Borders Abbeys Way

Start: Tweedbank Railway Station
Grid Ref: NT 523 348
End: Tweedbank Railway Station
Grid Ref: NT 523 348
Distance: 109 km (68 miles)
Walking Time: 6 days
Counties Traversed: Scottish Borders
OS Explorer™ Maps: 331, 338, 339, OL16

The Borders Abbeys Way is a circular trail of 68 miles connecting four of Scotland’s grandest ruined medieval abbeys: Melrose, Dryburgh, Kelso and Jedburgh. The route passes through the stunning landscapes of the Scottish Borders following part of the Tweed Valley, riverside paths, forest tracks and open hills.

The route, which is fully waymarked, is easily accessed and can be completed as a series of stand-alone day walks or in six contiguous stages averaging 11.3 miles per day. There is a good choice of accommodation, and refreshments are available as you pass through the pleasant towns of Melrose, Kelso, Jedburgh, Hawick and Selkirk, and the villages of Newtown St Boswells and Denholm. The route is mainly low-level easy walking and offers unspoilt scenery and plentiful historic interest.

The six day-walk stages are as follows:
Tweedbank to Newtown St Boswells via Melrose – 4.8 miles
Newtown St Boswells to Kelso – 15 miles
Kelso to Jedburgh – 13.5 miles
Jedburgh to Hawick – 13.1 miles
Hawick to Selkirk – 12.6 miles
Selkirk to Tweedbank – 8.9 miles
Bed and Breakfast accommodation is available at the following locations.
Melrose, St Boswells, Kelso, Jedburgh, Denholm, Hawick, Selkirk, and Galashiels.

The Cicerone guidebook also includes sections describing the history of the Borders abbeys, the Borders reivers, agriculture and country estates in the Borders, geology and nature, getting to and from the Borders Abbeys Way, and information on accommodation. The route is fully described and supported with OS 1:50,000 scale map extracts. There are numerous colour photographs.
The Rucksack Readers guidebook is equally comprehensive in content and is spiral bound and printed on rainproof paper which some walkers may see as a practical advantage on the trail. The mapping at 1:55,000 scale is not Ordnance Survey, but the actual route clarity is better.
Both guidebooks are available from our bookshop. Click here.