Soutra Hill

Location: Soutra Hill, Scottish Borders

Grid Reference: NT 4593 5908

Height: 377m
Classification: Tump

Like every other person with a chronic illness, my health is variable. On a good day I can manage a whole mile (occasionally even two), other days I can barely manage 20 or 30 metres. It's on the latter type of day that the drive-by tump really comes into it's own. These are hills with roads running to, or near the summit. Sometimes this will be intentional - there might be a tourist route up to a viewpoint - but sometimes it's just circumstantial. 

Soutra Hill comes somewhere between the two. It's on the route of a historic road from Edinburgh to the borders, and while the modern A68 skirts to the east and the A7 to the west of the summit, the B6368 to Gilston runs over the top of the hill. The true summit is to the south of Soutra Mains Wood in a large farmers field, about 50 metres from the road. 

The hillbagger and I on the true summit of Soutra Hill

When we visited the summit the field was growing rough grass and thistles, so of course the hill bagger found the gate and we meandered around for a bit trying to figure out where precisely the highest point was. Other people in other years have found the field full of cabbages, and just bagged from the fence line, which is only marginally lower than the summit. I heartily approve of the fence side bagging for fields with crops but in this instance I think there might be a better option. Just to the north of Soutra Mains Wood is another small summit, marked Soutra Aisle on the map. It's 6 metres lower than the true summit, but with a wood in between you'd need sophisticated mapping technology to deduce this from either side. 

Soutra Hill Map, showing both the true summit and Soutra Aisle

And so long as you aren't a pedantic hill bagger the northern summit has much more to recommend it. Firstly, and to my mind this is important in a hill, it has a better view. You don't even have to get out of the car for this. If you have come from the south-west then it's straight in front of you, and if you have come from the north-east you'll have to turn the car back towards the A68. You can see all the way to the Firth of Forth, and up to Fife, although we took some fairly dodgy photos so you're just going to have to take my word for that (or go and check it out for yourself).

Dubious photo from Soutra Aisle, with a hazy skyline that's definitely either Fife and the Forth or a cloud

It also has the ruins of Soutra Aisle which is part of what was one of the most important medieval hospitals in Scotland. It was founded at the behest of King Malcolm IV in 1164 and there are references to it being in use as a hospital up until 1583. It's a fascinating site and has some excellent interpretation panels. I learned there that hospitals were originally a place for receiving hospitality (which makes a lot of sense) so it may not originally have been a medical institution, although various things found during archeological digs seem to prove that it was used as a medical hospital latterly, which is rather amazing.

Single remaining building at Soutra Aisle 

There are a couple of surprising downsides. It doesn't have any designated parking despite being signposted with brown tourist signs on both the A7 and the A68 - we had to leave the car parked in the road. Not that it was busy, and there was a passing place, so that we weren't actually blocking the road, but I still found it a little discomforting leaving the car right in the road. Also, although the walk up to Soutra Aisle itself was only about 10 metres, those 10 metres included going up steps and then across some rough paths. It was very accessible to me, as someone whose primary limitation is distance, but would be difficult for those who are unsteady on their feet and impossible in a wheelchair.

On the whole however I would highly recommend, excellent car views, interesting history, and the true summit isn't too hard to get to if you have an intense need to bag things properly (unless the farmer is growing cabbages again).