The weather was patchy but not bad enough to diswade Ben from performing his duties and proudly representing his town. He was among 166 riders who turned out for the journey to Yetholm and back, setting off from Kelso square at 8am.

He said: "It was a good day – I enjoyed it a lot. It's one of the longer rides and one of the better ones, taking three hours each way – it's a similar length to Mosspaul.

"The weather wasn't too bad. It rained quite a bit at Yetholm during the picnic but that didn't really affect the riders too much.

"There weren't any races, but I've got one coming up at Mussellburgh this weekend which I'm looking forward to."

The ride-out was followed by the usual fancy dress procession, which once again saw hundreds come out to line the town centre streets. Kelso Pipe Band led an array of colourful characters in cheerful and, more importantly, dry festivities. It wasn't without incident, however, after two revellers, including ex-laddie Colin Gibson, fell from their floats and ended up being treated in hospital.

For Ben, though, the evening flew by without incident and after enjoying catching up with other visiting principals at the golf club, it was into town for the procession and a quick tour of the local pubs.

Today (Friday), it's a trip down the road for Ben and his principals to take part in the much-anticipated Langholm Common-riding.

"I'm really looking forward to that one because there's a lot of close links between the towns and there will be a big Hawick contingent there," he explained. "It's one of the big ones for me after Hawick."