Borders Abbey Way: Hawick to Melrose (Day 4)

Waking after a great night’s sleep (the best this week), I felt a little trepidation at the prospect of the day ahead. On one hand I was optimistic, today would see me complete the loop. On the other, the distance was daunting – 23 miles, furthest I’ll have gone in quite some time!

Staying in the centre of Hawick – I’d thoroughly recommend The Bank Guest House – I felt it would be prudent to walk to the start of my route for today with the big distance ahead. Had I known how much of it would be a challenge to run I may have just run from the start but hindsight’s a great thing.

Leaving Hawick

It turns out that leaving Hawick on the Borders Abbey Way involves going up, up some more, and then up again. There was actually a fair bit of ascent in the day overall.

However, what goes up must come down and when it did, it was fun! Initial running was on minor roads.

The Fun Starts

It wasn’t too long before the post pointed me off road. This saw me on a track to begin, then onto the trademark grassy path that I’ve become so familiar with over the last few days. Before long I had the familiar squelchy feet feeling too. That’s one thing I won’t miss!

Following this, there was some lovely soft track to run on, a real joy, before hitting the grass again.

Once again, there followed a great descent, this time having passed through a gate. By this point I’d settled into the day and was thoroughly loving life, reflecting on how fortunate I am to have these opportunities.

So happy was I on reaching the minor road that I just kept on running. I’d read the route guide last night and recalled that I’d be on the golf course at some point. Thus, on realising I’d passed the aforementioned golf course completely, I checked the Walk Highlands app to find that yes, I’d overshot the mark and a u-turn was required.

Back to the point where I should have turned (not far off the bottom of the fun hill), I entered the grassy field as directed.

Anyone For Golf?

Bruce and Dad would be proud of me for my model conduct on the golf course. Having initially gone the wrong way, I corrected myself, then paused to allow the golfers to play away from me.

I crossed a fairway, ran around the green and even waited for people to play their shots from the tee, the fairway or greens. I took some photos of the course for the aforementioned men. There was even some language similar to what I’ve heard from Bob McIntyre (not from me, I hasten to add).

Blethers

I left the golf course by climbing over a stile, heading onto a grassy path once again.

This saw me going up for a bit and onto another minor road. At the top, just over a cattle grid, I met a guy walking the opposite direction. We stopped and had a good blether about our travels and the long distance trails that we’d done. Even the local clegs tried to join in the conversation; I think they were a bit offended as neither of us took them on!

More Descent

I’d gone up and now it was time to go down once again. This led across grass, some nice track and over another stile. Again, there were plenty of stile crossings today.

The next field saw me moving pretty quickly – the sign said there was a bull! Not a fan of running through lumpy, bumpy grassy fields, it’s amazing how the prospect of a bull encourages movement.

There was then a horrible muddy section which I did my best to skirt around.

An even more muddy section followed after crossing another stile into a field and I clung to the fence avoiding the barbed wire and nettles while attempting to get through with dry feet.

Then there were more bulls! Their field was disgusting with a water trough running down onto the path which made the entrance to the field ridiculously muddy. I tried to move as quickly as possible without running as the young bulls were quite inquisitive, looking to see who was passing through. I’m guessing that because they didn’t have a warning sign they’d be harmless but didn’t want to find out. Once at a safe distance I took a picture.

Uphill to Selkirk

Onto the track again, it was then uphill to Selkirk. Although still a long way to go, I felt like I’d broken the back of the day as it was over halfway. I took advantage of the opportunity to have a break, stopping in one of the local cafes for a scone and lemonade.

Seated in the rear of the cafe to avoid the wasp in the brightly lit window, I made the most of there being nobody else there and changed my socks. Putting on not only clean, dry socks, but Merino socks, was absolute bliss! It felt so good! The alarming thing was how heavy my trainers felt! No wonder I’ve struggled to run; they’ve soaked up a lot!

Back to Melrose: Closing the Loop

As I’m sure will come as no surprise, I had to go uphill to leave Selkirk!

Up, up, up, across a busy road, across and onto a minor road and further descent once onto a track again.

I felt pretty contented on this stage of the way, secure in the knowledge that I would finish – I hadn’t taken the bus – and trying to keep myself going, running when I could, walking when running wasn’t a realistic or productive option.

There were some lovely (and frequent) benches. I resisted the urge that I so desperately felt to sit on them as if I’d sat down I just might have stayed there! The sun was out and it would have been such a joy just to nod off!

There were more fields and yet more bulls, much to my delight!

Then I hit the minor roads again. I met a couple of mountain bikers at the top of one hill and chatted to them for quite a while. The roads were undulating but one thing was certain, I was getting closer to Melrose with every step. That kept me going even though I was moving slowly.

On dropping down onto another road, it was apparent that there was only a parkun to go! This is always cause for celebration.

Across the road, it was then a case of following the river and the paths in various forms that presented. I tried my best to keep running for these last few miles, focused on the end goal.

Finally Melrose was in sight. The route continued along the river, finishing by the Abbey.

Rewards

That was a tough day! Although slow and broken up, the mileage was high and I was delighted to find myself in a decent shower before a dinner of carbs! Mission accomplished! I hope you’ve enjoyed the journey with me. Cheers!