Join Katharine Hay, The Scotsman rural affairs correspondent as she tours Scotland on foot. Meeting people along the way as she seek to find out what is going on in rural Scotland
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00:00 [Music]
00:18 So, almost two months into Hay's Way, I've arrived at Flores Castle, near Kelso, in the
00:28 Scottish Borders. The blossoms are out, I feel like summer is on the horizon, but it's certainly
00:35 not been a challenge-free walk with the weather, with some questionable moments with regards to
00:47 safety. This walk has been, if I'm going to be completely honest, it's been a little bit airy.
00:56 I'm sort of walking between, well alongside a railway line that goes between a golf course
01:03 and some sort of development, which also looks a bit like a golf course.
01:09 Yeah, there's just been no one around, and some strange noises.
01:17 [Footsteps]
01:35 Okay, so the strange noise was gunfire, because this is not a sort of strange development that
01:45 I thought it was on my left, it's a military training ground.
01:51 But other challenges, you know, it's not been like standing here in the sunshine with a really
02:00 chilled horse behind me. There's been a lot of really, really strong wind, that's been my
02:06 least favourite weather to walk in by far. I always prefer, you know, getting soaked as long
02:12 as there's no wind, because wind you can't hear anything if you're trying to talk to someone.
02:16 Sometimes I interview people whilst I'm walking, or just, you know, get background to a story,
02:22 or just get to know somebody, which has been really helpful. But yeah, when it's windy,
02:26 it's impossible.
02:28 And also just flooding as well, I mean I don't mind the rain, but when the ground is absolutely
02:41 soaked through, it's been really difficult to keep up pace, and not slide all over the place,
02:47 and not end each day being up to your knees in mud and cowpat. The weather has been, I mean,
02:54 standard thing to say in Scotland, but the weather really has been quite challenging.
02:59 I'm hoping now that we're in, you know, springtime, coming into summer, it's going to be a little bit
03:04 easier. Also just being on the road, trying to find places that have plugs, cafes that don't
03:10 mind you, you know, sitting in them and using up a table for a couple of hours here and there.
03:15 That's also, but actually I say that's been a challenge, that's always a sort of, I'm quite
03:20 shy in asking, but most people have been really accommodating and just been really friendly once
03:25 I've told them that I'm limited on options in that sense. There'll no doubt be more challenges,
03:33 probably ones that are worse than what I've just reeled off there, but I think
03:39 it's sort of part of it really. I think also just mentally it's been challenging at times,
03:49 walking quite long distances each day, it definitely does things to your mind.
03:58 I had one day where my mum came to surprise me and she called me at about 8pm one evening and
04:09 I was exhausted. I was trying to get to a hostel and I knew that it was just a bunk bed that I was
04:18 staying in and my phone was dying and she was driving nearby and said I'm somewhere near the
04:23 border, this was quite recently, and I was just in such a bad mood and just said, oh it's bad timing
04:29 and all this, but actually once I told her where to go, because I didn't actually really know where
04:36 I was going, I had to look up the address and it was so windy and I couldn't really,
04:41 my phone was dying and anyway it was all a bit stressful and that was definitely
04:44 presented all over my voice and face, but the minute we hung up and she was on her way,
04:52 about an hour drive away, I saw this swan rearranging its eggs in a nest and sitting on
05:01 them. It could have been the male, I think from what I understand the male sometimes takes over
05:06 the nesting duty, but it just made me think of motherhood really and I just realised I'd been
05:15 short with her and of course I wanted to see her and it's one of the best things ever is seeing a
05:21 familiar face, but not only that, but your mum's face, went out on the road and so I just cried
05:30 a lot. Some people said, oh did you video yourself? It's like no, when I'm crying I'm
05:35 really crying and I'm really, you know, I'm not thinking anything else, got to get it out, but
05:39 cried all the way to the hostel and yeah I think when I was just having a moment I thought this is
05:45 definitely linked to probably all this physical work and demands on the body and to kind of,
05:55 you know, mentally not always being so sure where I am and it was just an interesting episode which
06:01 I thought rather than documenting the moment, because I was having a moment, I just thought
06:07 I'd just talk about it, but yeah that's just an illustration of how it can mentally
06:14 sort of put you out of sorts really and I mean I get moody without doing walks but
06:20 it definitely can kind of, you get to a point of exhaustion where you're maybe not
06:24 not as your usual level-headed self perhaps.
06:29 I feel like this horse has just been quietly listening to everything, it's quite relaxing
06:37 actually.