ACCESS

In all the time I've been walking and wandering around the Borders I've never found it easy to get access to some of the most attractive places. For example the rivers. There are good reasons for this which I'll discuss in due course when I come to investigate land ownership more generally. For now I'm interested in the kinds of locks, clasps, hasps, bolts and other mechanisms that landowners or tenant farmers use to keep animals in a field and in some cases, again to be examined later, to keep people out. Here are some pictures from a recent walk up the back roads, yonder and beyond. Most of these methods of securing gates are common to sheep fields where the farmer isn't too bothered about who comes and goes, as long as you close the gate after you. A bit of orange 'tow' goes a long way (pronounced tau in Aberdeenshire where I come from).