Hawick Reivers Festival 2013

**cessna152towser** · 24th March 13, 07:37 AM

This year's event was a rather muted affair due to the unseasonally cold weather with snow showers throughout the weekend and temperatures hovering around freezing point. Usually my Jacobite shirt provides sufficient top cover with my Olive Grey Cargo Freedom Kilt for wearing to the Reivers Festival but this year it was necessary to wrap up well in several extra layers.

The weekend kicked off with a superb Scocha concert in the Town Hall on Friday evening when visitors from France, Germany, USA and Japan were welcomed to the event. Saturday morning a few musicians in medieval costume were already to be found lurking around Drumlanrig's Tower, a 16th century tower house, founded by the Douglas family.

Here's a view of the musicians in action.

The Warden of the Middle March musters his Halberdiers and other followers.

The Reivers are riding into town.

More horses

A reluctant husky.

Horse and Rider at the medieval market.

Spinning yarn at the medieval market.
A good time had by all despite the chill.

**McClef** · 24th March 13, 08:24 AM

Great pictures Alex - Hawick folk are a hardy breed!

**JonathanB** · 25th March 13, 02:23 AM

That's a bit of a disappointment for you, but the photos show it all going ahead with lots of smiles in the snow-free streets of Hawick.

I'm glad everyone looks as though they're enjoying themselves.

**creagdhubh** · 25th March 13, 05:00 AM

Wonderful photos, Alex! Thanks for sharing, mate.

Best wishes,

**JonathanB** · 25th March 13, 05:29 AM

As a matter of interest, would people in Hawick say they live in the Lowlands? I know they do in so far as they aren't in the Highlands, but the Southern Uplands (as they call it on my road atlas) are spectacularly wild and rugged. They don't seem very low to me by southern English standards - they even make Dartmoor look a bit suburban.

"Southern Uplands" sounds a bit artificial. Is that the term you'd use living there?

**Jock Scot** · 25th March 13, 05:40 AM

Originally Posted by JonathanB

As a matter of interest, would people in Hawick say they live in the Lowlands? I know they do in so far as they aren't in the Highlands, but the Southern Uplands (as they call it on my road atlas) are spectacularly wild and rugged. They don't seem very low to me by southern English standards - they even make Dartmoor look a bit suburban.

"Southern Uplands" sounds a bit artificial. Is that the term you'd use living there?

The Highlands start (going West to East)as a rough guide, just north of Glasgow(about a third of the way up Loch Lomond) runs through Perth and ends up at about Stonehaven on the East coast, there are some minor adjustments north of that on the east coast, but basically anything north of the Loch Lomond/Perth/Stonehaven line is the Highlands

**JonathanB** · 25th March 13, 05:46 AM

I'd worked that out - indeed I was surprised when I had a trip driving all round Scotland, how much of the Lowlands are on the East coast, and how far up.

But the country between the Border and Edinburgh doesn't look very low. I get the impression non-Scots overlook the Borders region and I wondered how those who live there, like Alex, thought of themselves, particularly since it is spectacularly beautiful and full of historic interest.

**Jock Scot** · 25th March 13, 05:50 AM

Originally Posted by JonathanB

I'd worked that out - indeed I was surprised when I had a trip driving all round Scotland, how much of the Lowlands are on the East coast, and how far up.

But the country between the Border and Edinburgh doesn't look very low. I get the impression non-Scots overlook the Borders region and I wondered how those who live there, like Alex, thought of themselves.

I know what I would say, and I think I know what Alex would say. However, Alex can speak for himself.

**cessna152towser** · 25th March 13, 09:03 AM

"Southern Uplands" sounds a bit artificial. Is that the term you'd use living there?

Yes, just about everywhere in Scotland south of the Central Lowlands is popularly known as the Southern Uplands.
Most of the area comprises gently rolling hills rising to 1,000 or 1,500 feet though a few peaks rise to around 2,500 feet.
Here in Hawick the town centre is in the valley of the River Teviot, with the High Street at 350 feet above sea level. I live on the outskirts of town, up one side of the valley at an altitude of 550 feet. You can see the difference in the photos where I have a dusting of snow in my garden while the town centre was free of snow. The town is surrounded by hills which rise above the 1,000 foot contour.
The rolling hills of the Southern Uplands are perhaps less dramatic than the rugged Highland peaks but the area has a charm of its own with the lovely sandy beaches of the Solway Coast, many mountain bike trails through the forests, some picturesque lochs and of course all the history of border warfare with many surviving castles and tower houses, also the historic abbeys of Melrose, Dryburgh, Jedburgh and Kelso.
Hawick markets itself as "Scotland's Heritage Capital" because of the number of historic attractions and its excellent genealogy reserarch centre and we do get a lot of international tourists through. However from reading posts on xmarks it seems that many visitors from North America land at either Edinburgh or Glasgow airports in the central belt and then head north to the Highlands, missing out on a large part of Scottish scenery and history.

**JonathanB** · 25th March 13, 11:54 AM

Thanks, Alex. I've been to Melrose, Abbotsford and Jedburgh a long time ago, which is why I knew a bit about the area. Given my enthusiasm for the novels of Walter Scott, I think I must try a trip there some time soon.