Whether they’re Himalayan giants or Lowland knolls, peaks that stand proud of their surrounding landscape cast a peculiar spell – especially when, like the Eildon Hills in the Scottish Borders, they sport three distinct summits. Although rising to only 404m/1325ft, the Eildons’ three-pronged profile dominates the region around Melrose and Galashiels, where Ettrick Water meets the River Tweed. From the moment you set eyes on them, you’ll find yourself wanting to scale the steep slopes of heather and grass connecting the trio of shapely hilltops. Ranging as far as the Cheviots and Lammermuirs, the views are as wide-ranging as you’d expect. Sir Walter Scott claimed he could identify, “forty-three places famous in war and verse” from the top of the Eildons, on which Bronze Age tribes, Roman sentries, and Saxon monks and pilgrims have all left their marks.
[1] From the car park opposite Melrose Abbey, head south down Abbey St, along the side of the high stone wall bounding Priorwood Garden to the Market Square.
(A) Melrose Abbey The town and abbey that would later inherit the name of Mailrhos started life in the 1130s on a plot two miles upriver from the old monastery, which its Cistercian founders deemed better suited for farming. Paid for by King David I, Melrose Abbey would emerge as one of the grandest religious buildings of its day, noted above all for its splendid decorative carving.
Cross the Market Square to follow the road running straight on (Dingleton Rd). This cuts under the bypass and onwards up the hill. After 2mins, look for a gap in the pebble-dashed terrace to your left, signposted “St Cuthbert’s Way & the Eildon Hills Walk”. Dropping behind the houses, you cross a stream via a footbridge, then climb a long flight of 131 wooden steps, which brings you to the start of a broad, fenced path. A steady ascent over pasture ensues, via a couple of swing gates. At the 230m contour, the path emerges onto open moorland, bending right through a patch of gorse and onwards from there at a much easier gradient to a crosspaths at NT551325.
[2] At the junction, turn right off St Cuthbert’s Way to a rockier path winding steeply up the north side of Eildon Mid Hill. Ignore any side paths. After a while this swings L into the line of the hill for a steeper climb to the summit, marked with a trig point and antique topograph dedicated to Sir Walter Scott.
[3] Pick up the path that drops Southwest off the hilltop. This bends left to begin a very steep descent to a path junction at NT545321. Here, you should turn left on to another path rising to a low saddle. Before passing the waypost visible ahead, bear right up the track leading to Little Hill; where the path swings left, turn right on to a rockier side path leading, via three false summits, to the top of Eildon West Hill.
[4] You follow a different path down the hill, dropping to the right (northwards) to a junction at NT549320. Do not turn right towards the woods, but keep instead to the narrow path rising straight ahead of you up the hillside, which climbs to the saddle between the two main peaks, where you briefly rejoin St Cuthbert’s Way. Turn left to follow its waymarks briefly then, at the point St Cuthbert’s Way veers left, keep heading straight on up the clear path to the top of Eildon Hill North.
To cut the route short: Retrace your steps to the pass after climbing Eildon Hill North, and return to Melrose by the same (outward) route (saving 2.5km/1.5miles).
[5] Continue east from the summit of Eildon Hill North to begin the longest and steepest descent of the day. Bear left at the second waypost you reach (as indicated, at NT557329). The gradient eases off as the path approaches a conifer wood; pass through a gate and follow the wooded track down to the old (surfaced) road, where you turn right.
[6] A short diversion up the lane leads to the Rhymer’s Stone;
(B) The Rhymer's Stone stands at the spot where local soothsayer "Thomas the Rhymer" is said to have gained his powers from a Fairy Queen.
Otherwise follow the “Eildon Hills Walk” waymarks left down a farm track to a metal gate, then through the subway under the bypass and on down a muddy droveway to Newstead village.
[7] Turn immediately left when you arrive in Newsteads (on to Dean Rd), and follow the lane for a few paces until you see a waypost on your right flagging a turning past pony stables. Keeping to the course of an old Roman road, this leads along a fence below a terrace of houses. At Priorswalk End, you bear right down a tarmac road (Dean Place) to the end of a cul de sac, then on through a childrens’ playground. From there, a pleasant little footpath runs at river level along a wrought-iron fence bordering the abbey grounds, emerging opposite the car park where you started.