"The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep." ~ Robert Frost

A very long day today. We set out from St. Boswell's at 8:30 am and arrived at the Allerton House in Jedburgh around 3:30 this afternoon. It was pretty much 6 hours of straight walking and we are quite knackered this evening. We had a lot of woodland glen walking today along with a long trek on Dere Street, a single-file path following an old Roman road that was used in the 1st century AD by Roman soldiers travelling from York to supply and defend the northern frontiers. It rained all night but stopped by breakfast time, which we are thankful for.

Heading out of St. Boswell's this morning admiring this high stone garden wall.

 A lovely stone bridge over the river Tweed.          .

 Andrew taking a side trip to Crystal Well, an antique water pumping station for the house above.

 And discovering a grotto with water emerging and interesting ferns.

 Starting down the Roman road also known as Dere Street. It took a long time to get through here. Note the soldier helmet on the post along with the St. Cuthbert's Way sign.

The Lilliard Stone commemorates a brave woman of that name who took up arms to avenge her lover, killed by the English. The battle was against Henry VIII's army at Ancrum Moor in 1545. The English were outmanoeuvred and defeated.  

 These beech trees are incredible - so large and solidly rooted into the earth.

 And this is our home for tonight - Allerton House. Almost ready for bed and it's only 7:30...... but before we sign off we did venture into Jedburgh for supper.

 Jedburgh, 10 miles from the English border, contains the ruins of another abbey. The history in every village is amazing. There are a half dozen former abbeys in the Scottish Borders and the Border Abbeys Way connects them by footpath.

 Another view of the abbey. We didn't pay the fee to take the tour because it was too late and we needed to find some food, but Andrew got some good shots.

 Mary, Queen of Scots home in Jedburgh.

 And we'll leave you with a sheep picture. These 2 little lambs with tails a-wagging were trying to get under mama for a wee snack, but mama was promptly took off in another direction. It was rather funny.