The Durham Cow's Southern Upland Way - Day Fifteen

With today being the first of the two wild-camps planned for the second half of our Southern Upland Way journey, neither of us fancied the thought of spending a night under canvas in anything like the downpour we experienced yesterday. So when the forecast suggested it might happen, we caved in and booked a flat in Lauder.

The ten miles between Melrose and Lauder would mean that the final two days would require a bit more effort than we'd planned. Along with the shortened distance the terrain itself would help ensure that today's would be one of the gentlest sections in the whole journey, which would certainly help my ankle which was aching a bit more than usual.

Most of the trail was over cultivated fields which, once we were on the plateau, offered extensive views towards the Lammermuir Hills where we'd be tomorrow. We were expecting it to be quick too as much of the route, that wasn't on road, would be on the Roman road of Dere Street, a wide, well-surfaced track running for quite a few kilometres almost exactly due north.

So, apart from my ankle, we were both fit and looking forward to what the day might bring.

0:00 Introduction
2:10 Melrose
3:03 River Tweed
5:36 Heading North
7:11 Dere Street
8:51 Fordswell
10:04 Lauderdale
15:03 Lauder
16:37 Map Summary