Hardens Hill to Jeanie's Wood

The Location

Hardens hill is about 2 miles west of Duns, in the Scottish Borders. The walk takes you past a wind farm, along farm tracks and through woods

What's there

A hilly 5 mile walk. No facilities on route, but the town of Duns is close by. This walk takes you through farmland where dogs must be on a lead. The walk itself is strenuous and difficult to describe, so it would be very advisable to take a good map with you.

How to get there

Postcode for Satnav - TD11 3NS. This is for Hardens Hill house, on the left just before the parking area.
Duns is signposted from both the A1 and the A697 routes through the borders.
From the centre of Duns, head south on the A6105 for Greenlaw for about 1 mile, until you see a right hand turn, signposted 'Golf course', 'Longformacus'. Turn right here and follow this road past the golf course then for about another mile until you see a pine forest on your right, with a radio mast above it. Park up in the small, unmade parking area at the entrance to the forest.

The Walk

You can see a map of the route here.
From the parking area, take the track that runs through a gate and alongside the wood, not the track through the woods. Follow this track up past the radio masts, then down alongside an eathern bank with a fence on your left, until you reach the windmill track. Turn right onto the windmill track, and follow the main track right up to the 'T' junction. You will be walking close to the windmills, so be careful in winter as ice can form on the blades and spin off as they turn.

Copyright Richard Webb and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Turn right at the 'T' junction then turn left through a field gate after about 100 yards and follow this path alongside a wood, and past the ruined Commonside Farm.

Copyright Michael Anderson and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

This path eventually joins the Southern Upland Way. Follow the Southern Upland Way for a short distance past a long, narrow wood on your right. At the very end of the wood you will see a track heading off on the right. Take this track, and follow the field line right along the top of the woods for about 1.5 miles, then at the end of the woods, turn right onto a trackway.

This trackway heads down and over a small burn. Just past the burn, find a path that leads through the trees and back up to a trackway over the fields. You are doubling back on yourself here for a short distance, on the other side of the burn. Head upwards along the field margin until you reach a small wood, then head back down along the field margin to the roadway to Knock farm. Turn left along this road (away from the farm) and follow the road for about 200 yards until you see a wood on your right called Birkenside Dean.
Follow the path down through the wood, cross over the stream by a bridge, then over a short open space to another wooded area. Walk down the right side of this area, with Plendernethy hill on your right, then turn right and cross over to Jeanie's wood, finding an entrance track a short way down the side of the wood. 200 yards along this track, take a right hand turn and follow the path through the woods for about another 2 miles until you read the car park.