Moffat to Peebles Day 3

Sunday night had been much better warmth wise, although it had got chilly at one point. I still drifted in and out of sleep, listening to curlew, oyster catchers, tawny owls and lots of sheep and lambs. There was a cockerel in the distance, he started a shade early even if we did need to get up. Laura and I kindly added time pressures at this point, we really needed to be in Peebles to catch the bus back to Edinburgh by 4 pm or we would be in difficulty.

I was up in good time and much more organised. The tents were decidedly wet this morning, but as they were being packed to go home, it didn’t matter too much. Apart from the added weight. We got off to a really good start, leaving camp at around 7.27 am and set off at a good pace, but then there was up for a short while. We headed along a nice, easy track for a while and had a snack stop before heading into the forest where Mike warned us the track might be tricky and so it turned out to be.

Snacking and faffing

It was a little elusive and we may have taken a slightly alternative route, but it was certainly tricky, much up and grassy bogginess ensued. When we burst out into the open the bogginess continued, with heathery tussocks getting in on the act now and there was more up and along, before finally, there was down.

All behind us now

The drop off the end of the world before Peebles

Straight down! Over much heatheryness to join a path, “All will become clear!” Mike promised us.

Hmm.

We dropped out of the heather and after mincing along a few sheep tracks, we crossed a ford (I did it, with dry feet!) we met a good track and decided it was time for lunch. We were making good time now and the hard work was behind us. There were good tracks and roads for the last four miles before we happily found Mike’s car waiting for us in the car park and after retrieving a few belongings we’d decided not to carry at the last minute and a comfort stop, we were off to the bus stop.

The sign to the left was wholly appropriate for some

We were early for the planned bus, but as we arrived so did another bus, so we caught it! This meant I could catch an earlier train back to Inverness and quickly made arrangements for the taxi to collect me there, yey!

12.4 miles and 2000ft total ascent (ish...)