Last week, I (belatedly) saw Country Walking magazine's challenge to its readers to walk 1,000 miles in 2015, and quickly calculated that if I were to walk at least three miles nearly every day for the rest of the year, I could make it happen. I love to hike this beautiful countryside, but without a goal I tend to be erratic and sporadic (when I'd rather be epic, say, or euphoric).
So on Saturday evening I kicked off my official program with a four-and-a-half-mile jaunt in and around Coldstream. My aim was to explore the first few miles of the ten-mile path to Norham, it being another goal of mine to hike that stretch all in one go one of these days.
But something went awry, and I found myself following a tire track to nowhere, through an endless field of barley.
(Note to self: get a good map before charging off on an all-day walk.)
On Sunday afternoon, I headed to Norham -- not to walk the ten miles to Coldstream, mind, but to do a familiar three-mile circular route that I knew I could accomplish quickly enough to get the car home for the Man of Meetings.
The Tweed was sparkling in the sunshine...
The hawthorns were in full bloom...
And I paid for my haste by stepping into a hole and twisting my ankle. Fortunately, after I did a bit of hands-on healing and squished a comfrey leaf in my sock, I was almost as good as new, and able to stride onward.
(Are you concerned that I recklessly depleted southern Scotland's supply of comfrey leaves? Please don't be; there are large, robust plants as far as the eye can see.)
Yesterday's walk was actually a handful of sprints, in conjunction with a trip to Berwick to purchase laundry detergent and tortilla chips. It seemed like a good idea to stop en route to enjoy a pastoral scene I'd only glimpsed from the car...
But it soon became clear that it was a poopy obstacle course full of folk (the poop-makers, in fact) who were none too pleased to have my company.
So I continued on to Berwick, dividing my time among the town centre, the riverside and the beach. My camera battery gave up the ghost after just a few photos, but I do have this to offer (please note the awkwardness of the waste-removal truck driver catching me taking a selfie):
And that brings us to today, when the camera battery remained uncharged but I did indeed get in my three miles. Another river walk -- from Ladykirk almost to Milne Graden House -- with swans, ducks, a grey heron, fishing bothies, wildflowers (red campion, forget-me-nots, and the ever-present comfrey) and, of course, sheep.
Back tomorrow with more adventures...
