A 68-mile circuit of the Scottish Borders linking the four great ruined abbeys and the old mill towns between them
Indicative — sampled from open terrain data along the simplified route.
The Borders Abbeys Way is a circular walk of about 109 kilometres, or 68 miles, through the heart of the Scottish Borders, linking the region’s four medieval abbeys and the towns that grew up around them. It starts and finishes at Melrose and can be joined at any point, taking most walkers five days. It is one of Scotland’s Great Trails and, unlike the coastal and hill routes elsewhere in Scotland, it is a low-level walk that keeps to river valleys, farmland and forest track, with no serious climbs.
The route strings together the towns in turn — Melrose, Selkirk, Hawick, Jedburgh and Kelso — and follows the River Tweed and its tributary the Teviot for much of the way. Its subject is the abbeys: the great pink shell of Melrose Abbey, secluded Dryburgh Abbey on a loop of the Tweed, the tall red front of Jedburgh Abbey, and the fragment of Kelso Abbey in its market town. All four were founded in the 12th century under David I and repeatedly burned in the border wars with England, which is why they stand as ruins today.
Between the abbeys the walking passes through the mill towns of the Tweed woollen trade and quiet, rolling sheep country. The towns hold most of the accommodation and are close enough together to make comfortable stages.
There is no railway in this part of the Borders, but Melrose and the other towns are linked by bus, and the nearest station is at Tweedbank, near Melrose, on the line from Edinburgh.
