Scotland XVI: The Borders

Ok, final report from my trip, this one written from home... Sunday I drove from the lovely Lake District up to Selkirk in the Scottish Borders region. I spent two relatively lazy days here, and the only really touristy thing I did was to drive down to Hermitage Castle, a forbidding 14th century structure described by Radio Scotland as "the embodiment of the phrase 'sod off' in stone". It was central in the wars between Scotland and England and the longrunning Reiver conflicts of the late middle ages.

There's a tiny road leading from the A7 across some pretty wild landscape, with sheep and birds on all sides, including straight ahead. I had to stop several times to allow panicking sheep to calm down sufficiently to get on the side of the road instead of running around like headless chicken in the middle of it. I also encountered a large bird - probably a grouse - lying in the middle of the road. She slowly got up and jumped into the tall grass by the roadside, and I saw a couple of tiny, grey-brown balls of feather wobbling around in there. I didn't want to disturb them any further, so I resisted the urge to get out and take pics. Notch this one up as a rare victory for my better instincts.

The Hermitage is administered by Historic Scotland, so again I saved a few bucks on entry. Woo hoo!

No, that's not an entrance. It was, once upon a time, but it was sealed in the 16th century to protect the castle against artillery.





This little door is now the only entrance.





The interior. I'll say this in its favor: It was comfortably cool inside on an otherwise boiling summer day.





The surrounding area looks a bit windswept, but also picturesque.







Selkirk itself is a tiny place, with not much going on. It does have a very good Indian restaurant - I think it was called something like "taste of Spice", it's in the market square anyway. I recommend the duck. The hotel I stayed at was, much to my surprise, run by a Norwegian. The town is a good starting place for exploring the borders and bigger (and more expensive) places like Galashiels and Hawick are very close.

I've had a great three weeks driving around Scotland (and a few days in the north of England), and I higly recommend it as a holiday destination. I know I'll be back there frequently, and not just to get my money's worth on my £800 membership of Historic Scotland...