Walk 277 Peebles - Haystoun Cademuir Circle - July 2023

Having dodged the rain on the way to Peebles a round dozen Strollers met for a walk from Kingsmeadows car park to Haystoun estate and Cademuir Forest. Memories of Kingsmeadows House and cottages, built in 1795 by Sir John Hay, are always recalled when we meet here.

As well as being a storage place for files the house and cottages were used as holiday lets for the staff of SL and a lot of attendees had fond recollections of times they spent there.

Going through Victoria Park we made our way up Glen Road to Gypsy Glen. This is the route the cattle drovers used on their way from Crieff and West Linton to the English markets. Here we turned into the grounds of Haystoun Estate and went towards Haystoun House which was the home of the Hay family who built Kingsmeadows.

From here we turned and went up the road to Cademuir forest, with a few complaints about the ‘slight’ slope that had been mentioned. We stopped for lunch here and admired the views over the rolling hills. Following the path, we exited the forest above Tantah House named after a village in Egypt by its original owner, James Inglis, to remember time he spent there.

Our exit from the forest was just in time to get a bit wet in a shower which quickly passed and we dried out as we walked down Edderstone Road to join the Tweed and follow the path back to the car park. 

Our thanks to Drew for the walk if not for the ‘slope’ and slight shower.

Outing to Perth Races 6 July 2023

Thirty one members met on a windy Regent Terrace for our third outing to Perth Races. We picked up another four in Inverkeithing. Dave, our driver, hadn’t been there before so didn’t come off at the ‘Ferrytoll junction which meant a slight detour into the car park and turning circle at the station as we entered from the Rosyth/Dalgety Bay junction.

Our coffee stop was at Dobbies in Dunfermline where we collected another member.  As the gates to Perth Racecourse didn’t open until 1230, we had a bit longer there. Your Chairman can definitely count but thought that the two latecomers were Ronnie and Isabel by mistake. Sorry!

Since our last visit, entry to the Racecourse has gone paperless as Joan and I discovered when we went to have the tickets printed. On the way back to the coach, we met up with our final two members. We filed in one by one and yours truly felt like the schoolmarm keeping an eye on our pupils.

The forecast rain arrived but it didn’t spoil our enjoyment of the five races which we saw. Hopefully most of us made a little money.

High tea was in the very popular Royal George Hotel in Perth, famous for its meringues. Unfortunately, coaches now have to park on North Inch so driver Dave wasn’t able to join us for tea. It’s a 20 minute walk in the rain.

We left in reasonable time so were back at Waterloo Place at 8pm. Dave was good enough to drop one of our number off in Pathhead.