awoke very early due to my inability to get comfortable or warm. It was barely six am when I arose to make myself a cup of tea and I wondered what I would do with the time until we were ready to leave. I went outside to have a wash in the river but the temperature persuaded me to make do with just washing my face and cleaning my teeth as it was bitterly cold. Once Ian and Terry got up and started making their breakfast I began packing my rucksack, as I was anxious to be off for some reason that I couldn’t explain. The ‘owners’ were nowhere to be seen although we could hear a radio playing in their bedroom. It was 08:40 when we said goodbye to Terry and left the bothy. He told us that he also intended staying at the Tibbie Shiels Inn if they had any vacancies so we would probably see him later. I looked forward to seeing him again as he was a very amusing, laid back character with whom I had established a rapport. The first five or six miles of the days walk was along the Ettrick Valley road (below) which meant we should make good time as the walk overall was only eleven miles and would be our shortest day since leaving Portpatrick. We were making very good time which was obviously due to the very easy walking compared to that which we had become used to and we rolled along with time to take in the views of the hills and the Ettrick River. Occasionally we passed an isolated cottage and on one or two occasions had to stand aside to let a car pass. We soon came to the end of the road section and immediately had to climb a steep hill across a field before the path entered a narrow gully.

After a stiff climb from the road the terrain  became wilder and hillier and I noticed that Ian seemed to be dropping behind quite often and I wondered if he was having trouble with his blisters. Eventually, the Tibbie Shiels Inn came into view far below on a narrow strip of land between St.Mary’s Loch & The Loch of the Lowes which gave me the motivation to climb the last hills of the day before beginning the descent into the Ettrick Valley. We arrived at the inn at around 1:30pm just as the rain started falling and presented ourselves at the bar where we were told that our room was not quite ready. We took advantage of the delay and sunk into a comfortable window seat nursing foaming pints of beer and sat watching the rain sheeting down outside. Our morale soared as we sat and drank two or three beers, congratulating ourselves that we had missed the bad weather and fully enjoying our early finish on this, the shortest day so far. We were however, very reluctant to remove our waterproof jackets as we had not had a shower or bath since arriving in Wanlockhead three days earlier and we were both worried about our personal hygiene as we sat among the lunchtime diners. It felt safer to keep everything buttoned up for fear of causing offence as after three days of walking without the chance to bathe properly meant it was probably not the best time to get too close to either of us!

Once our room had been made ready, we began the ritual of washing our walking gear, bathing and checking routes and maps for the following day. We had enjoyed finishing at lunchtime so much that we came up with a slightly revised plan, which would give us another easy day between Melrose and Lauder. It really felt that we were going to crack it now. After our chores had been completed we slept for a while before heading for the bar where had a meal and met up with Terry again.The three of us sat in the bar chatting and drinking until all of the customers had left and the barstaff stood waiting for us to leave so that they could pack up themselves. I’d have no problem sleeping tonight!