Day 13. Ford & Etal/ Pebbles – Sep 21st, 2013

Today was change of hotel day so the bags had to be out at 07:30 hrs. I had a good breakfast because we would be on our own to scrounge lunch. We drove off at 09:00 hrs heading for the Ford and Etal Estates.

When we started out we had bright sun. so, we got a good view of the Angel of the North in the Newcastle ( Tyne River) and Sunderland ( Wear River ) area.

At 09:22 we crossed the Tyne and the tide was out.

This is Jordie country.

By 10:00 it was totally overcast. This is a pattern that has repeated.

We passed close by Alnwick Castle which was used in the Harry Potter movies and cast as Hogwarts Castle.

Next was Bamburgh castle, probably the largest.

By 10:15 we had a good view of the distant Landesfarne Island and its Castle.  So, there was Saint Columba on the Island of Iona on the west coast and The Venerable Bede on Lindesfarne Island on the east coast.  Think of it as the Oxford and Cambridge of Celtic Monkdom.

The Penines and the Cheviot Hills came into view by 10:30 hrs.

By 10:35 we were taking the 1:10 gradient down into the village of Ford.  King James IV left from Ford Castle to meet his death at the hands of the English at the Battle of Flodden in September, 1513.   He was the last British monarch to die in battle.

We started our tour of the Lady Waterford Hall Museum at 11:30, the guide being a Dutchwoman.

Lady Waterford set up the hall as a school in 1860 and it operated as such for about 100 years. Now it is the Village Hall.

At 11:50 we drove off to Heatherslaw on the River Till where we visited the local water mill that still grinds flour each working day.

There I found a good explanation of the current situation concerning the estates of Ford and Etal. Lord Joicey purchased Ford in 1907 and Etal in 1908. These two estates date back to the eleventh century.

The combined estates are 16,000 acres containing 36 farms worked by tenant farmers. Almost all the cottages and houses are let and maintained by the Estate, which is still owned and run by the Joicey family. The two villages and the surrounding farms have a population of about 600 people.

At 13:00 we boarded the fifteen inch narrow gauge train at Heatherslaw for our journey along the River Till to Etal. On arrival at 13:20 we walked past Etal castle and into the village where the Black Bull pub was the dominant landmark.

From 13:30 to 14:20 we found ways to eat lunch.  I found a cricket match underway just outside the village and almost died of too much excitement.

We then wound our way through the Borders Area. We passed close to Flodden where the flower of the Scottish nobility was lost in 1513.  This is the 500th anniversary of this battle in which 25,000 English and Scottish soldiers died.

By 14:35 we were passing through Coldstream in the very heart of Reiver country. Reivers were excellent horsemen who raided for cattle, property or women.

The River Tweed became a constant companion and by 15:45 we were through Kelso and skirting the eight foot wall surrounding some of the Duke of Roxborough’s property of Floors Castle.

On the horizon we saw one anomaly. A tall column to commemorate the victory at Waterloo.

Somewhere in this area, cloaked by woods, is a twenty-four foot statue of Robert the Bruce.

At 15:20 we paused at Scott’s View. There was a wonderful panorama with the Tweed River in the foreground and the Eilden Hills as the backdrop. Sir Walter Scott had enjoyed this view.

By 15:45 we were running through a series of mill towns. In turn Galashiels, Clovenfords, Walkerburn, Traquair and Peebles had their moment.

The area has great agricultural soil and huge coal fields below. But the coal mining is pretty much finished.

On arrival at the Barony Castle Hotel just outside Eddlestone, we repaired to a room for scones, clotted cream and strawberry jam. We just had to get our calorie fix.

Dinner was at 19:00.  The menu was not outstanding.  After an excellent lentil soup I was brave and had haggis sausages – definitely and acquired taste.

By the time I got back to my room it was raining.

I pulled out my prayer mat and prayed for sunshine.