In pre-industrial Scotland, the Shetlands may have been nearly as close to the Borders as Edinburgh, especially if the Tweed was navigable (even for small boats

In pre-industrial Scotland, the Shetlands may have been nearly as close to the Borders as Edinburgh, especially if the Tweed was navigable (even for small boats) at that point. Before good roads and (especially) mechanized transport the sea was not an obstacle, it was an opportunity.