Marvelous Melrose – a campervan adventure

Melrose, in the Scottish borders is a little gem of a place. Set on the banks of the River Tweed it has a lovely mix of independent shops, bars and cafes and glorious countryside to explore. 

We visited in September and stayed in the Caravan and Motorhome Club site which is located at the end of the High Street, ticking (what is for us) a big box as van owners – lots of things to do and see without moving the van! Being a club site you are getting the high standard of facilities you expect – plus the wardens we met were lovely and helpful too.

Surrounded by the Eildon Hills, there are numerous country lanes to explore, but we decided to go on one of the four signed circular cycling trails that start from the town.

To download a map of the trails visit https://www.scotborders.gov.uk/directory_record/12646/melrose_cycle_trails

We chose to do the Scott’s View and Dryburgh trail which was 13.5 miles (22km). A modest distance for a morning ride, but combined with the promise of hills and the fact that we hail from flattish Peterborough, it sounded like a challenge. 

Leaving Melrose we rode past the ruins of the Abbey and out towards Newstead. Soon into open countryside, we stopped to take photos of the site of a Roman fort from a viewing platform with a fascinating information board, just before reaching Leaderfoot Viaduct. Then it was onwards and upwards until we reached Scott’s View where we had another rest and enjoyed the breathtaking view across the valley of the river, with the three peaks of the Eildon Hills before you.  This is reputed to be one of the favourite views of Sir Walter Scott. He visited so often on his way home that his horses would stop automatically when they got there!

After that we had done most of the climbing, the rest of the trip was more undulating.  We took a detour to see William Wallace’s statute, which was up another hill, but worth it in retrospect!   We had to get off our bike and walk along a path to see the statute itself – there are lots of walking trails in this area too so we’ve made a note to come back on foot one day!

Towards the end of the ride we came back to the River Tweed at Dryburgh, another lovely area where you can get off your bike and explore. The route crosses the river at the suspension bridge and then you are on the homeward straight.  There are some more hills to encounter but the worst part is in a traffic free section of road so you can take it as slow as you like!  Cycling on a tandem means we are very good at getting up hills, but we go really slowly as you can’t get up off the saddle in the same way you would on a normal bike. It always makes me laugh, which doesn’t help with the pedalling!

William Wallace overseeing the valley

That viaduct – very majestic

Me posing at Scott’s view

LodoFOMO

LodoFOMO – it’s a thing don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!

I was talking to one of my brothers the other day and he wanted to know how I was spending my lockdown days. A conversation we’ve had before, but I went through my typical (every) day – some exercise to start off – maybe a bit of skipping or a workout video, lazy breakfast, do some work, go for a walk, bit more work and that’s pretty much the day done. He said this was along the lines of his days – although I don’t think he’s a skipper.

All very comforting because the crux of it is we both have this dread that when we emerge from lockdown, we’ll find out that everyone else has done some amazing something with their time. Imagine the scene, sat round the table at a lovely BBQ when friend A announces that they have just passed level 7 of their horticultural course, friend B congratulates them on their achievement, says they are level 5 but they have achieved master status in water colour painting and they are waiting to hear whether the RA will accept their latest work for the summer exhibition. And me? Well I can do a Sudoku on my phone quite quickly…….

Many a zoom is spent discussing what TV programmes we are watching – have you seen Schitt’s Creek – it’s a hoot! Didn’t watch the Queen’s Gambit- why on earth not? Then with local friends it’s all about where we’ve found for a walk – the lockdown equivalent of coming back from a trip to New York and having to admit you’ve not been on the Highline.

It’s all part of the LoDoFOMO (lockdown fear of missing out) – that nagging doubt that your own tedious life is somehow more tedious than anyone else’s. Lockdown has shown me a lot of things I don’t want to do rather than what I do want to do – not so keen to write the book I always thought I wanted to do but hadn’t got the time; banana bread – no thanks! My main activity seems now to be light at the end of the tunnel monitoring – don’t get me started on vaccine envy!

The New York Highline (in case you missed it!)

Lockdown #3 (or 4?) – time to clean the windows!

Well we are starting Lockdown #3 today. For me – empty nester, working from homer – it’s not a huge difference to the day to day new normal. I’ve not walked round a shop properly since March – just occasional forays somewhere to pick up essentials, hoping the queue to pay isn’t too long and no-one invades my space. The food comes by home delivery. Nine months into this game we are still surprised with each delivery, like when we got a huge catering vat of natural yogurt because one of us didn’t notice the size of the tub we were ordering, or the spoonful serving of caramelised onion relish which I thought was a bargain but not quite such a bargain when in reality it served half!

Obviously there are lots of things I miss – top of the list being able to see my mum as often as I’d like and of course my kids – both living away and one not near enough for a socially distanced walk every now and again. Not meeting up with friends; Zoom and Houseparty are fabulous but any more than 3 people on a chat is a recipe for chaos, plus I find it hard to not crochet at the same time so I am sat there looking like Madame Defarge knitting at the guillotine!

Anyway we are launching ourselves into full lockdown frenzy. The paint pot is out – husband is painting the utility room whether it needed it or not! (it did need it) He hurt his shoulder last June and it is taking an age to recover. We were talking the other day about skills we have learnt during Covid and instead of Spanish, playing the ukulele or any of the other things he set out to do he cited being able to paint and do other DIY jobs with his non dominant arm!

Lockdown #1 saw me sorting out my linen cupboard – even ironing my sheets! A lack of visitors means this isn’t something I have to redo (every cloud…) but I do think I need to revisit my number 2 least favourite job and clean the windows – just so I can see the outside world even if I am not allowed to go out much!

Stay safe and – particularly if you are in the UK – please stay home so we can get ourselves out of this mess!