Duns Law
This is a short circular walk (7km) from Duns, the historic county town of Berwickshire. We had a quick look round the marketplace before we set off and found the Mercat Cross, a statue to Wojtek the Soldier Bear, and a nicely preserved ghost sign. Wojtek’s statue was gifted to the town by the people of Zagan in Poland in 2016. The Syrian brown bear was adopted by the Polish Army in 1942 in Iran. During the battle of Monte Cassino in 1944 he helped carry shells to the guns, as shown here, then at the end of WW2 he stayed with the Polish Army at Winfield in Berwickshire. Wojtek moved to Edinburgh Zoo in 1947, where he died in 1963.
From the centre of Duns, we made our way to the archway at the entrance to the grounds of Duns Castle.
Just inside, a woodland path led up to the 218m summit of Duns Law. As we climbed, we could see the castle gateway below us with the Cheviot Hills behind it.
On the hill’s flat summit is a Covenanters’ Stone, which marks the spot where General Alexander Leslie raised the Covenanters’ standard in 1639 in defiance of King Charles I’s imposition of Episcopalianism on his Scottish subjects.
We descended part-way, then struck off across the flank of the hill where we passed a stone on the site of the old town of Dunse (sic), destroyed in the border raids of 1588. We could also see the castle peeking through the trees below us.
We tried to make our way down to the grounds of the castle, which we did with some difficulty. We formed the impression that not many people did this walk – the path was very overgrown and we felt we were hacking our way through at times. Once we got down, the walk through the castle’s woods was very muddy and not especially picturesque. However, we saw some lovely swans and the Neo-Gothic castle itself definitely was picturesque.
From the castle, we headed down the drive and through a different archway to the road, from which it was a short walk back to our car in the marketplace.
Linked to Jo’s Monday Walks.
The Glasgow Gallivanter 
Very insightful, gave a view from home, amazing
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Thank you.
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Lovely shots looking down the hill toward the castle. As for the overgrown, muddy path, I’ve often found on my rambles that most people must only walk the first 1-2 km. of a hike, as the rest of the path is often not well-travelled.
Jude
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I think that’s true! We always comment that a short distance from the car park is enough to lose all but the most dedicated.
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Aw, poor Wojtek! I always feel so sorry for trained bears, or any kind of wild animal that is forced to perform. Even old pottery showing bears with a chain through their nose depresses me. It is a lovely looking castle though.
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Yes, it’s a sad story, especially as he ended up in a zoo.
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What a beautiful walk! The bear is very interesting. I enjoyed reading the pieces of history that you shared.
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Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
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What a gorgeous walk! Thanks for the photos…
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Thanks Ann, glad you liked them.
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Gorgeous 🙂
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Thanks! It was.
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It sounds like a wonderful walk and lovely views. Just a shame about the overgrown bits.
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Yes, the overgrown bits were less fun! But the rest was lovely.
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The bear really walked on hind legs carrying cannon shells?! How strange!!
Looks like a lovely walk, in spite of a little bushwhacking.
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Unlike Pooh, he was obviously not a bear of very little brain!
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Ha ha! Not a pooh bear at all.
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Law is such a great name for mound . . and what a wonderful day you had. Think we are all going to appreciate our days out so much more at the end of this
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We certainly are!
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Looks like a lovely area to enjoy a good walk. Interesting story about the bear. Alexander Leslie was quite a character. – Earl of Leven and a Field Marshall in the Swedish Army.
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Interesting! Quite a combination
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This area looks so beautiful and green and you had the perfect day for walking. I’ve never heard of a bear being used in wartime. How interesting.
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It was a lovely day, and nice to look back on now.
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Yet another interesting looking place I’ve driven past on the way to a nondescript hill climb with friends.
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Not sure we’d been before, but I always love wandering about these little towns.
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Very familiar with Wojtek the bear. We have a couple of family members with that name too 🙂 🙂 Not so familiar with Duns, Anabel. A place I’ve only bypassed. Sorry for my late appearance here. On our first night of returning to ‘normal’ a neighbour had booked a table at a local restaurant for us. No dessert, you’ll be happy to know 🙂
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A restaurant! That’s almost an amazing concept now. The rest must have been very good to prevent dessert.
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His fridge cabinet is on the blink and he can’t afford to replace it till he earns some money, Anabel. The reality! We could have had fresh fruit, or pudim flan (sort of like creme caramel but solider, and I have to be in the right mood 🙂 ) We were euphoric at being out.
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Ah, that explains it! No cake sounds very un-Jo.
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It’s odd the county is Berwickshire, given that Berwick on Tweedis in England. Or is there another Berwick in the county?
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Ah, but it was in Scotland when the county was created! We’re talking 15C or so I think.
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When we visited Berwick some years ago a good proportion of the locals (but not all) were in favour of transferring back to Scotland. At the moment I think you need to annex the whole of the north of England and then declare unilateral independence to get us a way from that set of clowns making a big mess of,the current situation 🏴
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I seem to remember there was a petition from the north of England about the time of indyref asking us to take them with us! As a northern lass in origin it would suit me fine, but we bottled it.
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I didn’t want the Scots to leave usin the lurch – but now, well good luck to you. The English deserve what we get. 😞
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I felt that way for a long time till I looked at the stats and realised how few times Scottish MPs made a difference to election results. I think one of the 1974 elections was the last time. The English left really has to get its act together and I’m not sure Keir Starmer is the answer.
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Blair light 😬
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Hi, Anabel – It’s incredible how far away holidays from this past summer now seem. Thank you for keeping us travelling virtually.
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Isn’t it! It’s good to look back though.
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Wherever you go you seem to find so many interesting things to see. 🙂
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A bit harder these days!
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That is true. 😦
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A lovely walk (except for having to hack through in places) and the castle is great, although I really like the smaller building at the entryway. Some great views as well.
janet
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It’s really great to have these posts to look back on what we could do last year!
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😉. Mine is from last week, but o know what you mean. I like your blog name, BTW.
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Thanks!
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What an interesting story of Wojtek the bear and the walk to Duns Castle looks fabulous. Were you able to do this recently?
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This was part of our summer holiday last year, so too far away at the moment, unfortunately.
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Yes, way too far away. It feels like forever since I’ve been anywhere. My last trip was to Charleston, SC in November. Luckily, I made a short weekend trip to Baltimore right before all this hit the fan. I’m itching to get going somewhere, anywhere really! 🙂
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We had 3 nights away between Christmas and New Year. That was our last trip, two cancelled since.
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It’s all such a bummer. As much as I try to be positive, I’m having a hard time. As I’m not getting any younger, I feel cheated out of a good year of travel while I’m still able. I’m sure many people feel cheated out of many things during all of this: businesses and livelihoods lost, health lost, lives lost, rituals (graduations, weddings, etc) foregone. It’s frustrating and even tragic.
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I know. I’m glad I’m not young – I’ve been lucky to have had my life the way it is rather then the prospect those just starting out have.
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Me too! My heart breaks for young people who have their whole lives ahead of them, but filled with such uncertainty.
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Hi Anabel – yes as you mention in your reply to Jonno – so interesting to see the things we find out … I didn’t have much time to look around the area when I was up nearer Haddington … but a really good walk you managed. Fascinating bit of history … take care -Hilary
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Thanks Hilary, it’s a nice area to walk around.
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I like the view of the castle gateway and love the Soldier Bear’s story, but why did I read Meercat for Mercat?! 🙂
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Sorry if you were expecting cute furry creatures!
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What a great day out. Duns Castle looks great and the Soldier Bear and his story is just amazing. We love walks when there is so much to learn and so much history to experience. Brilliant.
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Yes, I love finding out these quirky pieces of local history. I had heard of Wojtek because there’s an opera about him which the music students used to borrow when I worked in an academic library, but I had no idea of the Berwickshire connection.
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