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Step 5 - Hawick to Haltwhistle

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Our longest walk to date; 5 days. Reaching England felt like a significant milestone, our first border crossed. We had planned to walk for 6 days in a relaxed fashion but with the advance of Storm Agnes we spent our first night holed up in a basement hotel room in Hawick, waiting out the weather.  Next day we set off early. It was a relief to get out of town and into the hills and the expansive green. The sun was trying to shine and we made good progress until our path was barred by a locked, barbed wire-covered gate. Having hurled our packs, the dog and ourselves over an adjacent bit of spiky fencing, we had to pick our way over a 10ft deep heap of rotting hay bales which, disconcertingly, gave way with every step. Might have made a good scene in an Indiana Jones film (or not!) The path had been commandeered by local stables and we saw a horse going round and round in a horse walker (weird concept) and further on gave up trying to get through their gates, piles of asbestos and electri
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Step 4 - Selkirk to Hawick

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This was a relatively straightforward leg, a sunny day's walk in June with our pals, Mitch and Jo, and RubyDog, MacDog and DuffyDog, taking in the wildflowers, lunching in the shade of a tree and inspecting ourselves thoroughly for ticks afterwards. This is one of the nasty hazards of our walking trips though I do take some pleasure from picking them off Duffy in the days following our journeys.                                                                           Final destination - Hawick town centre. Next leg will be Hawick to Haltwhistle and crossing the border into England!
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Step 3 - Peebles to Selkirk

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  Le packing. Sleeping bag Sleep mat Waterproof jacket Thin puffer jacket Two sets of thermals 2 spare pants and 2 walking socks Crocs Hat Scarf Gloves Fingerless gloves Walking sticks Ground sheet Tent pegs Dog food Dog treats 2 small bags nuts Camping bowl Keep cup Spork I.75l of water Sun lotion  Smidge Toiletries- toothbrush, toothpaste, face wipes, small broken deodorant crystal, paracetamol, antihistamine, interdental toothbrushes, lip salve Sunglasses  Phone Pillow case Banana in banana holder Head torch Dog bowl Miniature pot of honey Teabags  Lunch  I was travelling light. Robert takes up the heavier load; he needs a handicap in order to slow him down to my pace. So in addition he was carrying, Phone charger Primus  Loo roll  3 pans Metal thing for shielding the stove Porridge  Tent More water Coffee Porridge Pasta Pesto Coffee Coffee press Coffee mate Mini grater Stirring implement On the 20th April we drove to Peebles, dropping Mojo off at Nine Mile Burn en route. At
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