Rulewater is not accessible to the door by public transport, I'll navigate you through a few options below. Once you're here, Cycling is a good way of seeing the Rulewater valley, as is walking, and if you're walking its worth investing in a map. Sat Navs will find local places like Denholm or Bedrule, but phone reception fades in and out.
Thinking of Driving? A wee word of caution if you are driving the wandering windy roads of Rulewater, our roads are quite small single lanes with blind corners, you may encounter anything from tractors, a herd of sheep, pheasants, deer, walkers, horse riders, dogs, cyclists, chickens, and endangered red squirrels!
Car Hire Quite a good option to navigate round our rural roads. If you are arriving by airport in Edinburgh, you can pick up a car there and drive down the A68 to reach Rulewater, or from Carlisle or Newcastle. Both Europcar (click here for their deal checker page) and Easycar (click here to be taken to their deal checker page) offer cars that leave from Edinburgh Airport, Carlisle or Newcastle and carry out a search for the best deals on car hire from a few companies for you. Remember don't rush the drive down, the beauty of the Borders will reveal itself if you pause for a while.
Petrol Stations The nearest petrol stations are Hawick: Morrisons Supermarket, Sainsbury's Card Payments Only, Highland Petrol (10 miles), Jedburgh: Shell Garage (10 miles) or Denholm: Oliver's Garage (5 miles).
Electric Car Charging Points Hawick's Common Haugh Car Park has electrical charging points next to the public toilets opposite Iceland. as does the main car park in Jedburgh which is next to the VisitScotland Tourist Information Centre and Bus Station (not the car park as you first come into Jedburgh from the south but a little further along the main road).
Motor Homes Motor Homes are able to park overnight for free at Hawick's Common Haugh car park, there are public toilets there and it is close to the High Street for shops and eating. I'd recommend grabbing a bacon roll from Hunters Bakery on the Howegate for breakfast. I might suggest basing your motor home here and cycling round Rulewater for the day.
Train You can get the train from Edinburgh Waverley station to Galashiels or Tweedbank, their stations are only about two minutes apart. Galashiels drops you centrally in town, offering a range of shops, cafes and supermarkets. Tweedbank drops you off in a more rural area so its quicker to get out here to drive South. There's a small but good food vendor and toilet at the station. You can walk from Tweedbank station to Abbotsford House and the town of Melrose which is a good day excursion from Edinburgh. Rulewater lies about a forty minute drive from the station. I usually get my tickets from thetrainline.com as you dont have to register with them and they send you an email with a code which means you can collect your train tickets from a machine at the station.
Bus I hope you can follow this next section about buses! There's a few different options listed, so its really what suits your arrival times. Bear with ...
The 20 bus runs from Kelso, Jedburgh and Hawick, through Denholm past the road end to Rulewater. This is sign-posted for Bedrule and Ruberslaw Wild Woods Camping. Here is a link to the timetable click here. From there its a walk up to the sites of Rulewater.
The x95 bus service runs from Carlisle through Hawick and Galashiels to Edinburgh click here for the bus timetable. The 51/52 bus service runs from Edinburgh to Jedburgh, click here for the bus timetable. So you could get the train to Galashiels and the x95 bus to Hawick, then the 20 bus to Denholm or the Bedrule road-end. Or You could get the 51/52 bus down from Edinburgh to Jedburgh and the 20 bus to Denholm or the Bedrule road-end.
There is one bus from Newcastle to Jedburgh, click here for the bus timetable.
Taxi It's quite an expense getting a taxi from Edinburgh to the Borders, you're looking at a distance of just over fifty miles. If you're sharing, it might not be so bad, but if you're on your own and don't fancy the bus, I'd recommend getting a train down to Tweedbank and getting a taxi from there. I wouldn't want to recommend one taxi provider over another, especially as I don't know them all, but a quick Google of "local taxis in the Scottish Borders" will find you some.
If you're really not sure, drop me a message through my contact form and I'll see if I can help you. Not with transporting you personally, but with helping you figure out how to get here!
