(This is the second of three blog entries on our recent walking trip to the Scottish Borders.)Our recent walking trip in the Scottish Borders gave us a good opportunity to see several Borders towns up close. We started in Jedburgh, which is only 10 miles from the English border. Since Jedburgh served as the start and end of our journey, we didn't end up spending much time there. From our photos, you can see the ruins of the Jedburgh Abbey.
Hawick was a town that felt like it had a little rougher edge to it. I don't know what it was exactly, perhaps the abundance of ne'er-do-well's around town, or that a number of places looked to be permanently closed. Or maybe that the Scottish pronounciation of the town name sounds like one is 'horking a loogie.' It did seem to have a lot of woolen mills though. On the way to Hawick, we walked through Denholm, where patrons at the local watering hole seemed surprised to see tourists. They were friendly enough though and it seemed like a nice town.
Selkirk looked a lot like some of the other towns, except that there seemed to be less to do and see. It also seems to have a big wool reputation. It's a strange thing though: while we've seen lots of sheep, and wool clothing production here, there doesn't seem to be a lot of local wool for sale. Melrose was similar to Selkirk, except that there was more to see. The downside was that there were also more tourists. We had visited Melrose previously as part of an earlier Borders vacation.
To give ourselves a short day on our way from Melrose we slept over in the village of St Boswells, not much to say about it. Other than a great looking independent bookstore with a cafe (unfortunately we didn't see it until after hours), there's not really much to St. Boswell's.
The highlight of our trip was Kelso. A busy and bustling town with lots of tourists but with lots of locals as well. The people in Kelso were also by far the friendliest, and that's saying a lot 'cause Borders folk are friendly. For me (AJW), Kelso had just about everything a town needs to have in the way of services: an organic vegetarian cafe that sells organic cotton clothing, a health food store that sells gluten-free food that I haven't even seen in Edinburgh, a library with a quiet outdoor courtyard where you can go and read in the sunshine, and a great independent bookstore, for Mike there were also lots of pubs with cask ales. Unfortunately, Kelso is a two-hour bus ride from Edinburgh, the closest major place of employment, so not really the best location in that respect.
Highlights of our trip, from the town side:
- Most picturesque spot: Dryburgh Abbey
- Best meal: a tie between The George and Abbotsford Hotel in Melrose, and the Queen's Head Hotel Restaurant in Kelso
- Best historical site: Abbotsford House, which still houses the intact library of Sir Walter Scott, a collection that Giles would be proud to consult
- Best B and B: hands down the Edenbank House outside of Kelso, this was luxury accomodation in an old Victorian mansion.
- Best beer (and cider): also The George and Abbotsford Hotel
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