Fifteen Strollers met at the Kingsmeadows
Road car park in Peebles to walk round Cademuir Hill and part of the John
Buchan Way.
John Buchan had many associations with the
Peebles area and most people would remember him for “The Thirty-Nine Steps.” as
well as being Governor General of Canada.
The group made their way up to Tantah farm
where the path then went to the right along the side of Cademuir Hill. It was
quite muddy at this point and the co-ordinator was worried that, with the
amount of rain that had fallen over the previous few days, areas
of the path might prove difficult to circumnavigate. He opted to go into
Cademuir Wood and follow the path up to forest path up to Cademuir Hill top.
The paths underfoot were a lot better going if not at the level 3 that had been
on the details of the walk! Someone thought it reminded them of their trek up
Mach Picchu, others just asked for oxygen masks.
The group had to take avoiding action for a
frog that was hogging the pathway and then met up with a very friendly collie
that wanted everyone to take a shot at throwing its ball for it to fetch back.
Finally reaching the top of the hill, the
views were tremendous and the path that they should have taken could be seen
far below in the distance! It was also a tad breezy at the top and the
Strollers huddled round the picnic table to keep from being blown over. It had
been warm coming through the trees but there was about a 15 degree drop in
temperature at the top of the hill.
From here they could look down on the hill
forts that are thought to date from the Iron Age, with the larger fort being
about the size of two football pitches and the smaller one about half a
football pitch.
The forest had been the hiding place of 2 German
air force pilots in the Second World War. They had bailed out in the area and
were only discovered due to the smoke from their fire. At some points the
Strollers thought they might have to be rescued but at least it was downhill
going back to the car park. A well-deserved coffee and lunch was the
reward for some of the Strollers after the walk.
Our thanks to Drew for arranging the walk and
hopefully it will be flatter in September!
