EK News Article by Eric Kent:  The main walk was the Whita Hill a circular at Langholm (8.3 miles).The alternate walk was circular round the outlying areas of the village of Canonbie which is close to the Scottish border (8.5 miles). The weather on the day was mainly warm and sunny. The Coach stopped at Canonbie to drop off the alternate walkers who were trying out this new walk route at Canonbie. This village was the main population centre within the areas called the Debatable Lands when Scotland and England were separate Kingdoms. The Debatable Lands extended from the Solway Firth near Carlisle to Langholm in Dumfries and Galloway, the largest population centre  at that time was Canonbie. These Debateable Lands for over three hundred years were effectively controlled by local clans known as the Border Reivers such as the Armstrong’s and Elliot’s who  successfully resisted any attempt by the Scottish or English governments to impose their authority in this unique area. The walk started at the River Esk and continued northwards near to the river. Shortly after passing over the bridge at the Byre burn the route turns in a westerly direction along the locally known Fairy Loup track and its waterfall. Once through the trees the route turns south past Byreburnside farm and shortly past the farm as you rise the route turns west along a track with great views on a good day to the Bewcastle Fells and the Lake District Hills. The route follows down past the Rowanburnhead Farm and on to the award winning village of Rowanburn.  The village was originally a coaling mining village and a group of the residents got together and transformed the village into winning the best village award for two years running in 1995 and 1956. At the west end of the village the route goes south down past Rowanburnfoot and then west along the banks of the Liddel Water which for much of its course forms the border between Scotland and England This water was also one of the boundaries of the Debatable Lands. The route turns northwards again at the point called Willow Pool where the Liddel Water joins the river Esk. The walk up the river Esk follows the fishermen’s path and some way along this the walkers had difficulty with a herd of cattle which was blocking the pathway. After some deliberation they worked out a plan by going into an adjoining field a few of the party walked up well back from the cattle on the field side and came back down to the cattle and persuaded them to move down the path past the gate which allowed the main party and the cowpokes to get back on the river path. After the car park area the walk keeps to the river up to the Glebe and past the church wall and back to the bridge over the River Esk where the walk commenced.

The main walking party were dropped off at the area of Langholm which is close to the old station and textile mill factories and is adjacent to the Co-op Supermarket. Langholm was originally called Arkinholm and was made a Burgh in 1621. The town has long associations with the Lindsay and Armstrong’s and much of the land in the area is owned by the Duke of Buccleuch. Langholm is affectionately called “the Muckle Toon”, muckle means big in Scots and you may wonder why a town of 2500 souls merits this epithet. In the past, however, the population was much larger, and Langholm was an important market town and a centre for textiles and agriculture. After crossing the A7 the walk route followed road called Hall Path and keeping to the right along the way you come to the end of the houses and on to the Jennie Noble walk (This walk is name after an old lady who committed suicide by hanging herself in the Gill). At the point where the Noble route turns right in to the wooded Gill below we continue straight along the wooded lane until the end of the trees. After a few hundred metres the route heads left by an obvious track uphill on to the moorland and follows the track which turns close to the wooden telephone poles crossing the moor. The walking on this section over a rough track is hard as you continue to walk up the hill but is worth it for the views back towards the Langholm and the border hills and southwards to the Lake District and the edge of the North Pennines. If you are happy with the rough walking you can continue along following the poles and descend to the metalled road on one of many rough tracks before you come to the wooded area in the Glen or as we did walk down in to the Tarras Valley at the first descending track and walk along the metalled road to the bridge which crosses the Tarras Water and takes you up the Tarras Valley to Perterburn Farm where you can cross the Tarras Water again by a ford if the water level is not to high. Unfortunately the ford was not passable on the day of the walk and we had to turn back to Perterburn Farmyard and follow an alternative route to a footbridge which crosses the Tarras Water and this rejoins the track on the other side of the ford below Middlemoss farm. There is a lovely open feeling about this area, and in spring and summer you will usually hear curlew, skylarks and other birds. This remote area was used extensively by the Border Reivers who used the Tarras Moss as a retreat for their families and livestock as in the old days of the border warfare much of this area was not drained and the routes into it were not easy to find. From Tarras Rig edge we followed the metalled road up to the cairn and the metal open book memorial’s celebrating the life of the Poet Hugh MacDiarmid. From there we climbed up to the top of Whita Hill which is dominated by a massive monument to Major General Sir John Malcolm who was as soldier, statesman and Historian. The views from the top the hill are panoramic in all directions and especially the views down over Langholm and the Eskdale valley. From the top of the hill we had a steep descent down in to Langholm with wonderful views all the way down into the Town and the end of the walk. We travelled back on the Coach to the village of Canonbie where we joined the other walkers who were enjoying their social hour w in the village hostelry.