All things aren’t even, however, due to the coronavirus outbreak unleashed on the Borders in March having led to the cancellation of every last such event this summer.
We can still offer some photos, taken by Kimberley Powell, but, by necessity, they’re of a rideout from yesteryear – 2015, as it happens – rather than last week.
Leading that rideout five years ago was then Coldstreamer James Balmbro, accompanied by right and left-hand men Jamie Nicolson and Colin Leifer.
They were among 350 riders paying tribute to the 10,000-plus combatants killed at the 1513 Battle of Flodden, near Branxton in Northumberland.
Giving the oration that year was poet and novelist Noel Hodgson, of Tillmouth, near Cornhill-on-Tweed, and he told those gathered: “It is, unquestionably, the most impressive show of yearly remembrance to those who fought here at Flodden over 500 years ago.
“The rideout from Coldstream is both symbolic and spectacular – a fitting and poignant tribute to our border history and to the soldiers from both sides whose courage and sacrifice is today both praised and lamented.”
Leading that rideout five years ago was then Coldstreamer James Balmbro, accompanied by right and left-hand men Jamie Nicolson and Colin Leifer.
