A narrow drove road winds through empty grassland between smooth, rolling hills in the Southern Uplands

Regional library

Southern Uplands Library

Explore the published walking routes of the Southern Uplands and the Borders, with guides to the Donalds, local livestock, walking history, film locations and the making of the hills.

22guides currently selected7library sections

Hiking Route Guides

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3 guides

Route Guide1 GPX download

Tinto Hill via Fallburn

The standard north-ridge out-and-back from Fallburn to Tinto Hill's Bronze Age summit cairn.

24 Aug 2026Read Guide
Route Guide1 GPX download

Pennine Way: Edale to Kirk Yetholm

A strenuous 412.7 km main-route GPX from Edale to Kirk Yetholm, with 9,017 m of ascent, sixteen natural stages and enough moorland to recalibrate your idea of ‘a bit damp’.

17 Aug 2026Read Guide
Route Guide1 GPX download

Windy Gyle via Cocklawfoot

A direct out-and-back from Cocklawfoot to Windy Gyle and Russell's Cairn on the border ridge.

13 Aug 2026Read Guide

Hill Lists and People

Guide

The Dodds: When Three Regional Lists Became One Metric Classification

Between 500 and 600 metres sits a collection of hills that used to be split across Deweys, Donald Deweys and Highland Fives—until the idea emerged in 2014 to unify them under a single name that works across Britain.

02 Nov 2026Read
Guide

Simms: the hill category that tidied up the lists

If you've ever wondered why British hill lists seem unnecessarily complicated, Simms offer a rare moment of clarity. Introduced by Alan Dawson in 2010, a Simm is any summit over 600 metres with at least 30 metres of drop all round – a definition that consolidated several older, overlapping lists like Murdos, Corbett Tops, Graham Tops and Hewitts into something more coherent.

28 Sept 2026Read
Guide

The Donalds and Donald Tops: how the Scottish Lowlands got their own hill lists

The Scottish Mountaineering Club maintains two related but distinct classifications for Lowland hills over 2000 feet. Donald Tops include summits with at least 50 feet of drop, though those with less than 100 feet must also demonstrate sufficient topographical merit, while Donalds are a subset selected using an additional separation formula. Percy Donald's original tables started it all, giving the lower hills their own system separate from the famous Munros up north.

26 Sept 2026Read
Guide

Percy Donald and the Donalds: When Scotland's 2,000-Foot Lowland Hills Got a Name

Percy Donald compiled a list of Scottish Lowland hills over 2,000 feet, giving a name to summits south of the Highland Line that didn't qualify as Munros or Corbetts. The list is smaller, quieter, and still used by walkers who prefer less company.

13 Sept 2026Read
Guide

Marilyns: Why a 150-Metre Drop is the Real Test of a Hill

Think altitude is everything? See why a 150-metre drop identifies Britain’s 1,550 Marilyns, and how the list changed in 2025.

24 Aug 2026Read
Guide

The HuMPs: The Geography of Independence

Forget the highest peaks and look at the hills that stand on their own—this is the fascinating, mathematical world of the HuMPs.

24 Aug 2026Read
Guide

The Corbetts: Scotland’s 500-Foot Hill Climbing Obsession

While the Munros get the headlines, the 222 Corbetts offer a quieter route into the Scottish hills, each meeting a clear height and 500ft drop rule.

24 Aug 2026Read

Wildlife and Working Landscapes

4 guides

Guide

When midges attack: the case for repellent and a head net

If you've ever been swarmed by midges in the Scottish Highlands and wondered whether insect repellent or a head net might actually be worth the bother, here's a practical look at what works, what doesn't, and why sometimes looking slightly ridiculous is preferable to being eaten alive.

15 Oct 2026Read
Guide

Black Galloways: When the Belt Goes Missing

They're stocky, shaggy, and entirely black—Black Galloways are Belted Galloways' solid-coloured relatives. Same hardiness, same upland temperament, less conspicuous colouring when you're trying to spot them on moorland grazing.

04 Sept 2026Read
Guide

Belted Galloways: The Oreo Cattle of the Uplands

Black at both ends with a white middle, Belted Galloways look like someone designed them for maximum visibility. They're hardier than they look, and that belt isn't decorative—it's centuries of selective breeding for specific grazing conditions.

26 Aug 2026Read
Guide

North Country Cheviot

The North Country Cheviot is a white-faced, alert hill breed with Hill and Park types. The Hill or Lairg type was developed in Sutherland; the larger Park type in Caithness. Males can occasionally be horned under the UK standard.

19 Jul 2026Read

Long-Distance Walking

1 guide

Guide

Pennine Way

Britain's oldest and arguably toughest National Trail runs 268 miles along the Pennine backbone from Derbyshire to the Scottish Borders. We cover what makes this peat-bog-and-moorland marathon so demanding, how long it actually takes, and whether your first long-distance walk should really be quite this relentless.

17 Aug 2026Read

Landscape and Place Names

Guide

Why Scotland's Mountains Are Full of Mòrs and Beags

Once you know that "mòr" means big and "beag" means small in Scottish Gaelic, you'll spot this wonderfully pragmatic naming system all over Highland maps—because when you've got two similar lumps of rock next to each other, calling one the big version and one the wee version does the job without requiring ancient warrior legends or any particular imagination.

24 Oct 2026Read
Guide

Why Scottish mountains are called sgòr, sgùrr and stob

Ever wondered why Scottish mountains are called sgòr, sgùrr and stob? They're not random—they're Gaelic descriptions of what the peak actually looks like from below.

07 Oct 2026Read
Guide

How Britain’s Mountains Were Made

Britain’s mountains were created by ancient plate collisions, volcanic activity and movement along faults. Millions of years of weathering, rivers and ice then shaped them into the ranges and isolated hills hikers see today.

27 Aug 2026Read
Guide

The Language of Water

A guide to the Norse and regional water terms found across the British uplands—and what they can, and cannot, tell you about the terrain.

16 Jul 2026Read
Guide

Is it a hill, is it a fell, is it a mountain?

The UK’s names for high places—hills, fells, mountains and tors—reflect language and local custom, while the familiar 2,000-foot line is a hill-list convention rather than an official OS rule.

15 Jul 2026Read

Film Locations

1 guide

Guide

When the Avengers Moved to Scotland

The quiet fishing village of St Abbs became New Asgard in *Avengers: Endgame*. Explore the real Scottish coastline where Thor retreated after the battle with Thanos—and where superheroes are rather less common today.

29 Aug 2026Read

Access and Mountain Safety

1 guide

Guide

The Wild Camping Grey Area: Where You Can, Where You Can't, and Why Scotland's Different

Britain's wild camping laws are a proper muddle: you generally need permission in England and Wales, Dartmoor's commons offer a genuine legal right to pitch, and Scotland grants access across most land under its own statute. The confusion comes from assuming that permission to walk somewhere includes permission to sleep there, which it usually doesn't, and the legal ground shifts beneath your boots without so much as a signpost to warn you.

16 Aug 2026Read

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