St. Boswells to Jedburgh along the St. Cuthbert’s Way

Walking through one of the beautiful woodland sections covered in flowers

St. Boswells to Jedburgh

14.7 miles, Ascent: 1150 ft./350 m

This section is lovely. We walked through forests of flowers, past churches, a sprawling green golf course, and a bubbling river with swans and fly fisherman. It was probably the most pleasant day of walking on the journey.

The path along the River Tweed

As you leave St. Boswells you follow the road out of town until you reach the golf course. The path is mainly short grass and is well shaded as soon you reach the River Tweed. The grass path follows the length of that section of the river and makes up about a quarter of the day's trek. 

When you leave the river, you enter a forest with a wide dirt path that gently winds up the hill. This portion was breathtaking in mid-May, the flowers were sprawled along the path, up the hills, and around every corner. This section was well shaded because of the trees. The terrain was consistent, with only a few wooden steps in steeper parts. When you reach the top, you step out the forest onto a country road and pass a functioning old stone church with headstones nicely placed in its grounds, and then walk alongside grain fields.

Walking through the forest track

The gradual descent was the same wide spongy dirt path as the ascent we crossed over streams, flowers blanketed the ground, and the path wound pleasantly to Harestanes.

Coming out of the forest track, you pass the Harestanes Visitor Center. From here you can call a taxi to take you the 4 miles into Jedburgh, or walk down the quiet country road into town. These 4 miles are NOT part of St. Cuthbert’s Way, so it adds mileage to your day! We chose to walk the 4 miles and then take a taxi back to the trail in the morning.

There were lots of benches, anywhere you would want one there was one. We always say, “don’t ever walk past a bench, you never know where the next one will be”. But on this occasion, we did not take our own advice. We passed them all and did not see another bench until we reached Holy Island.

Augustinian Abby Jedburgh

Jedburgh is a large market town with a stunning abbey, the grandest of all the abbeys along St Cuthbert’s Way. The Abbey was closed on Sundays, as were most of the restaurants and pubs. Luckily the host at the Meadhon Guest House called the only sit-down restaurant open, The Carters Nest, and got us a reservation. I cannot tell you how nice it was to sit down and rest my feet after 14.7 miles.