Section 6: Glenkinnon TO ABBOTSFORD

Bring your paddling adventure to a close with lively rapids and one of Scotland’s most famous residences.

Section 6: Need to know

Distance/time: approx. 8 miles/3 hours

River Grading: Level 1 & Level 2 (Fairnilee Rapids)

Start point: what3words: rules.tapers.clashing

End point: what3words: loudness.scoping.mirroring

Facilities: Abbotsford and the Great Tapestry of Scotland both have excellent restaurants a short drive (or walk plus bus journey) from the car park beneath Galafoot Bridge. Other facilities are available too at Galashiels Transport Interchange.

Public transport: For onward travel from the end of the canoe trail, look for Borders Buses 74 service (Galashiels to Balmoral) which stops at Heriot Watt car park, a five-minute walk away. Once at Galashiels Transport Interchange, find onward connections via train or bus to Edinburgh, Tweedbank or the Tweed Valley.

Section snapshot

A sweeping meander after elegant Ashiestiel Bridge and the river begins to stretch out between open farmland and pockets of trees.

Watch out for the rest stop identified on the map on the approach to Yair Bridge. At this well-placed get-out spot, paddlers can make the short walk across a farm field and through the gate up to the road bridge, from where the lively rapids at Fairnilee can be assessed. (NOTE: the horses that are sometimes kept in this field are adept at opening the gate, so please close securely, also using the attached rope.) Depending on water levels, the rapids are best approached via the left channel – not too close to the riverbank. If deciding not to tackle the rapids on your journey, transport boats further downriver via a nearby side road (B7060).

The short stretch of Grade 2 rapids at Fairnilee jettisons paddlers onto a wide passage of water, the hillsides of the Tweed Valley giving way to a much gentler landscape.

And later, just a few paddle strokes from the end of the trail, the unmistakable turrets of Sir Walter Scott’s Abbotsford appear through the trees (river right). It’s a fitting finale to a journey full of delights, a final wooden way marker signalling the end of the Tweed Valley Canoe Trail a little further on (river left).

Image credits: The Abbotsford Trust; Marc Marshall Photography