Border Walk Day 8 Twizel to Berwick on Tweed

Quite a nice end to the walk.
I set off from the Twizel camp and wandered down the easiest of footpaths towards the sea. The river had herons, swans, ducks and fishermen, mostly up to their naughty parts in Tweed (thats the river, not the trousers).

I coasted towards Norham where I had a brief conversation with a bloke and his little black dog. He told me that the path at Horncliffe was closed due to some work going on there. I failed to ask him what the work was about. I was suspicious of another Northumberland CC footpath fiasco. I went to Norham’s village shop and bought a pork and apple butty, some orange juice, an orange and some choccy bars. Robert the Bruce had been here previously, apparently and had not yet paid for his fags.

After Norham the path is narrow and runs alongside an unstable sandstone crag. There are no difficulties, though, and soon signs started appearing telling me that the path was closed at Horncliffe Burn. And it was.
But not to worry, another footpath headed South through the woods adn across a cornfield to Norham east Mains farm and thence to a minor road which could be used to outflank whatever it was they were doing in Horncliffe Burn.

The woodland grew ever thicker as I hacked my way South and son,yes, you’ve guessed it, no further progress was possible. There was thick vegetation including hawthorn, fence wire and monster nettles. I struggled out of the cul-de-sac and determined to go around. The subsequent obstacle course included a large embankment of the very same kind that they used to build motte and bailey castles on, and complete with even bigger and stingier stinging nettles. I found the stile into the woods at the far end of the jungle. It was derelict and surrounded by deep, lush green stuff. Yes folks, my third Northumberland County Council Comedy Footpath. Does nobody walk around here? Does the Council have a rights of way department and are they overworked, underfunded, underpaid and has their dog died recently?
The demesne farm was, apparently deserted and I finally made it to the road.
Which was closed!
They were resurfacing it. But the natives were friendly and I had a short chat with the man on the road roller. He offerred me a lift on it, in fact and told me that I could wark doon thah middel of thah rooooad as it were cloooazd fer sarfassin.

Eventually, I arrived in Horncliffe where I took up a short residence of the public bar in the Fishers Inn. The nice lass behind the bar told me that a) she knew the bloke at Norham and his little black dog and b) the path to Berwick was closed due to a landslip.

I progressed towards BOT. There was no landslip. The path was nice and easy with just the two or three contours near the end. I passed by the Union Bridge where, I noticed as I chomped the pork and apple butty, that most drivers arrive and turned around again due to the narrow bollards. I wandered briefly into Scotland before continuing along the riverbank.

Soon after this, the river began to smell of seaweed. I had reached the tidal part. And, ahead, I could now see a large, modern road bridge. this carried the A1 road to Edinburgh. It was busy and difficult to cross.
A bit further on a man in a boiler suit who seemed to be setting fire to piles of “stuff”  pointed out the path to Berwick and gave me accurate directions to the nearest and finest fish and chip shop – I thought he said “Fowlers”, but actually he said “Foulis”.

I crossed beneath the Royal Border Bridge – a railway bridge of many arches – then found the Fish and Chip Emporium which provided me with a big red box full of hot and delicious chips and fish, which I scoffed just by the oldest bridge into town.

I found the station, waited for the train in the bar of the Castle Hotel and…. that was that. Job done. Walk Over. Anti –Climax.
Today I walked 17 miles with 600 feet of upness.
Altogether the walk was 123 miles. I haven’t added up the ascent.
I’ll do a summary with a few tips and ideas in a short while.
The End.