Skip to main content

Day 67: Innerleithen to Peebles (7.5 miles)

As I am now on my 67th day out of a predicted 100-102 days total, I am more or less 2/3rds of the way! At this point, according to the digitised route I have walked 804 miles however... according to my phone and some calculation from Maria, I have actually walked 929.4 miles! It will be interesting to see the difference in the final total. I’d love to know the total ascent - again the digitised route says it will be around 111,000 feet. That’s something I’ll have to check at when I’ve finished but it will be at least that I think. Again I must thank my daughter, Maria Kemp, for doing such a great job of keeping the blog up to date over such a long period of time without fail! (Note from Maria: Blogging is much easier than walking!)

A slow start today having made the decision to go for the riverside option today. I couldn’t resist popping into Coop to see how they were doing - the shelves looked rather more healthy than at Jedburgh a few days ago - but I just picked up an orange juice and Mars bar as I’d saved some cheese and oatcakes from my dinner last night (I’d had haggis for main course - delicious!).

A beautiful sunny day with no wind - at least to start with. And everyone was catching me out today, saying good morning (unlike Galashiels). A bus stopped right by me …going to Peebles. I had to use all my discipline not to get on it. It pulled away, removing the temptation - phew!!!

I continued to stroll along the path, keeping an ear and eye out for cyclists passing, checking stats on the walk, and admiring the National Collection of apple trees at the peak of their blossom. Although the road was close, I happily zoned that out focusing on the river which flowed calmly by.

I paused to admire two gorgeous foals that were proudly shown off as they walked up their field to greener pastures. I heard sedge warblers as I walked by the Catrona golf course, but they kept well-hidden in the may trees no matter how hard I looked.

I stopped at a convenient bench by the river for a break, not wanting to get into Peebles too early and miss the opportunity of simply being by the water. Immediately I saw sand martins dipping into the water before me, and a male mallard having a very thorough wash under the shade of a tree. 

I continued to follow the path until it eventually diverted out onto the main road before offering the option of a grassy track along the riverside which I took. I stopped at 13:30 for my cheese snack watching a lone sheep who’d gone through the fence trying to to work out how to get back to its flock. Needless to say it didn’t.

It wasn’t long before I reached the town, and headed straight for a coffee shop with an attractive little square covering shade, and ordered a clotted cream tea (but with a cappuccino as is my want!). Perfect. I would check in to the Green Tea Hotel later, but going inside on a glorious day like this seemed sacrilege.






Location: Peebles EH45, UK

Comments

Post a Comment

Please do leave a comment

Popular posts from this blog

Choosing the Route

  Since I was first diagnosed with CLL, and started long distance walking, I've been fortunate enough to walk the North and South Downs Ways (2018), the Norfolk Coastal Path (2019), Coast to Coast (2021), the Menorcan Coastal Path and the Ridgeway (2023), the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path, the Dales Highway and the Cotswold Way (2024). In amongst those, I walked the Pennine Way (2020) and the South West Coastal Path (2022) for charity.   In walking these routes, I realised that I love walking on my own, enjoy being immersed in the surroundings around me, able to go at my own pace, stop, observe, and simply be. I love the high moors and mountains but also our beautiful rugged coast - especially the north Cornwall coastline. I very much wanted to re-walk that part of the South West Coastal Path but extended to Penzance - a stretch with which I had been particularly taken.  I also wanted to re-walk the Pennine Way - eventually postponing this so as to incorporate it into t...
2 comments
Read more

Ready, Steady, GO!

On Saturday 15th March I started my big adventure! 2 days in and I have completed the first 32 miles from Penzance to Botallack. I had planned to walk 12 miles each day but my phone says I've done more like 16. The weather has been fantastic but I am very tired. Clearly I am still building my fitness up after the op but I  a sure I will get there step-by-step! The scenery is everything and more than I remembered. This part of the South West Coastal Path is so beautiful but it is certainly tough walking. Tomorrow is planned to be a difficult stretch from Botallack to St Ives but Martin will come and see how I am doing at Zennor and we will go from there. I'm going to have a break from the backpack tomorrow to help me along as it felt very heavy today.
Post a Comment
Read more

Planning

Whilst I've been recovering from the op, I've had plenty of time to plan my walk.  I had originally intended to simply stop when tired, camping most of the way and booking a bed and breakfast once a week or so. My nerve has deserted me!  I have now broken the walk down into roughly 12 mile days, and I've booked campsites, bed and breakfasts, and ear-marked possible wild camping spots. For much of the time, this tent (Durston Xmid Pro 2P) which I trialled on the Dales Highway in July, will be my home: I have to say, getting stuck into the planning has made me more and more excited that the walk is possible and will actually happen now, with renewed determination to get myself fit and well for the start of the walk. I'm currently walking about a mile a day - sounds awful considering where I was before the op, but never mind.  The target is to increase that over the next 8 weeks to 12 miles, gradually adding weight to the backpack as I fully heal and gain strength. ...
2 comments
Read more