Wed 2nd June - Day 47, Melrose to Innerleithen (19 miles)

A leisurely start in the sun at 7:45. St Cuthberts Way ends here at Melrose but the Southern Upland Way also comes through here so I followed it.

It went alongside the River Tweed for a short while before taking to the hills on the south side of Galashiels.

Heading south-west up the first hill I stopped to chat with two ladies out for a walk in the opposite direction, they sent an email that night saying that shortly after I had left them they found a tin of sausages & beans on the path, thinking it was my dinner that had fallen out of my pack they tried to catch up with me but I was too far away!!

Coming down I crossed the Tweed again then went into Yair Hill Forest up to the Three Brethren. I had my lunch at these three cairns which were built in the 1500's by the lairds of Yair, Selkirk and Philiphaugh to mark the boundary of their land.

The clouds built up again but it stayed dry with sunny intervals as I walked up and down the rest of the tops along this line of hills before coming back down through Elibank and Traquair Forest to the B709 at Traquair.

I left the Way at this point and walked along the road to go to the campsite at Innerleithen.

This was another fine walk with good views all the time though my toe had been painful all day and my right knee is inflamed, I think I will have a short day tomorrow.

822 miles completed.