Wednesday 7th February 2024

Stunning sunshine and blue skies meant Max’s top was down all the way to Lauder. We parked easily in the centre of town. This was going to be a good day. We walked paths alongside the magnificent Thirlstane castle, its turrets gleaming in the sunshine. The first mile or so was uphill and when we joined the southern upland way it carried on going uphill! Fortunately it was a steady climb of approx 7miles until we reached the open Moor. Stunning is the only word for the panoramic views that we had from the ridge and was even more amazing when we reached Dabshead Hill summit.

It was warm in the sunshine all day and coffee and lunch break were enjoyable.

It was down hill all the way from here although we had to passed through forests, walked over bridges and crossed open Moor. At only one point we had to scramble through a wood with no path. All the paths were well marked, wide and good for walking. The temperature dropped to about 1 degree but because of the sunshine and the uphill walking we were never cold. The route we took was supposedly 12 miles but we actually walked 14. We were very pleased with ourselves.