Walking in the Scottish Borders

A new temporary deer fence has been built by the Borders Forest Trust to keep sika deer out of their young wildwood. It intersects Route 40 with gates in the right places.

After the first steep climb onto Garelet Hill, head south to the col just below. Here the new fence follows the broken wall marked on Explorer maps. Go through the gate in it, and continue to right of the fence.

On the shorter return route, turning down the glen from the tin hut; after crossing Donald's Cleuch burn, you again meet the new deer fence, which again has a gate in it.

It seems likely that the new fence, when competed, won't interfere with the longer route over Molls Cleuch Dodd, and if it does, will probably have a gate at a helpful point.

Walk 20

The original route up Rubers Law has been enclosed in high fencing for red deer – and these semi-wild animals are unsafe to walk among. The following route has been kindly suggested and approved by the farmer at Whitriggs.

After passing along Denholm Dean, the track beyond it runs southwest to end at a lane. Turn left to the lane junction where the road to right is signed for Bonchester Bridge. However, keep ahead for another 50m. As the lane bends left, take a track ahead into a small wood. Cross a shallow ford to gates at the wood edge.

Take the left-hand gate, and go uphill to left of a wall to a gate. In the next field, slant up left, north of east, to a wall gate. (But the field has livestock, instead head left along its foot then up the side.) Through the gate, head up to the left of the wall, through another gate and again to the left of a wall. As the field opens out, slant up right to a gate at its top right corner. This leads into open, heathery ground. Pick your way among rocky outcrops to Rubers Law's summit trig point. (Working round to the left to approach the summit from the north will let you arrive up a scrambly little cliff.)

Thank you to Mick Borroff for the following information.

Near Westloch House there is a preferred waymarked and stiled footpath with clear signing that indicates that it should be taken to avoid the farmyard and the climb over the double-gate to access the lane back to Coldingham.

P107 Above a loch-side house, join a gravel track up to a gate; bend right and in 300 metres bend right again to another gate marked 'Farmhouse only'. Follow the footpath sign along the track for 100 metres and turn left over a waymarked stile into a grassy field, and over two further stiles to emerge through a hedge on the lane beyond. Follow the lane gently downhill to Coldingham…