Winter 2020

LOCAL VIEW

JONATHAN HOPSON sends musings from Melrose, Scotland

D uring the last week in to fish for salmon on the river Tweed and do some hiking around the Eildon hills. As is often the case in this part of the world, there was a considerable amount of rain, but we were fortunate to see some sunshine and in what may be a relatively rare occurance, two separate rainbows in one day over Melrose. The magnificent ruins of Melrose Abbey date back to the 15th century and highlights from the interior include ornate stone vaulting over the presbytery, elegant piers and window tracery. The exterior is lavishly decorated with fascinating sculptures including hobgoblins, lute-playing angels, cooks with ladles and a famous gargoyle showing a bagpipe-playing pig. For any mycophiles – a person who likes hunting/cooking/eating mushrooms – feast your eyes on the results of a foraging expedition October, my family and I visited the Scottish borders

in some woods including, from top left, hedgehog fungus, wood blewit (with gills exposed) to the right and below a clump of three trooping funnel with a larger trooping funnel to the right. These were carefully chopped up and added with cream, vegetable stock and parsley to make a delicious mushroom linguine. Recent rainfall had swollen the river and the chances of catching a salmon in the fast-flowing water looked somewhat slim. However, using a large multi-coloured fly hand-tied by his grandfather, my son Edward managed to catch a fine-looking 12lb salmon. After pausing briefly to take a photo, the hook was carefully removed and the salmon was successfully released back into the river.

A rainbow over Melrose; spoils from a foraging expedition; Edward Hopson with a 12lb salmon; the ruins of Melrose Abbey

Often when walking in the area around Melrose, particularly just after it has been raining, the quality of the light appears different from the south of England and one can see further and with increased clarity. Objects several miles away, such as large trees on the skyline, seem to be clearer than a similar scene down south. I am sure this increased clarity of vision is real and not imagined – perhaps it’s due to lower levels of air pollution? I wonder whether this is a phenomenon shared by other Out & About readers? If you haven’t visited these parts of Scotland, I would highly recommend it – a much-needed breath of fresh air in these uncertain times.

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O&A WINTER 2020