West Linton to Peebles
The first section of the original drove road east from West Linton is no longer accessible on foot or on horseback, but the sections which still remain further along this bit of route more than make up for this, and are some of the best preserved bits of drove road in Scotland.
Follow the B7059 for a mile or so south-east from West Linton, until the right-hand bend in the road. Just before the drive to Kaimes House is a fingerpost directing you on the track up Broomlee Hill, along the northern side of Kaimhouse Wood, round the back of the disused Woodend Quarry, and then along a new path fenced along the field headland to avoid intruding on the privacy of Halmyre Lodge. Waymarks direct you back onto the main farm track, and then onto the track which leads down to Halmyre. Take care crossing the A701, carrying straight over and then turning right at the T-junction, past the old village hall, and continue along this track for half a mile or so. At the T-junction beyond Halmyre Deans, turn right, then follow the fingerpost which directs you left through a new small housing development. Don't be discouraged - a short new section of path links around the southern edge of the field back onto the old drove road near the cemetery.
Turn left through the gate, following the old drove road up the hill between parallel dykes, passing Romanno Mains on your left, keeping on the track through several more gates and then through a shelterbelt, at the far end of which a gate across the track leads out onto the hill.
The next section of path, along the firm grassy track which runs parallel to the Fingland Burn, is one of the Borders' best kept secrets. Nestled between the hills, who would ever guess that you are only half an hour at most south of Edinburgh?
After fording the burn, the track switches to the east side of the valley, meeting up with another track just before the Flemington Burn. Turning right along this track will loop you round via Flemington back to Romannobridge, and back to West Linton. The track which turns sharp left leads up the hill to the old steading at Fingland.
To continue along the Cross Borders Drove Road, take the lower track to the left heading for the gate at the edge of the forest, which leads onto a path between the trees, over a narrow footbridge (or adjacent ford) and up a new section of link path which leads up onto the stoned forest road through Cloich Forest. Turn left along the forest road and follow it for approximately half a mile to the junction just beyond Greenside (or Courhope, as it is also known), where you turn right then almost immediately left, following the waymarked path up the hill through the trees. For years this next section of path was impassable, a tangled mess of windblown trees whose roots had been unable to maintain sufficient hold in the deep peat on which they had been planted to keep them upright. Thanks to the work undertaken through Tweed Trails, and a process called soil reversal, underlying bedrock has been used to create a firm, dry, wide grassy path over the morass, which within several years of the work being completed looked as though it had always been there.
Ignore rides through the trees or paths which appear to lead off either side, following the main track down to the bridlegates at the edge of the forest, just above Upper Stewarton. Keep straight ahead down the field, heading for the gate between the barn and the house, which leads onto a good track along the edge of several fields, through another gate onto the Old Post Road. Turn right, looking out for the information panel shortly afterwards on your left which tells you more about the history of this route.
At the cross roads at Nether Stewarton, turn left along the main farm access road, following the track down to the junction with the minor road at Mosshouse. Turn right, then after quarter of a mile, first left, down the Upper Kidston access road.
Just beyond Cringletie Rig, you will see the wooden Cross Borders Drove Road fingerpost signing the route down a newly restored section of path along the edge of the field, heading east. At the far end of the field, just before Cringletie Wood, the path bears right, through a bridlegate, now enclosed again between twin parallel dykes, through a gate at the bottom across the end of the dykes, to the Kidston Burn. The wooden footbridge was erected by local volunteers through the Tweed Trails project to keep walkers' feet dry when the burn is in spate! The ford alongside is easily passable with a horse or on a bike.
Follow the path straight over the burn, up the hill, keeping the dyke immediately on your left, crossing straight over the track to Nether and Upper Kidston. The old drove road continues around the east side of Hamilton Hill, through a gate onto a further section of walled drove road, down to Standalane Farm, from where a quiet public road leads down into Peebles.