Out For A Wander

A dull start to the day but it promises to brighten up

We head out of the town over the bridge over the Tweed by the Toll House and make for the Yarrow Valley

toward St Mary's Loch, Tweedsmuir and on to Peebles

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Upstream, River Tweed at Innerleithen

Looking towards Traquair

Downstream
toward Selkirk
and on to the sea

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St Mary's Loch
Local legend has it that the loch has no bottom and is reputed to be the coldest loch in Scotland

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The Loch of the Lowes

is just upstream of St Mary's and is separated by a strip of land where the Tibbie Shiels Inn sits

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Tibbie(Isabella) Shiel was born in Ettrick, the daughter of Mary and Walter Shiel. After minimal education she earned a living working on local farms, including for a time working for the parents of James Hogg, later to become a renowned poet and author. In 1806 she married Robert Richardson, a molecatcher. In 1823 they moved with their three sons and three daughters to St Mary's Cottage, rented from the local laird Lord Napier on land overlooking the southern end of St Mary's Loch.

After her husband died in 1824, Tibbie supported herself and her six children by taking in lodgers: anything up to 35 at a time, although there were only 13 guest beds. Tibbie Shiel's Inn soon established itself as a local institution, a process assisted by the patronage of writers like James Hogg and Sir Walter Scott.

It would seem that the Inn is still packing them in. You can stay in this Tipi for the princely sum of £60 a night but I think if you bring your own tent it could be a little bit cheaper

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On the hillside to the west of the road overlooking the narrow piece of land that separates

the two lochs stands the imposing James Hogg Monument.

James Hogg lived from 1770 to 21 November 1835. Commonly referred to as The Ettrick Shepherd, he was a poet and novelist who wrote in both Scots and English and who became one of the most unlikely literary figures ever to emerge from Scotland.

A little more about James Hogg

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/u ... shogg.html

We leave the Yarrow valley by St Mary's and head into the Tweedsmuir Hills

Onward & Upwards

The climb takes us to Meggat Resevoir.Supplying up to 100 million litres (22 million gallons) of water daily, it takes 18 hours for this water to pass through 28-mile (45-km) long underground pipes, propelled only by gravity, to reach water treatment works in and around Edinburgh.

Buildings, including an old ruin, farms and houses were all moved above the proposed new reservoir level, and a large earthfill dam was constructed before the valley was flooded. Located at the eastern end of the reservoir, this embankment comprises a waterproof concrete core, surrounded by gravel and faced by grass-covered terraces.

Looking back from the top of the dam in the distance is St Mary's Loch

Another climb again to Talla Reservoir. From the start at St Mary's it has all been on good single track road with ample passing places but the further past Meggat one goes the more the condition of the road decreases. OH DEAR!!! I do hope we don't meet any oncoming cars

Talla reservoir was built in the late 19th century (completed 1899) to supply Edinburgh with water.The road winds up through the Tweedsmuir hills and then quite a hair raising drop to the road alongside the water. Down into Tweedsmuir and it's good to get back onto "Proper Roads"even though they are narrow and winding

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Back through Peebles and past the Tweedgreen

And Home

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