21. Melrose

start: Melrose
distance: 20 miles
OS map: 73

Start in the main square and go N past the abbey on your right and a motor museum on your left. Turn left at a bend where the main road goes right and a couple of hundred yards brings you to the 'chain bridge'. Over the bridge and turn L following a path along the river bank - this is part of the Southern Upland Way and should be signposted. At the road turn L and, at the top of a slight rise, R again following the Southern Upland Way. This track can be fairly rough in parts but it's well signed. We're aiming for a crossroads at Bluecairn (532 423). Go L here and fly down the hill towards another crossroads at Threepwood (507 422). Turn L. Downhill, cross a bridge over a stream and after a couple of hundred metres turn L. This road isn't signposted but it heads upwards for a while then a long downhill stretch to the main A7 at Buckholm. Go L and follow this into Galashiels. Allow me to put in a plug for my local: you'll pass the Ladhope Inn on the R just before you come to the town centre - real ales always on tap.

The aim now is to follow the old railway track back to Melrose. As you come into Galashiels and meet the one-way system you'll see a large brick wall on your left - this is the old railway. Go along the one-way for a few yards and you can cut up to the L to join it. Another couple of hundred metres and it stops at a road but go straight on under the old railway bridge. Just at the end of a car park on the R you can pick up the old rail track again. Where it meets, and crosses, a road it becomes part of the Tweed Cycleway. This comes out at a large roundabout. Take the exit for the Borders Hospital and use the cycle path on the R of the road. At the entrance to the hospital there's an underpass, turn R as you emerge from it on the other side of the road and follow this path which, again, will join up with the disused rail track and, in fact, bring you to the old station in Melrose.

jb, galashiels

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