Melrose: the River Tweed, Eildon Hills and middle-age abbey

After arriving at Tweedbank, we walked to Melrose along the River Tweed. It is now February and was quite cold in the morning. It took us a while to get warm by walking, and the scenery was quite bleak at the beginning, but the sound of the water flow and the scenery mirrored inside brought liveliness.

We managed to top two of the three peaks (Mid and North). Although the weather was fine, the way to the top was sometimes quite muddy, but it wasn’t too bad for Scotland in February! We saw layers and layers of mountains on the northwest direction, and a stunning viaduct, Leaderfoot Viaduct, on the northeast. On the way back we passed by Newstead, the earliest human inhabitant in Scotland dating back to Roman times, which was then called Trimontinum.

We also visited the Melrose Abbey, a huge Gothic architechture built in the 12th century. Similar to the Notre-Dame of Paris, the high nave is supported by the “flying buttresses” from above the roofs of the aisles, which was the state-of-art architectural technique at that time. Multiple sculptures still survive, including a bagpipe-playing pig.

The sky turned rosy when we headed back to Tweedbank, and so does the river. What a day… there was a moment of complete quietness on the Eildon Hills, and another moment of bird quintet after sunset which made us feel that spring had arrived. I don’t know for how long I’ll stay in Scotland, but I’ll miss it — given that even in the bleak Scottish February, lovely sceneries are still in wait for witness.