Disappear into the quiet countryside

The Berwickshire Coastal Path, the John Muir Way, the Borders Abbeys Way; all beautiful walks, all showcasing different areas of beauty in Scotland. But these walks are all well-known and, dare I say, popular. They are each defined on the Ordnance Survey maps as one of Scotland’s Great Trails, classified as such by NatureScot, the custodian of the Scotland’s Great Trails Brand. These 29 trails all get some finance and publicity from NatureScot.

But what if you want something less well-known? Something quieter? What if you want to rough it a bit more than normal? If that’s the case, forget the Great Trails, and forge your own path through the nation’s open country.

For this specific example of ‘roughing it more than normal’, I chose a walk from the village of Reston to the village of Chirnside in the Scottish Borders.

Plotting the route

The route I took was, unbeknownst to me, a defined footpath, it is part of the Chirnside and Paxton Paths. The fact I planned it completely along these lines was purely coincidental, as I was merely plotting a journey from Reston to Chirnside along paths, roads and a dismantled railway as defined on an Ordnance Survey map.

My idea was simple. Avoid the more well-known and more popular Great Trails and find my way to Chirnside through the open countryside; through fields and forests alike. It was the simplest of ideas and it yielded some of the most amazing results.

The sights

I had a muddy start. When leaving the village of Reston and embarking on the route, make sure you have good footwear on as in the autumn, it will be muddy. But thankfully, the mud gives way to grass, and you follow a corridor of nature all the way to a farm, with glorious green grass as your floor and walls of golden-brown hedges on either side.

After some farm buildings, you see the main feature – the dismantled railway line. Turned into a footpath, as so many are, it surrounds you with bushes and trees of all kinds as you walk through pure nature. But be careful as some parts in the wetter season are a bit boggy.

The sounds

Pheasants crowed loudly as they take off, startled by my approach. They were so well hidden that even if you went looking for them, you probably wouldn’t find them. When reaching a part of the path with no trees beside it, there was a funny noise. Was it the noise of powerful electricity from overhead cables? No, there are no huge pylons around. Was it some sort of engine or farm machinery? Possible, but no.

Instead, it was the sound of legions of geese in a field, all taking off and landing, their wings flapping so powerfully that they emitted such a rapid noise that was heard from a short distance away. There must be hundreds of them, all occupying the field.

At the top of an incline, I stopped to take in the surroundings. It was a cool and cloudy day, darker than usual, but light enough to see and there’s nothing, only silence. Not silence from nature but silence from society. With the exception of the odd dog walker outside Reston, or the odd vehicle on a distant county lane, there’s not a sound from the everyday world. You are truly cut off from it. You have escaped and found peace and quiet in the natural world.

Racing against time

Crows cawed so loudly in a nearby woodland that they could be heard from a field or two away. Vast amounts of them, more than I’d ever seen together before.

As you continue along the embankment, the signs of autumn made their presence known. Bushes were yellow and golden instead of green, trees were stripped bare of all their leaves and the ground was wet from the rainier season. Closer to Chirnside, the ground was littered with bright red leaves, as if nature was rolling out the red carpet for the end, albeit a bit prematurely. Was this a sign of the foreshadowing danger? The blood of a tree that had shed its leaves? To me, it was the beauty and diversity of autumnal nature that enriches our lives and our walks.

Getting back before dark

But walking on, I past a huge bonfire a couple of fields away and past more woodlands, I became acutely aware of the encroaching darkness. Starting late due to work and public transport, despite it being a lovely walk, it was a race against time to reach Chirnside while it was still light. I did so by the skin of my teeth. This is the problem with autumnal walks. If you want to take long walks to see as many places as possible, you are severely time constrained. Nevertheless, thanks to good planning, it worked out well for this walk.

Although Scotland’s Great Trails are amazing walks, with stunning beauty, spare a thought for the countryside that isn’t a part of them. For every little path, woodland and field offers beauty, tranquillity and an escape that is nearly impossible to find anywhere else. The route I took from Reston to Chirnside is one of many across the country. By disappearing down these paths you can truly immerse yourself in nature and discover parts and gems of Scotland unseen by the vast majority of the people.