Tibbie Shiels Inn and St Mary's Loch

The walk begins from Tibbie Shiels Inn. Nearby stands the monument to James Hogg, whose benign face gazes south across Loch of the Lowes. The route continues north alongside the quiet A708, reaching Cappercleuch with its church nestling beside Megget Water.

Further on you arrive beside St Mary's Kirkyard (containing tombs of local families and Covenanters, alongside Binram's unhallowed mound). Passing a resident colony of black-headed gulls, a path leads up to Dryhope Tower (a 16th-century tower house with 4-foot-thick walls, former home of border reiver Walter Scott of Harden and his wife Mary, 'The Flower of Yarrow').

Crossing a footbridge over Yarrow Water, the path follows the loch contours past Bowerhope Farmhouse (once part of the vast royal Ettrick Forest). Continuing along the hillside — a route allegedly walked by Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745 — you pass through March Wood, a tiny oasis of Scots pine.

The walk concludes back at the Tibbie Shiels Inn, named after landlady Tibbie Shiel, who famously remarked of regular customer James Hogg: "He was a gey sensible man for a' the nonsense he wrat."

Acknowledgment: Text derived from the Out and Out Series; Discovering the Countryside on Foot. Pictures courtesy of Wikipedia.