November 25 th 2007. This is us with our new camper (Tribute) on route from picking it up from Geoff Cox near Denby. All the power for the hills compared with "Blossom" our old kombie and lots of additional comforts such a toilet and shower, central heating!, swivel seats, big fridge, cooker and even a deep freeze. Hot water also available and still a van. We look forward to lots of tours and camping in UK and Europe and then who knows?

Before leaving the Southern Uplands and Gala I had to walk a route over the three Eildon hills near Melrose and visible from miles away when approaching the uplands. Although they’re not an amazing height, they rise from near to sea level and give excellent views of the hills and terrain around Melrose and Galashiels. There are three hills. I started from Melrose, climbed the middle hill first, the highest of the three, then the other two with a pleasant walk through the Beech woods as well. This was before the first major winds of autumn and so the trees were very colourful.

October 2007. Loch Skeen, White Coomb and Cerrifran Gans loop. I started this from the ranger hut near Gray Mare’s Tails, the waterfall from Loch Skeen. The path starts up following Tail Burn keeping to the right of the burn to reach a good view point of the falls. After this the ascent is more gradual eventually levelling out to reach the hanging valley containing Loch Skeen.

Ferral goats on route to Loch Skeen

The Loch appears quite suddenly and gives great views of the hills surrounding the loch and also the peak of White Coomb to the west (821 m). From the mouth of the Loch I crossed the stream and headed up the western hill on the side of the loch and then, in a large loop, approached the summit of White Coomb.

View of Loch Skeen and western hill to be climbed.

The weather was fine and gave good views across the Moffat valley. After this, the route goes down a little and became very windy before climbing up to the peak of Cerrifran Gans. The climb down is very steep, mostly following the wall or fence, but a walking pole came in useful at times. There is no real path after gaining Loch Skeen and so I mostly followed the contours and chose a route to avoid the peat and marshy areas. The descent route from Cerrifran Gans follows the ridge down and a footpath is discernible. The only downside to this route is the walk back along the road to the car park at the ranger hut. I chose a clear day and got great views of Hartland Fell and the surrounding hills but even though it was a calm day at the ranger hut, the wind after the summit was very strong and cold.

Summit of White Coomb