Swimming 122km of the River Tweed, Scottish Borders Day 2 Innerleithen – Yair

18th July 2021 –Innerleithen to Yair (16.87km stretch)

The day started early, with us placing the Kayaks into the water in the same location we had ended the day before. The hot soak in the Epsom salt bath had brought out the bruises and there were many from bouncing off the rocks the day before. This was going to become a theme for the adventure. Bruises on bruises, how colourful could we get?
I had agreed with the safety team that tow floats was not required as we had the boat crew on the water with visuals on the swimmers all within a comfortable ratio. Jane however had decided to bring her tow float the day before and this had proved to be a very wise decision. Not because of the safety visibility but as a cushion against the rocks.
A theme started emerging which we became very aware of. From our frog’s eye view of the water when we saw ripples we knew that shallow rapids were coming and braced ourselves for the rocky ride. There was no easy way, the water would turn us depending which rock we had bounced off and as a result sometimes we faced upstream and sometimes down, at the mercy of the river and the next rock.

I had packed my bright yellow float which was to make my ride through the swishy sections of the river a lot more comfortable. That is up until it popped after one lengthy relentless stretch of ‘rapids’.

Our starting point was under the bridge at Innerleithen next to the car park. It was tranquil with slow flowing open and deepish water which lulled us into a false sense of security, high on adrenaline and the battering of the day before forgotten. The weather was fabulous with the sun out and set to shine bright all day.

Innerleithen
The name “Innerleithen” comes from the Scottish Gaelic meaning “confluence of the Leithen”, because it is here that the river joins the Tweed.
The town is said to have been founded by an itinerant pilgrim monk called St. Ronan in A.D.737, who came to Innerleithen via the River Tweed in a coracle.
Accounts of Innerleithen date from the 12th century, when it was recorded as “Inverlethane”. It is said that a son of King Malcolm IV of Scotland (who was staying at Traquair House on a hunting trip), drowned accidentally in a deep pool at the confluence of the rivers Leithen and Tweed. The body was recovered by locals and taken to the church, in recognition of which the King bestowed the right of sanctuary to the land. The pool where the drowning is alleged to have taken place is still known locally as “The Droont Pool”. However, it should be borne in mind that Malcolm IV is reported to have died childless at the age of twenty-five, so the tale is questionable.

Today we had the fabulous paring of Amber and James. I loved how they just loved being on the river, guiding us to the deeper stretches, gently catching the current and being in the moment through the day.

Not long after we started, the river got interesting with the Leithen Water and the Stell Burn joining the Tweed on different banks. Although the inlets did not have great capacity of water the riverbed carries evidence of the past floods with rocks aligned in all different directions from the eddying of the water.
Along the stretch of the river to Walkerburn there was a slow steady flow with birds nesting in the banks and damsel flies bobbing on the water. We passed the rugby club which brought back memories of the 7’s and loosing balls to the river, as well as the ‘castle’. We also found our first big piece of industrial waste. An office chair wedged into the riverbed. The river proved to be remarkably litter free for most of our journey with the exception of the golf balls and a handlebar of a child’s bike which caused some damage and which I’ll mention on day 3.

After swimming under the road bridge which carries Caberston Road over the Tweed from Walkerburn Village we started on our long gentle stretch of the river which runs parallel to the A72. Along this stretch there were several fishing huts and deep pools which made for a good stretch of the arms and an open swim. James had let us know that he had persuaded his pal to raise his drone in one of the car parks along this stretch. Once spotted we had to sharpen our strokes as they were recorded on camera from the bird’s eye view.
With the heat the Sunday fisherman had abandoned their pursuit for most of the day with the fish being lethargic and swimming deeper in the pools. This made the swimming that much easier.

As we neared Peel, the site of the Peel Hospital, the Ashiestiel Bridge came into view with our band of supporters and photographers standing on the bridge as we swam under.

Peel Hospital
Peel House was designed by John Kinross and completed in 1904. In 1939, Peel Hospital was established as one of seven Emergency Hospital Service facilities for military casualties when Peel House was requisitioned from Lord Craigmyle. The wooden huts which had been erected during the war continued to be used for civilian purposes after the war. Additions included an administration block in 1949, a new operating theatre in 1957 and a new out patients’ facility in 1969. After services transferred to Borders General Hospital the hospital closed in 1988.

We continued our journey to Caddonfoot after which the gentle flowing river became evil. The next stretch was embedded with industrial rubble which altered the course of the river and supported the salmon fishing, creating a long stretch of shallow rapids. Tired from the day’s swim, this last stretch proved to be very challenging. My swim buddies Jane and Wendy and I bounced off the rocks with the river flowing too fast for a walk, and too low for a swim to avoid the rocks so we very unstylishly sloshed our way through to the Yair bridge where my ever-patient mom was waiting for us.

Yair
The name comes from the old Scots word for a fish trap. The estate is centred on Yair House, which is protected as a category A listed building. The nearby Yair Bridge is also category A listed.
Yair Bridge was constructed around 1764 and designed by the Edinburgh architect William Mylne (1734–1790). The three-arch stone bridge now carries the A707 across the Tweed.