St Mary's Loch
St Mary's Loch is the largest natural loch in the Scottish Borders, stretching roughly three miles in length along the Yarrow Valley in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It sits within the county of Selkirkshire, now part of the Scottish Borders council area, and occupies a glacially carved valley basin surrounded by smooth, rounded hills that are characteristic of this part of Scotland. The loch is a place of considerable natural beauty and quiet grandeur, and though it lacks the dramatic mountain backdrops of the Highland lochs, its soft, melancholy landscape carries a distinctive atmosphere that has drawn artists, poets and walkers for centuries. The combination of open water, pastoral farmland, ancient drove roads and literary associations makes it one of the most rewarding destinations in southern Scotland for those who seek landscape as much as spectacle.
The loch has deep roots in Scottish literary and cultural history. It was a favourite haunt of James Hogg, the poet known as the "Ettrick Shepherd," who was born nearby in the Ettrick Valley in 1770 and spent much of his life in this landscape. A statue of Hogg stands on a prominent hillside overlooking the loch, erected in 1860, and it has become one of the iconic images of the Borders. Hogg's friend and fellow writer Sir Walter Scott also knew the area intimately, and it features in the broader cultural geography that inspired his poetry and prose. The Borders landscape itself was central to the Romantic literary movement in Scotland, and St Mary's Loch was one of its sacred places. The old droving routes that once ran through this valley connected it to wider Scottish history, carrying cattle south from the Highlands through the passes of the Southern Uplands.
Geologically, the loch owes its existence to glacial action during the last ice age, when advancing glaciers scoured out the valley floor and left behind a natural basin that filled with water. It is separated from the smaller Loch of the Lowes immediately to its east by a narrow isthmus of land, which is no more than a thin strip of ground carrying the road and bearing the famous Tibbie Shiels Inn on its margins. Together, the two lochs form a continuous body of water that appears from certain angles to be a single elongated sheet, though they are technically distinct. The surrounding hills, including the prominent Pikestone Rig and the slopes of Megget Head, rise to modest but shapely heights and are largely open moorland and rough grazing, with the valley bottom supporting some improved pasture and scattered patches of woodland.
Visiting St Mary's Loch in person is a quietly immersive experience. The water has a silver-grey quality in overcast weather, rippling under the winds that funnel down the valley, and on calm days it holds perfect reflections of the hills around it. The air carries the scent of peat, grass and water, and the prevailing sound is the wind across open moorland and the occasional call of curlew or lapwing. It is a landscape that rewards patience and stillness. Fishermen come here regularly, as the loch supports populations of brown trout and pike, and the water is managed for angling. Walkers follow the Southern Upland Way, the long-distance footpath that passes along the lochside, and the route along the western shore gives fine elevated views back across the water.
Tibbie Shiels Inn, located on the isthmus between St Mary's Loch and the Loch of the Lowes, deserves special mention as a place of remarkable historical continuity. It was run by Isabella "Tibbie" Shiels from 1824 until her death in 1878 at the age of 96, and during that time it became a celebrated gathering place for the literary and intellectual figures of the day. James Hogg, John Wilson (who wrote under the name Christopher North), Thomas Carlyle and other notable figures of nineteenth-century Scottish culture frequented the inn, and the conversations that took place there were part of the creative ferment of the Borders literary world. The inn still operates today as a pub and accommodation venue, maintaining its connection to this history, and sitting by the fire there on a wet afternoon carries a tangible sense of the past.
The surrounding area offers excellent walking and cycling, with the Southern Upland Way providing a formal long-distance route and numerous unmarked paths giving access to the higher ground. The Megget Reservoir, which lies over the hills to the northwest beyond the Megget Stone, was created in the 1980s and supplies water to Edinburgh, but the road that runs over to it via the Megget Valley passes through stunning and largely unpeopled landscape. The village of Cappercleuch lies at the northern end of St Mary's Loch and offers limited facilities, while the larger town of Selkirk is roughly twelve miles to the northeast and provides the nearest concentration of shops, fuel and services. Moffat lies about fifteen miles to the southwest and is accessible over the hills via the A708 road, which is one of the most scenic driving routes in southern Scotland.
Access to St Mary's Loch is straightforward. The A708 road runs along the eastern shore of the loch, connecting the town of Selkirk in the north with Moffat in the south via the Grey Mare's Tail waterfall, which is managed by the National Trust for Scotland and is itself a major visitor attraction a few miles to the southwest. There is a car park near Tibbie Shiels Inn and parking along the road at various points. The loch is not enclosed by any estate and is freely accessible along its shores. The best seasons for visiting are spring and early autumn, when the light is often exceptional and the crowds, such as they are, remain manageable. Summer brings more visitors but the area is quiet by any national standard. Winter can be severe, with heavy snowfalls occasionally closing the A708, but the loch in winter light, with frost on the reed beds and geese on the water, is extraordinarily beautiful and all but deserted.