9.2 miles 3h 37min ascent 344m
The Silver Jubilee Road, which from its name must date back to 1977, was to be a multi-use (vehicles, horses, legs) trail in the beautiful Tweedsmuir hills. There were to be seven stops: Covenanter’s View; Auchenmode Burn; Roebuck’s Leap; Laird’s Cleuch Rigg; Blackcock Knowe; Overmenzion Way; and Fruid Outlook. Each presumably would have had a small car-park, information board and picnic table.
Reality is a little different. The route is now a forestry track, closed to ‘unauthorised vehicles’. Its surface is rather muddy in the south-eastern section but looks to have been re-surfaced elsewhere, and quite recently. A logging lorry passed us as we set off on our walk.
Unfortunately we had drizzle all day so the views were somewhat limited.
The original plan for the Tweedsmuir Silver Jubilee Road.
And to go off at a tangent…..the name of the walk took me back to 1977 and the RAF Silver Jubilee review at RAF Finningley. I went to the show with a couple of friends and we decided to go on the Royal day rather than public day which meant climbing the fence. Those were different times when a bunch of teenagers in jeans and T-shirts could find themselves walking through crowds of officers and their wives dressed to the nines without anyone batting an eyelid. I was 16 in 1977. I recall it as a sunny day, but don’t have any photos. There were a f great many fly-pasts saluting the Queen and I particularly remember Jet Provosts in the shape of ’25’. There are photos online and I came across a youtube video from the event. It gets to the aircraft after 5 minutes or so…the video has a Pathé News vibe that seems more 1950s than 1970s
