Twin Law, Longformacus

Among the many random ways that I find my walks, the ‘Walk Highlands’ website is an absolute gem. This is one of their walks and you can find an excellent step-by-step photographic guide on their website, but I still feel compelled to write my own experience up on here because this was probably one of my favorite family hikes from last year and if you are looking for a straight-forward, mid length, family friendly hill-hike then this might just be the one for you. The round trip is marked as 11km and I remember when I first read through it, I was unsure if it was going to be too big an undertaking for my crazy bunch, but in reality, you would struggle to find a simpler, more rewarding Lammermuir hike.

The starting point for this hike is the car park at the Watch Water reservoir. This is an active fishery quite literally in the middle of nowhere, the nearest place being the tiny village of Longformacus which sits right on the cusp of East Lothian, close to Scottish Borders territory and the town of Duns. The fishery has a small car park- you are expected to pay £5 per vehicle, and bring cash- on our visit the small fishing hut was unoccupied but it was clear that we were to pop a fiver into a brown envelope with our car reg and post it through a little letter box.

Walking along the Watch Water- the WRONG way!

Right at this very starting point we made a time-costly but heart-warming error. We walked past the wooden fishing hut and along the banks of the reservoir. It was a glorious summers day, the water glistened like crystal and with the exception of one or two people fishing, we had the place to ourselves. The kids and dogs, as usual, did their best to disturb the peaceful ambience, launching rocks into the water, frolicking in the shallows and generally enjoying being free. The Souther Upland Way runs parallel to the Watch Water reservoir and I had assumed we would be able to reach it from the end of the water but having traversed the whole length of the reservoir it soon became apparent that this is not the case. We were forced to retrace our steps all the way back to the car park and start again.

Playing in the shallows at the reservoir

So if you want to avoid a scenic detour at this early stage, you should exit via the gate to the rear of the car park. From here you should turn left and follow the road as it passes through farmland, greeting the inquisitive sheep and tip-tapping over the cattle grid as you go. Eventually the road ends at farmhouse and a couple of stone cottages. Pass through the gate and continue past the buildings and through a little wooded copse. The path forks at this point, ignore the right hand spur, instead continuing straight, following signposts for the Southern Upland Way. The path continues on through an area of scrubland until eventually meeting with a road. Turn left onto the road as it progresses uphill through the surrounding moors. Not far from this point you will cross a bridge over the Watch Water River. Just before this, be sure to keep your eyes on the right hand side verge- there is a small standing head stone with an inscription reading “There is no water in the Lammermuirs sweeter than John Dippie’s Well- Keeper Rawburn 1865-1897" This is apparently the site where a groundskeeper of times gone by stashed his whiskey, presumably to get himself through some harsh cold days on the hills! It is a cute little spot and opting to climb on the outside of the bridge makes for a more adventurous crossing than sticking to the boring road!

Now on the Southern Upland Way- the RIGHT way!

Crossing the bridge (Note that path in the background- this is the alternative way back if you choose to do a loop)

This section of the walk is pretty unremarkable save for the slightly eerie feel of walking a dead quiet, straight road in the middle of the moors, you might find a couple of straggling sheep for company but apart from that you are basically devoid of any signs of civilization. A couple of hundred meters or so of climbing steadily uphill (relying on my slightly selective memory!) you will find a path to the right obviously signposted for the Souther Upland Way. Take this turn off and increase your social isolation even further as you head straight into the heart of the Lammermuirs. The grassy path is well maintained and you won’t get lost although a decent pair of walking boots is recommended. Looking back from whence you came will afford some truly stunning views back over the Watch Water Reservoir and eventually as you continue onwards, the first huge stone cairn- your destination, will become visible on the horizon. There is a wee stone wall with a stile to scramble over, and then all that’s left is to get yourself to the cairns.

Looking back towards the Watch Water from the Southern Upland Way

As you might guess from the name, there are two identical ‘twin’ cairns with a trig point between them. These cairns are seriously cool (and a brilliant bribe for reluctant hill walkers!)- they are absolutely huge, each with a small alcove you can enter and sit inside. The first one contains a sealed ammo box with a log book to sign and on our visit it also contained a handful of individually wrapped sweeties and some other random novelties. The kids absolutely LOVED raiding this, so if you can, try and remember to bring something you can leave- that lovely gesture from previous hikers bought a lot of happiness to my little family and next time we come I plan to repay the favour in kind. Also, see if you can spot our comment in the logbook!

Legend has it that the cairns were built in honour of two twin brothers, separated in infancy and raised on two opposing sides, one Saxon and one Scot. A great battle on the hills lead them to unwillingly lead armies against each other, and both perished side by side. The story is commemorated in a poem, immortalised in stone at the entrance to the cairns:

“And they biggit twa cairns on the heather
And they biggit them round and high
And they stand on the Twinlaw Hill
Where they twa brithers lie.”

We had a wonderfully windswept picnic here, contemplating this legend, under the shelter of the little stone walls in the shadow of the first cairn, before bagging the trig, exploring the second cairn and taking a million photographs that could never do the place justice.

I could have stayed here for hours, amongst the rugged heather and under the magical melody of the local skylark, with just me and my favourite people. It is a memory I hold really dear, I honestly absolutely loved this place.

To find your way home, simply reverse the walk. It is possible to take an earlier right hand turn off the main road, which leads you to approach the reservoir on the other side- this lead you up higher and probably affords nice views over the water but by this point, the little legs accompanying me were done with climbing ‘up’ so we just re-traced our steps all the way back to the car.

...Just a final completely random anecdote to leave you with because obviously, following this epic adventure of ancient battles and secret hill treasure, the main thing my boys remember from this walk is that I accidently stood on some roadkill on our approach back to carpark. They thought this was hilarious, to the point that (memorably) our drive home consisted of a continual back seat chorus of 4 boys singing a self-composed song about how ‘Mum stood on a dead hedge-hog'... on repeat-... all the way home. Ah, the joys!

Habbie’s Howe and Peggy’s Pool- The Allan Ramsay Heritage Trail Red Route, Carlops