Melrose and the Eildon Hills

An exploration around Sir Walter Scott's country

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Statistics and Files
Start: Melrose Distance: 4.7 miles (7.5 km) Climbing: 495 metres
Grid Ref: NT 54776 33993 Time: 2-3 hours Rating: Moderate
GPX Route File Google Earth File About Melrose
Statistics
Start: Melrose Distance: 4.7 miles (7.5 km)
Climbing: 495 metres Grid Ref: NT 54776 33993
Time: 2-3 hours Rating: Moderate
GPX Route File Google Earth File
Ordnance Survey Explorer Map (1:25,000)

The Walk: This walk involves a moderate hill climb to the summit of the Eildon Hill's most prominent Viewpoint in the central part of the Tweed Valley. There are good views of Melrose and the River Tweed as you climb the hill and from the summit there is a superb panorama on a clear day. The return journey leads around the slopes of the hill with constantly changing views of the surrounding countryside. The triple peaks of the heather clad Eildon Hills, known to the romans as Trimontium, dominate Melrose and the Tweed Valley. According to legend there was once just a single cone on the hill and was supposed to be split into three by a demon belonging to the medieval wizard Michael Scott. Geologists prefer a more prosaic explanation; the hills are the remains of a mass of volcanic lava, which intrude into the surrounding sandstone underground and is exposed at the surface as the result of millions of years of erosion

River Tweed and Eildon HillsRiver Tweed and Eildon Hills
Waypost on the Eildon HillsWaypost on the Eildon Hills

The walk starts opposite the entrance of Melrose Abbey, the greatest of the border abbeys, the ruins of which are still impressive. As well as lying at the heart of romantic Scott country, the abbey church is the last resting place of the heart of Robert the Bruce. The walk continues through the market place of Melrose with its 16th century mercat cross. Halfway up the climb to the saddle between Eildon Mid Hill and Eildon Hill North you can see the remains of an old quarry with the quaint name of Bourjo. Stone from the quarry can be found in some 15th century abbey reconstruction and in some of the older and grander buildings in Melrose.

Trig point, Eildon Mid HillTrig point, Eildon Mid Hill
Woodland path, Eildon Hill NorthWoodland path, Eildon Hill North

As you make the final climb to the summit of Eildon Hill North you pass the ramparts of an iron age hillfort. The fort was a major tribal capital belonging to people known as the Selgovae. Later there was a roman signal station on the hill. From the hilltops the walk returns to Melrose, first by a circumnavigation of the upper slopes along a good woodland path around the south side and east side, finally back to north-side and another grandstand view of the Tweed and Melrose before descending back the way you came.


Acknowledgments: Text derived from the Out and Out Series; Discovering the Countryside on Foot.


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