A trek to the borders of Scotland - "a world of emerald hills, winding rivers and small villages"
Within minutes of leaving Edinburgh Waverley Station, we shook off the urban sprawl and entered a world of emerald hills, winding rivers and tiny winks that villages will be missing. There are also buzzards and deer. Under bright blue skies, we surge through a land steeped in history and intrigue.
I'm back on the Borders Railway for the first time since September 2015, when I joined the first passenger train to run on the reopened Borders line in almost half a century. The journey from Edinburgh to Tweedbank only takes an hour, but today I'm going to venture further afield: I'm walking for three days in search of Borders Badlands history and a pair of new museums who bring this tumultuous story to life.
For centuries, borders have been disputed by England and Scotland with rampaging armies battling to the north (and south). The "Borders Reivers", who swept across the border, are still celebrated at annual festivals in border towns. Today, the hills of Scotland's southeastern flank are peaceful. Decades of economic depression are also easing. Yes, many of the Tweed Mills that swallowed up swaths of Ettrick Forest are gone, but the new Borders Railway line has opened up the area to a new wave of historic-minded visitors. - in an unexplored part of Scotland compared to Edinburgh and the Highlands.
Top of my must-see list and just an arrow shot from the Borders Railway Line's penultimate stop, Galashiels, is the largest community-created tapestry in the world. Galashiels is an ancient textile town, and its riot of modern architecture is evident in the striking concrete angles of the stand Peter Womersley designed for the Fairydean Rovers Gala Stadium and the dramatic pitched roof of the Great Tapestry of Scotland Museum. p>< p>An avant-garde architectural creation inaugurated last year, the museum houses tapestries twice the length of Bayeux, which tell the story of the nation from prehistory to the opening of parliament Scottish in 1999. Susie Finlayson, my guide and self-taught embroiderer (who also worked on tapestry), takes me from volcanic fermentation to modern Scotland. “Originally it was just supposed to be 80 panels. Then there were 120, then 160, with over 1,000 weavers involved,” she says.
Within minutes of leaving Edinburgh Waverley Station, we shook off the urban sprawl and entered a world of emerald hills, winding rivers and tiny winks that villages will be missing. There are also buzzards and deer. Under bright blue skies, we surge through a land steeped in history and intrigue.
I'm back on the Borders Railway for the first time since September 2015, when I joined the first passenger train to run on the reopened Borders line in almost half a century. The journey from Edinburgh to Tweedbank only takes an hour, but today I'm going to venture further afield: I'm walking for three days in search of Borders Badlands history and a pair of new museums who bring this tumultuous story to life.
For centuries, borders have been disputed by England and Scotland with rampaging armies battling to the north (and south). The "Borders Reivers", who swept across the border, are still celebrated at annual festivals in border towns. Today, the hills of Scotland's southeastern flank are peaceful. Decades of economic depression are also easing. Yes, many of the Tweed Mills that swallowed up swaths of Ettrick Forest are gone, but the new Borders Railway line has opened up the area to a new wave of historic-minded visitors. - in an unexplored part of Scotland compared to Edinburgh and the Highlands.
Top of my must-see list and just an arrow shot from the Borders Railway Line's penultimate stop, Galashiels, is the largest community-created tapestry in the world. Galashiels is an ancient textile town, and its riot of modern architecture is evident in the striking concrete angles of the stand Peter Womersley designed for the Fairydean Rovers Gala Stadium and the dramatic pitched roof of the Great Tapestry of Scotland Museum. p>< p>An avant-garde architectural creation inaugurated last year, the museum houses tapestries twice the length of Bayeux, which tell the story of the nation from prehistory to the opening of parliament Scottish in 1999. Susie Finlayson, my guide and self-taught embroiderer (who also worked on tapestry), takes me from volcanic fermentation to modern Scotland. “Originally it was just supposed to be 80 panels. Then there were 120, then 160, with over 1,000 weavers involved,” she says.
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