little time, spending a couple more days completing it would have made it much more manageable.

The route is very well signposted, the best I have walked by far, and there are just enough people walking the route to define a reasonably clear line in the grass ahead (though thankfully not too many that the path gets churned up or any boggy bit become a quagmire).

The remnants of the Waymerks Project (warning spoilers) added another dimension to the long days of walking, and the various art installations along the route, while not all to my taste, did provide bold statements. The most challenging items however were the various standing stones, cairns and memorials to darker times in Scottish history, not only did these provide a haunting connection with the past they helped describe a very different landscape.

I would highly recommend the Southern Upland Way, and if you have already walked some of the more popular long distance walks/trails I suggest you add it to your list soonest.

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More photos (from all the days of walking) can be found in the photo gallery.

It ran for a number of years, though the project has now finished (and no new merks are going to be minted) some kists remain, and a couple had merks when I completed the walk.

I found most of the kists, though some were only remains…

Each kist and merk celebrates the heritage of the place in which is it hidden. All the merks were minted by hand from lead and copper, though it was said that some were minted in gold or silver.

The kists were all very close to the path, each one had a different design, and though never completely buried they are cleverly disguised and quite easy to miss (I did find almost all of them – though some were only remains and not worth a picture, or it was too wet to get the camera out). You did get some assistance, the word ULTREIA on waymark post meant a kist was nearby.

I met one of the Southern Upland Way Rangers on my travels, and he said that hopefully something will be developed soon to replace the waymerks. I hope it does as it really added to the experience of the walk.

On therteen hills stand therteen kists
In therteen kists sit hoards o’ merks
From ilka kist tak ane awa’
Bear on the merk, wha’ kens ha’ far

[View with PicLens]

The path twisted and turned its way through farmland, then moorland, on its way to Abbey St Bathans and another suspension bridge over a river. It then continued passing several large farms until it reached the A1 and the East Coast Mainline Railway which both snaked through a deep valley. After crossing both it was then a long slow walk up hill through the final stretch of plantation forest before I caught my first glimpse of the North Sea.

The views then opened out and I could see the finish in the valley below. The path makes an aborted attempt to reach the sea at Pease Bay (with its caravan park), and then heads for the clifftops above Cove Harbour – which is perhaps spiritually the end of the walk even if it is not the official one.

A short detour took me down to the lane to Cove Harbour, where you can then walk through a tunnel built by the Victorians to reach the small beach and southern harbour wall. It is here that I left the stone so carefully selected and carried all the way from Portpatrick.

Having spent some time gazing out to sea I headed back to the path and completed the short distance into the small village of Cockburnspath, and to wait of the bus.

I had managed to complete the Southern Upland Way, all 212 miles of it, in 11 days!

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More photos (from all the days of walking) can be found in the photo gallery.

The route was very twisting and turning on leaving Lauder, the straight Roman Roads of yesterday seem to have vanished. The views back towards Thirlstone Castle were also a bit disappointing due to the trees that surrounded it, so I turned to the east and headed uphill amongst the pasture and small patches of woodland.

To the south the sky looked blue with a few ranks of fluffy white clouds stretching out into the distance. Unfortunately overhead and to the east the sky was slate grey and occasional heavy drops of rain were getting more frequent.

Heading out onto the moorland I could see the Twinlaw Cairns in the distance, though the path seemed to loop round to the north rather than taking the more direct route. I was about halfway to the cairns when the weather really closed in and I took shelter in a very conveniently located barn for a while.

When I got to the cairns they had neat little seats built into them, so I rested a while and took in the view of the vale below with its fields and patchwork of small woodlands and plantations.

There was another conveniently located bench at the far end of the reservoir where I whiled away a few minutes before heading off to the small village of Longformacus and getting a lift to Duns to find the B&B.

Just one more day to go…

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More photos (from all the days of walking) can be found in the photo gallery.

As I left the B&B in Melrose I had a brief thought of rejoining the Southern Upland Way here, but as the sky was brightening fast I caught the bus back to Galashiels. After a few twists and turns through the streets of the town I was back on track and heading around the town and back to Melrose.

I was disappointed that the path bypassed the centre of Melrose by following the river, and while it took a bit of time to get to the bridge I then found myself almost double-backing but on the other bank for almost a mile before turning away from the river and heading up hill.

The path climbed up hill into rolling pastureland, with fields stretching out into the distance along the line of the old Roman Road that the path follows here.

The route then turns off the line of the Roman Road to head down into Lauder, where I was finishing for the day.

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Route

More photos (from all the days of walking) can be found in the photo gallery.

The first bit of walking was really easy along the edge of the loch, and half way along and I was soon passing an interesting sculpture – Shinglehook.

Leaving the loch behind me it was then up and over the hills to Traquair, passing ruined towers of ancient villages. Then after the summit of Blake Muir it was downhill all the way to Traquair village.

I had made good time, but not good enough to make it to the tearoom of Traquair House (the oldest continuously occupied castle in the British Isles, which I suspect means they do good tea and cakes having had all the time to practice), so I sat on a bench in the outskirts of the village in readiness for the second half of the walk…

The signpost helpfully declared 20km to St Mary’s Loch and 21km to Galashiels, but what it failed to mention was the route to St Mary’s Lock is pretty flat, whereas several 500+ metre hills stood between Traquair and Galashiels.

I quick stop off at the bothy above Traquair was more symbolic than anything, as I had stopped at all of the others I had come across, so I was soon on my way again up to the top of Minch Moor and the Resolution Point sculpture (formed of circles of cut heather).

In the distance I could see the Three Brethren cairns, but it would be a while before I would reach them, and it was such a shame to get there to find a fence ran between them.

I then had to negotiate a stretch of plantation forest, and follow the diversions, but at least I was heading gently downhill on good tracks. It was then over the River Tweed where the canoeists were having fun with the increased water levels due to the recent rain – it did look fun, and perhaps a touch drier than walking.

I then realised that the path headed uphill again, and I was still 4 miles from Galashiels. I eventually made it to the top of a hill overlooking the town, and paused for a short while before heading down into the town to find a taxi to take me to Melrose where the B&B was. You would have thought Galashiels would have accommodation, though I was particularly pleased with the high class facilities of Melrose once I got there.

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Route

More photos (from all the days of walking) can be found in the photo gallery.

The clouds that looked threatening overhead had thankfully continued on their way, as I had headed in the other direction, it was good to see the sky was brightening up. While I continued along the lower route it did not mean that it did not head up hill, and it had taken some time to reach the far edge of the forest.

I finally reached the bottom of the crags of Cape Fell, and looking back I as rather pleased not to have taken the higher route, and I could see the path descending via a series of zigzags on Croft Head.

From here the path stuck close to the valley bottom, and after a short stretch of moorland and then forest I could see the Over Phawhope Bothy below. It was good to have a sit down again in a bothy and read another visitors book.

There was then a good 6 miles of road walking, and very tiring it was following the Ettrick River. By the time I got to the style which took the path up the valley side, and then down towards the loch, my feet were aching badly so I stopped and let them air and dry out in the weak afternoon sun.

There were still almost 5 miles to go before I reached Tibbie Shiels Inn, but there were quite a few hills to head over and around. Each time I made it to the top of a hill I hoped to see the 2 lochs spread out in the distance, each time I was disappointed and it seems the classic view of the lochs used for the cover of the guidebook must have been taken a few hill tops away.

It was a little while but I finally joined up with the old drove road that would take me down the last hill and to the shore of the loch. It was just a question of whether I would get there before the rain started from the gathering back clouds building up behind me. It was about a draw, as I was only slightly damp as I reached the B&B.

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More photos (from all the days of walking) can be found in the photo gallery.

The first objective was to make it to the ‘Golf Ball’ radar station at the top of Lowther Hill (the highest point on the walk at 725 metres), but as I made my way over the first ridge it was nowhere to be seen, shrouded in low cloud which was clinging to the tops of the hills on the route ahead.

I eventually made it to the top, and as the cloud swirled around I did catch one glimpse of the radar station. It was not until late afternoon I would get a good view of it as it still remained on the horizon before the descent into Moffat. Though it looked like elsewhere they were having good weather.

After Lowther Hill there were some of the sharpest ascents and descents up and down Comb Head and Lamb Hill. I was ruing the decision not to make use of vehicle support again – which meant I could have done this 5 mile section yesterday, instead of spending the afternoon in the museum tearoom. It was too late to change my mind and I made sure I had a good sit down on a style near Portrail Water, which by my reckoning is about halfway on the whole Southern Upland Way.

On my way over to Daer Reservoir I met 3 other walkers!! It was nice to be able to pass the time of day with them; they were walking locally but from their knowledge they must have walked much of the Southern Upland Way over the years.

Today was the first day the route took the hills head on, and it was tough going. After the hills this morning I had quite enjoyed the flatter stage to the dam, but now the route seemed to go out of its way to loop round to take in an extra ridge before diving down into thick plantation forest.

To break the monotony of the plantation, as the path followed the line of a gas pipeline, I diverted off route for half an hour or so to take a break at the Brattleburn Bothy, and it was very good to let my feet get a little air.

Having then made it down to Beattock the way into Moffat, and the hotel for the night, was not great despite the promises made by a glorious rainbow – the route went over the mainline railway, under the M74, and along the busy main road for a mile or so. To make matters worse it was now raining heavily.

Tomorrow would bring a shorter day (only 20 miles!), fingers crossed it would be a little drier.

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Route

More photos (from all the days of walking) can be found in the photo gallery.

After a quick trip to the ruins of Sanquhar Castle (unfortunately surrounded by a high fence with signs warning of dangerous building, though it hardly seemed fair to cage it in) and Britain’s oldest Post Office (which is still operational), it was just after 11am before I really got going and headed out of town.

At last I actually saw some forestry operations on the go, after seeing umpteen warning notices on the previous days, as I passed by a small plantation on my way up to the first small hill of the day.

As I made it to the top of the hill it started to drizzle, though the rain did clear up by the time I had made it to the top of the second hill (Glengaber Hill) and I had a good first view of Wanlockhead and the scars and remnants of the lead mines.

It seemed a steeper descent than the ascent and I was quickly down by the stream that ran through the valley, which was pleasant company on the walk up to the village at the head of the valley.

While I had dawdled for most of the way it had only taken a couple of hours to get to Wanlockhead, so after a brief pit stop to freshen up at the B&B I headed down to the mining museum (and its tearoom).

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Route

More photos (from all the days of walking) can be found in the photo gallery.