Leaderfoot viaduct

We saw this on today's walk which started here (about 40 miles south of Edinburgh) and took a circular route up the Leader Water then up the Black Hill of Earlston, down to Redpath and then back to the viaduct along the other side of the Leader. The Leader Water is a tributary of the River Tweed, which is the river you can see in this picture. It joins the Tweed at - you've guessed it - Leaderfoot! At this point there are three bridges crossing the Tweed - this railway viaduct (now disused and closed off so you cannot cross it), the bridge we were standing on (now a footbridge but at one time it would have been the only bridge at this point, carrying all the traffic), and the modern bridge which carries the A68, one of the main routes south from Edinburgh. I love the elegance of this viaduct - it hardly looks strong enough to carry a railway!