Peebles to Traquair

From Kingsmeadow car park in Peebles, on the south side of the River Tweed, take the Haystoun road, south of Kings Meadows, heading south-east out of the town.  At the end of the road, a wooden fingerpost signs the Cross Borders Drove Road straight on along the broad track which continues down an impressive avenue of trees.  Look out for the information panel on your right which will tell you more about the history of the Cross Borders Drove Road.  Keep straight on along this track, ignoring the left fork to Whitehaugh Farm, through the gate (or over the horse stile), either fording Haystoun Burn or using the adjacent footbridge.  This particular spot is called Gypsy Glen.  Until very recently, horse-drawn travellers maintained the tradition of camping here on their way to Traquair Fair.

On the south side of the burn, the path climbs steeply up the bank, with a regraded stretch for horse-riders adajcent to the steps.  Once clear of the wood, the old drove road carries on climbing up the hill between what remains of the original twin dykes which for many years stopped cattle which were being driven south straying onto the neighbouring farmland.

The next couple of miles are one of the most spectacular, atmospheric and best preserved sections of drove road in Britain, providing a welcome excuse to keep stopping and admiring the view.  Onwards and upwards the old drove road climbs, past Camp Law Plantation, the remains of an old fort off to your left, and then once through another couple of bridlegates, out onto the heathery hillside.  The old drove road snakes between its parallel twin dykes over the dinosaur's back, skirting west of Craig Head, around Kailzie Hill and Kirkhope Law to Yellow Mire.

The original drove road carries on over Birkscairn Hill and Stake Law, heading for St. Mary's Loch, but much of this route is now impassable due to forestry planting and deteriorating drainage (and a locked gate at the southern edge of the forest).  The Cross Borders Drove Road therefore follows another route favoured by the drovers, over the Minch Moor to Yarrowford.

At the southern end of Yellow Mire forest, just before you start climbing up Yellow Mire Hill, turn left through the gate in the fenceline and follow the new path which runs around the hillside south of the forest, around Birks Hill and then down by the Glass Burn, following the northern edge of the shelterbelt just above Birks, to the gate halfway down the shelterbelt which leads onto a track through the trees to The Glen.  At the tarmac road turn left, then left again at the junction with the B709, into Traquair Village.