+ MORE SOUTHERN BEAUTIES

From Galloway, the Southern Uplands bump roundly east towards the North Sea, in a welter of steep rural glens and wind-tickled upland moors. The high village of Wanlockhead – the highest in Scotland in fact – is the place to hunt your fortune, as the surrounding land is rich with lead, zinc, copper, silver and gold. Precious metal from these streams was used in the Scottish Crown, and you can get a panning license (£5) at the village’s Lead Mining Museum before prospecting along Wanlock Water, climbing the Southern Upland Way west over Coupland Knowe, to pan your way back along the Glendyne Burn. Further east, the cataract of the Grey Mare’s Tail*, (right), plunges 200 feet through the Moffat Hills, while Loch Skeen pools in the wild land above, among slopes packed with rare flowers and browsed by mountain hares. By Melrose, whose abbey is home to the heart of Robert the Bruce, the Eildon Hills* (below) form a striking conical trio topped by immense views, particularly for summits that nudge under 1500 feet. Then out on the coast, there’s the picturesque fishing village of St Abb’s* and its eponymous headland, where fractured cliffs turn to seabird cities in summer. And right on the northern cusp of the Southern Uplands you can walk in the footsteps of the famous naturalist, John Muir, at Dunbar*. Feted as the Father of National Parks for his pioneering conservation work in the USA, he was born right here on the eastern shore of Scotland. * Download step-by-step guides to these walks at www.lfto.com/bonusroutes