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It is almost 2 weeks since our last outing - in Skye, so it was time to head out. The forecast for Thursday was favourable to be followed by a proper doom and gloom weekend of heavy rain, so where to go?
Covid 19 is back on the scene causing our leaders to introduce new restrictions, with that in mind I opted for somewhere closeish to our homes, hence Culter Fell. We also agreed not to car share and agreed to meet up at Hillend on the A702 at 8am.
The traffic on the M9 and city bypass was almost back to pre lockdown, queueing to get onto the M9 and nose to tail on the bypass just what we hate.
We were on our way and walking just before 9am and the forecast which looked OK yesterday had worsened at breakfast time, luckily the latest forecast was completely wrong.
Parking area
Nice start to the walk
Couple of guys ahead, just doing Culter Fell
Plenty of bridges over any water in the Borders
Low level look back
Looking across the glen, first turbine appearing
There were plenty of these shooting spots on the ascent
Bit higher up now, looking back
Plenty of interesting gully's that look quite dramatic
Still a bit of ascending to do to the summit of Culter Fell
The ascent up Culter Fell was a shock to our system, the path was ok but pretty relentless until we reached the top of South Dod, the going up stuff then eased quite dramatically and for the better.
Culter Fell trig
Looking north, bit of low cloud appeared to spoil the views
Our first peek of Coulter Reservoir
Descending off Culter and then back up the other side
Probably the boggiest bit, but we have encountered far worse
Looking back up to the summit of Culter Fell
Still descending, there is a track that we will pick up for a few hundred metres
We would be wandering amongst them soon enough
Once we reached Holm Nick (the low point before before the next going up bit), the two guys ahead had turned right and headed down towards Coulter Reservoir. The uphill bit to Gathersnow Hill wasn't too bad, the steepest bits were actually on the hardcore track. We met the local farmer on the ascent and he was checking the fence and carrying out a few repairs, utilising his quad bike which must save so much time and energy.
The wiggly track that takes us uphill briefly
Looking back down the track that goes towards Coulter Reservoir
Any ideas?
The track ends abruptly
Trudging uphill towards the summit of Gathersnow Hill
At least there is an attempt at a cairn
The way ahead and not far to Hillshaw Head, the third summit
A couple of reservoirs making an appearance, Talla on the left & Camps on the right
Coulter Reservoir from the south and the dam is now visible
Looking back to Gathersnow
As we followed the fence, we turned left for Hillshaw at a junction
The slightly uphill to the summit
Not the most exciting summit 'marker'
It was time to retrace our steps and head for the big monsters
Hudderstone in the distance
We would be picking up one of the numerous wind farm tracks on our way to Hudderstone
Plenty of hardcore required to build these tracks they are almost as wide as a motorway
Perfect spot for lunch, social distancing, no wet backside - perfect
Love this sign, we couldn't see any water nearby
There are some superb gully's in amongst the turbines
You tend to forget how big these things are
The way ahead for us
Arty photo, Culter Fell in the background
Coulter Reservoir with Culter Fell on the other side
A wind farm video
It kind of shows how big these things are
Another reservoir peeking out
Parminder admiring the turbines
The way up and ahead to Hudderstone our fourth and final Donald
Looking west
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Parminder was well impressed with this, the summit of Hudderstone
The final descent begins
Looking SW
Looking NW Cowgill Upper Reservoir
More dramatic gully's
The way ahead and down
Looking back
Descending
Nice view on the final descent
Field of tups
Here are a few photo's borrowed from George, starring Parminder.
Parminder making sure he gets a decent photo of the one & only trig
Now for a close up
I would guess Parminder isn't very impressed with the cairn
Timings:
Car to Culter Fell - 1hr 10mins
Culter Fell to Gathersnow Hill - 1hr 4mins
Gathersnow to Hillshaw Head - 24mins
Hillshaw to Hudderstone - 1hr 10mins which includes our lunch stop
Hudderstone back to the car - 1hr 3mins
I really enjoyed the 'stress' free walk, no scrambling or scariness, great walking conditions when the sun was out and the usual great banter. It isn't very often we don't have a slight navigational adventure, this walk was almost textbook! Unless our leaders relax the rules, it looks very unlikely that we will be tackling another Munro this year. It would have been nice to reach 200 but that can wait.
