Time – allow 2 hours
Distance – 9 km/5.5 miles

A walk up into the Pentlands from West Linton but without the pain of too much climbing and with fine views of the hills around you, Mendick Hill in particular. The outwards path is almost all on good farm tracks and is well waymarked. One more difficult section where the path is narrow with a steep slope to one side. The route climbs gently with no particularly steep sections. The return section is on a quiet public road.

Route: Start/finish – West Linton

Leave the village by walking up the Loan, [1] which is the unmade road leading uphill directly opposite the Gordon Arms and to the right of the Manor Garage. This route up as far as Baddinsgill forms part of the Cross Borders Drove Road. 

Continue up the Loan past all the houses and on into open countryside, with good views of Mendick Hill to the south. To your left you will notice extensive new planting in the adjacent field. This is ‘Roamer’s Wood’, a community project to provide mixed native woodland and space for community activities. As the project develops, the Wood will provide a pleasant detour from the main path.

After 1.5 km, a track joins from the left. [2] Turn right at this point (signposted ‘Carlops/Baddinsgill via Stoneypath’) and continue for 500m along this section of the old Roman Road, then turn left (signposted ‘Little Vantage via Baddinsgill’) just below the Sillar Holes, [3] following the track round and through Stoneypath Farm, where you may need to negotiate several gates if the farmyard is in use.

Once past the farm, the track runs steadily upwards for 2 km before dropping down again, with Baddinsgill House visible in the trees ahead of you. Descend until level with the junction of the wire fence on your downhill side (to your left) and a stone wall [4]. Pass through the gate in the wire fence at this point (lift it out of its sockets and slide it). Below you, you will see a set of wooden duckboards leading down the slope towards the Lyne Water and a wooden footbridge some 400m upstream which you will shortly need to cross [5]. Ignore the duckboards as they are unsafe, instead following the line of the wall to get down to the Lyne Water.

Once down to the water, pass through a gate, cross a short stretch of meadow and then follow the riverbank upstream. Cross the footbridge, bearing right across a meadow and then turning back left and up the slope, which brings you out onto the West Linton to Baddinsgill road.

Turn left and head back down along the road all the way back to the village (4 km) – a bit of a trudge but if the weather is clear, there will be good views ahead of you of the Moorfoot and Cloich Hills. The road is usually quiet as it is a dead end at the top.

500m past the Golf Club, you will pass Medwyn Park on your left – shortly after this, you can leave the road and walk the last few hundred metres through the woods to the left of the road, before reaching to A702 200m south of the Gordon Arms.