Out & About Winter 2018

JONATHAN HOPSON

JONATHAN HOPSON spends some time in the Scottish Borders and, although the salmon fishing was not overly successful, he still enjoyed the spectacular scenery and a lot of cake

I had the good fortune to spend a week in Melrose in the Scottish Borders on a family fishing trip on the River Tweed, recently. Sadly, there didn’t seem to be many salmon in the river at this time and, despite everyone’s best endeavours, only four fish were caught all week. However, despite the meagre catch, there was a record of sorts – apart from a few isolated showers, there was an absence of rain! The uncharacteristically good weather promoted a great way to start the day – cycling the 1.6 mile-long climb out of Melrose on the Dingleton road and out of the town towards Lilliesleaf on the B6359. The climb was energy-sapping, but even on an autumnal day, the view at the top of the hill over the fishing loch towards the Eildon hills made the effort worthwhile. A few hours of brisk cycling and the keen Scottish air tended to sharpen the appetite.

As a result, I made more than one visit to the uniquely different coffee shop in Lilliesleaf, Jammy Coo, for a welcome pitstop of hot chocolate and a slice or two of delicious homemade Border tart. The delights of traditional Scottish food were also sampled at the fifth generation family bakers in the main street in Melrose, Alex Dalgetty & Sons and the local speciality, Selkirk Bannock (similar to a fruit cake), was particularly good. The undoubted highlight of the week was a three-mile walk to the famous waterfall, The Grey Mare’s Tail near Moffat, about an hour’s drive from Melrose. After a long ascent from the valley floor, the trail leads past the waterfall to Loch Skeen. The scenery is simply spectacular with the craggy peaks towering above the loch and the near-constant wind whipping up the surface of the water and creating foamy trails. These are just a few of the many delights the Borders have to offer.

Eidon Hills

Jammy Coo

The Grey Mare’s Tail waterfall

Adam Jacot de Boinod, author of The Meaning of Tingo on interesting words, poses a vocabulary quiz from our local Berkshire dialect. Guess the correct definition from the following three options WINTER WORD CHALLENGE

1) littocks a) small worthless apples remaining on the tree after the crop has been gathered in b) small low clouds in a clear sky c) rags and tatters 2) daffy a) smartly-dressed b) silly, feckless c) attractive, good-looking

3) slocket a) a person who enjoys eating fine food, a glutton b) to pilfer c) to walk with shoes nearly off the feet 4) pycle a) a small field b) a turnstile c) a scarecrow

answers on p85

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