Moot Hill

With a Pentland backdrop.

This forms part of the Cross Borders Drove Road, a long distance walking route from Harperrig, south-west of Edinburgh, to Hawick.

A signpost for the Cross Borders Drove Road taking a field edge route to the A701 and Romannobridge.

The Cross Borders Drove Road follows field edges southwest to reach the A701 and Romannobridge.

Vigilance needed here where the Cross Borders Drove Road from West Linton crosses a fast stretch on the A701.

A hill farm seen from the Cross Borders Drove Road.

Looking from the Cross Borders Drove Road towards Mendick Hill (451m).

The Cross Borders Drove Road follows this path to cross the col between Drum Maw and Hag Law.

Pasture on the lower slopes of Drum Maw with Black Mount (516m) on the skyline.

A conversion abandoned in 2008 shortly after the removal of the roof. An attempt at revival of the project in 2011: NT1749 : Halmyre Mains

A conversion abandoned in 2008 shortly after the removal of the roof. An attempt at revival of the project in 2011: NT1749 : Halmyre Mains

A newer photograph of the milestone at Halmyre Mains on the original line of what is now the A701. See NT1748 : Old milestone. It is marked on the 1897 OS map.

A close up of the top of the 18 mile stone showing the cut benchmark and pin in the square recess.

A view showing the milestone in the wall just where the wall top lowers.

A newer photo of the 19 miles from Edinburgh milestone on the A701 at Romanno Bridge. Remnants of white paint remain in the incised numbers with white lichens on the sides and top. It is opposite the old school now the Newlands Centre. The sides and rear have faint horizontal broaching. It is marked on the 1897 OS at NT15704774 so was moved when the new bridge and by-pass was built.

This view of the milestone at Romanno Bridge shows faint horizontal broaching on the side. The back is broached in the same way. The white lichens that have developed indicate the clean air.

In 1974 this old bridge tollhouse had a chimney at each end of the ridge. By 2016 it only had one although it had been extended to the rear and right hand side. 2023 and it again has 2 chimneys. The turnpike road passed through here from 1804 so this building may have been there already or built by the Peebleshire Trust for the tollkeeper.

In ten years time most of the large field this hill is in will be a plantation - small saplings, now around a foot high, have been planted in rows in most of it, and a deer fence is in place to stop any potential nibbling. The young trees have been planted pretty much exactly two metres apart - meaning that a sapling, if not at the edge, has a two metre gap to a tree to the left and right, and to a tree in front and behind. This is surely startlingly unscientific and a cause for concern, considering the research that must be put into these things. Commercial forests are designed to maximise timber output in an area. Obviously the more trees you have per area the greater the yield. However, there is a trade-off. The closer the trees get (only applicable when really close, as is the case with commercial forestry) the less sunlight their lower branches receive. And therefore there are less leaves on the branches, meaning less energy can be made within them to be passed on to the trunk to make it grow taller. A couple of sources online mention this 2mx2m grid layout being the standard in UK forestry. Even in the highly unlikely event of the above trade-off calculation leading to a distancing of such a conveniently round number, this should surely be adjusted almost all of the time to take account of climate, soil type, hours of sunlight and the aspect of each plantation, and sometimes to small sections of trees within the same plantation. To apply the two metre rule across the board in all circumstances seems pretty lazy, not very business-like, and perhaps even stupid.