Splashing about in the Lammermuirs

[thepigguy]

What I did on my holidays - part 2

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I had a bit of family catching-up to do in Leith on the Sunday morning, but a free afternoon offered the chance for another leg-stretch, and after six hours in the car and a first new hill in months the previous day, a stretch was much-needed.

The Lammermuirs come as a bit of a surprise after the soft, rich farmland of East Lothian, but first impressions of a bleak, open moorland are at least partly dispelled when you realise they are a giant grouse moor with windmills surrounding them.

Nonetheless, Miekle Says Law made for a decent walk with the added bonus that (for the second consecutive day) I didn't see a soul.

The start

There's little to be said that hasn't already been said, although I'm glad I reversed the WH route and went clockwise. I chose that because I wanted to get the ford out of the way at the start. I'm not as agile or fit as I used to be so didn't want to risk a leap over the burn and opted for a boots-off paddle, thinking it would be the only one - which just shows how wrong you can be. The boots were to come off twice more.

Dropping down to Faseny Cottage

Faseny Cottage

First ford - refreshing!

With nice, clean feet I pressed on up the track, turning right onto a rougher track which became grassier and progressively fainter before petering out altogether a few hundred metres before the top. The path marked on the OS map is optimisitic at best, but on a decent day it's no bother heading straight over to the trig point to admire the views out to Edinburgh, the Bass Rock and hundreds of windmills. In poor weather picking out the return path on the WH route might be tricky.

Track

Rougher track

Grassy track

No more track

Teatime at the top

There's no getting away from these

The return route was easy - if you don't count a couple of paddles - although I could have done without the bit of uphill to the car right at the end.

Ford on the return route

More fords than Dagenham

[Tinto63]

Nice walk, but are all Orcadians really time travellers? Are the pictures really from 10 days in the future?

[thepigguy]

Well spotted! Edited.