Scotland to England by Foot: An Unforgettable Experience
As a postgraduate student here at University of Leeds, one of the things I do to ease academic stress is hiking. My first hiking experience was to Whitby, Yorkshire and I absolutely enjoyed the day out experiencing nature at its best. I attend these events with a group on campus called Get Out Get Active (GOGA). I then later joined the group as a volunteer.
GOGA is a group run by students for students, who put together different programmes of activities that provide opportunities to explore the amazing countryside in England and Scotland. As a volunteer, I get to discover interesting places in the UK and make new friends from different countries of the world.
I chose a 3-hour walk from Burnmouth (Scotland border) to Berwick-upon-Tweed (England border) because I wanted to find out what it feels like to move from Scotland to England on-foot (weird! I know. 🙂 ) as well as see the natural environment (coast) that borders both countries.
It took us approximately 3-hours to drive from Leeds to Burnmouth where we began the hike. We began hiking at about 10:30 in the morning from Burnmouth located at the east coast of Scotland and it was a cold, windy, and sunny Sunday morning, which is typical of the UK sometimes from my experience so far!
At the beginning of the walk, we passed-by a harbour leading us to a tiny little path in between holiday homes and into the woods. We walked for about 30 minutes through a muddy paths in the woods before bursting out to a grassland nearby a rail track. The walk over the grassland lasted for more than two hours with different scenery of farmlands, the North Sea, grazing path, gulf courses, magnificent holiday cottages, rocks, and of course the Scotland-England border.
The grassland was bordered by a rail track to the right and North Sea on the left offering us wonderful view of the sea. There was also a rainbow in the cloud at some point during the walk and we all stopped to take some pictures using the rainbow as a background. The experience was fun because most of the people on the walk were international students who had maybe never saw a rainbow before! Lol!
After about a 1-hour walk on the grassland, we got to the Scotland-England border where I took some pictures at the Scotland exit platform and England entry point. I must confess it was not really what I thought it will be as I have imagined in my head. I thought there will be some grand design at the border giving the fact that the grassland path is a hiking route. However, it still felt nice and cool being at Scotland-England border on-foot and being able to see what it looks like.
At about 2pm, we got to Berwick-upon-Tweed, the northernmost town in England completing the Scotland-England hike and I treated myself to a hot haddock (fish) and chips (made at a family restaurant) which I forgot to take a picture of. I guess I was too hungry to remember to take the picture.
The trip back to Leeds was quiet as we were all tired. We got to Leeds around 6pms. It was a fun and exciting experience and if there is one thing that will not make you home sick, hiking is.
Try hiking! You should!