Galashiels: former 18-19th century mill town that now straggles along the steep sides of the river Gala between partially wooded rounded hills....today dominated by the two busy trunk roads that lead to Edinburgh and Glasgow respectively.....so still very busy. The most difficult change for us to adjust to: the noise and pollution. The flat we chose to buy is right in the thick of it!
Walks, sometimes with the Hike & Bike Hub, have taken us to the 'Policies' woodland and Gala Hill, Ladhope and Langlee woodlands, Torwoodlee Tower and Broch, Buckholm and Meigle Hill, all revealing more of the panorama of Borders hills and valleys - a rich farming landscape, now peppered with wind turbines....
At the opposite 'end' of town to us, where the Gala Water joins the river Tweed, is Abbotsford House, home back then to the renowned local/national treasure Sir Walter Scott. Down that end of town is also Tweedbank, the next and last station after Galashiels on the Waverley Line (re-opened 2015) .
The answer to the closure of tweed mills in the town seems to have been to make it a Borders location for retail magnates - the usual cutprice megastores plus mini outlets of more upmarket brands. The major casualties, as all over UK, have been the high street independent shops. Only one butcher, one fishmonger and one baker remain.
Classic view of the Eildon hills on a walk in the Selkirk area
In choosing a new home, it was a priority to find a place to live where buses and train would be easy to access, and Galashiels is a perfect location for that. With our over 60's concessionary bus passes we can travel for free all over Scotland and we are pleased that Borders Buses have plenty of local services between the towns: Selkirk, Melrose, Peebles, Innerleithen, Hawick, Jedburgh, Kelso and even Berwick-upon-Tweed (just over the present day border, in England).
We have been exploring each place on foot, often using one of the useful guide booklets produced by the local Council which seems at some time in the past 15 years to have had funding to develop the infrastructure of waymarked paths for both walking and cycling. I don't think they can be quite as generous at the moment and the maintenance of many of the routes is proving too costly without extra funding. Increasingly, local councils and hence the national government are relying on volunteers to provide the services they used to take care of in the past.
Trip to Berwick
Selkirk walk around the loch and bridge above the Teviot
Kelso annual show
Fresh eggs near Selkirk and where the Ettrick meets the Yarrow
Minto hill and the church at Minto
Viaduct over river Teviot and the Cuddy Brig at Innerleithen
Former railway bridge across river Teviot near Roxburgh and Saint Ronan's Well in Innerleithen
Neidpath Castle on the Tweed and avenue to Barns House and Tower
Footbridge at Lyne station and Neidpath castle
Bowden village church near Melrose
It has been a surprisingly pleasant first summer in the area and we have even ventured out on a couple of cycle trips with Chris as coach.
Our cycle trip from Gala to Innerleithen. 26 miles.
We have also been busy doing some decorating and DIY inside the new flat as well as trying to improve some aspects of the exterior where we have a small garden accessed across a communal cobbled courtyard. The crumbly sandstone and masonry needs continual maintenance.
stone work repairback exit wall decoration replastered and painted outside stairs wall. after and before work was completed
weeding and cleaning between the cobble stones
One year on. Christmas and boxing day walks to Victoria Park, Torwoodlee Broch and ruined 17th Century fortified tower
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