A traveller looking for the soul of Scotland does not need to range over the furthest Highlands or delve into the depths of the cities. Away from Edinburgh and Glasgow, Scotland is still largely a country of small towns and local rivalries. The regions along the border are full of small towns, in well populated narrow valleys hemmed in by steep, smooth sided, low hills, hills which separate each valley and give each town its own identity and independent character. These towns bore the brunt of the near constant fighting between Scotland and England during both the Wars of Independence and the 300 years of bloody stalemate afterwards, and, although peaceful now, the Borderer retains a healthy disrespect for their neighbours, near and far.

Berwick sits on the river Tweed, which forms the border for part of its length. Villages on the north bank, such as Coldstream, acted as a Gretna Green for eloping couples from the east of England, as for many years it was easier to get married under Scottish law. As the hills start to rise, the border leaves the Tweed to head south for the spine of the Cheviot hills, running east to west - high, smooth, sheeprearing hills. In the years after the Wars of Independence, neither English nor Scottish monarch had complete control over their border subjects, so used were they to the threat of warfare or raiding parties coming from the other side, from where they could never be caught or prosecuted. The people of the Border then took the law into their own hands, with retaliatory raids, and every landowner with a little money had to build a fortified house to keep safe. These houses were generally in the form of towers, and are common all over Scotland whenever turbulent times ruled. Perhaps the starkest, most perfect example is Smailholm tower, a simple grim rectangular tower without ornament. It inspired the young Walter Scott to investigate the traditional tales and history of the Scottish Borders when he was sent there as a child to recover from an illness. Sir Walter Scott was once the most popular author in Europe, and his tales of romance and historical times helped fuel the start of the tourist industry.

The coastline of the Border region is one of the more neglected areas in Scotland, a steep, rocky coastline all the way down to Berwick dotted with occasional fishing villages nestling in the mouths of river ravines. On a walk from Dunbar to Newcastle, this area was a revelation: a corner of delight, despite dreich autumn weather, and an understanding of why the village of St Abbs is so popular with artists, as well as the encouragingly bustling town of Eyemouth, which I only knew from the traumatic death of its fishing fleet in a storm in 1881. An illustration of the power of the sea and the dangers sailors undergo.

However, perhaps the most interesting part of the borders is the area around the Eildon hills, a small but distinctive triple peaked hill, famed in folklore as having been formed by the wizard Michael Scott, a man who was in league with the faries. Walter Scott's favourite viewpoint is nearby, on the slopes of a small hill above a bend in the River Tweed, a place from which he said he could see not only the Eildon hills and the Tweed, but the sites of 13 different battles. There are also four abbeys in a short stretch of countryside, built by some of the earliest Scottish kings - Kelso, Dryburgh, Melrose, and Jedburgh. Unlike other abbeys and cathedrals in Scotland, these were not ruined in the Protestant reformation, but were destroyed even earlier during the Wars of Independence. The Borderers' distinctive pastimes of rugby and horseriding are in evidence in these towns and in others, every farmer seemingly sporting their local jersey and their children riding on the fields and quiet roads in a way unknown in the rest of Scotland. As a result of their passion for outdoor activities and local social events, people here are amongst the healthiest in Scotland, even though unemployment remains a problem.

As the rivers rise, and the Tweed splits into its tributaries, the Teviot, Ettrick and Yarrow, winding up into high windy moorland, the countryside becomes less interesting; the hills long, rounded and featureless and covered in sheepwalks and modern blanket afforestation. This must have been a hard area to make a living in old days with the snowy winter nights, and even today few folk live here, the few cottages having an air of bleakness and hardship. High in Liddesdale sits Hermitage, one of the grimmest castles in the Borders, a place run by lairds with an evil reputation. Lord Soulis practiced all manner of tortures on his prisoners, and was eventually captured and boiled alive by exasperated locals. Hermitage Castle is sinking into the ground - under the weight, according to local legend, of the iniquity which occurred within its walls. This area is also famed as the base of one of the most vigourous and troublesome Border families, the Armstrongs, who warred constantly with their neighbours, the king, and the English, usually coming out on the winning side. Their most famous leader, Johnny Armstrong, was eventually tricked into meeting up with the king in 1530 on the promise that he would be pardoned if he renounced all illegal activities - but on delivering himself into the king's hands was captured and hung. His last words were a warning relevant even to people who vote for politicians today - "A monarch's word is not to be regarded as so sacred as that of a humbler mortal's," but perhaps the Armstrongs' got the last laugh, as a distant descendant became one of the most famous people in history, by being the first human to walk on the moon.

At the western side of the border, where the rivers meet the sea, lies the most romantic village in all Scotland - Gretna Green. This is the first village in Scotland on the road north, and it was here eloping couples crossed the border to get married without parental consent, Scots law being considerably laxer than English law in olden times. The law is the same now - but couples still come to Gretna to be married, attracted by the romantic tradition.