Don't cross the Punks of Blackhope Scar

[jgregor]

Blackhope Scar. There's a name to conjure with. It sounds darkly romantic, a rugged, dark and troubled soul. All windswept and interesting, as Billy Connolly would say. I've been fascinated with it since I first saw it on the map, and have been trying to figure out how to reach it without doing the 11 mile trek from Gladhouse Reservoir as suggested by Walk Highlands. I know the Moorfoots are not exactly the mountains of Mordor, I'm not daft. Not that daft anyway. Still, the endless bogs could pass for the Dead Marshes. More on those to come.

So we parked by the B709, at the supposed grave of the Piper of Peebles. Legend has it that he was a piper out drinking, and bet some locals he could walk from Peebles to Edinburgh, playing the bagpipes all the way, and not repeat a single tune. They took him up on it, and off they all set. By the time they reached here the locals decided a midnight march to Edinburgh wasn't something they were prepared to do for the sake of a bet. So one of them surreptitiously poked a hole in the piper's bag, causing him to run out of puff, keel over and die on the spot. And there he was buried.

We had a look at the rather new looking gravestone by the side of the road, then set off on our hike. We headed north back up the road for a short distance, then cut across the field on our left to meet a track heading up.

View north up past Dewar

Looking up the track

We followed the track as it zig-zagged up and west, as marked on the OS map.

Looking back down to the road and sheepfold beyond

Further up the steep track

Looking back at a junction in the track

As we reached a fence the track stops on the map, but in reality continued, albeit fainter, east-ish along by the fence.

View south down the valley towards Blackhopebyre

Track becoming fainter

Gate triangle

Following the fence

We continued along this track as it faded in and out, and had to pick our way through or around several frozen boggy bits.

Alien landscape

Bog valleys

After about 700m of this we passed a couple of gates marking a slight turn to the NW towards Rough Moss. With the ground now pretty much levelled off we continued for another km or so until we reached a T-junction of fences. Here we turned west and followed another fence to cross a flat expanse of heather (and yes, bogs) called Garvald Punks. I don't know who came up with the colourful names in these parts. I'd probably just have called it Boggy Bogs.

This frozen bog has its own islands

A tree! A welcome sight, and indication that an outpost of Glentress Forrest was close by to the south, though we couldn't see it for the fog

More than a km along the fence turns north to head up to Blackhope Scar summit. We decided to continue west along to Kings Road Nick first, with the intension of ascending Bowbeat Hill.

Going off track

Sheltering briefly in a cleuch of Long Grain

A northern finger of Glentress Forest emerges out of the fog, along with the wind farm on Bowbeat Hill

Reaching the less imaginatively named Long Edge, we had planned to first head up through the wind farm to Bowbeat Hill to the south-west before coming back this way and up Blackhope Scar. However, flagging spirits and feet frozen with icy bog water led to the decision to give Bowbeat a hard pass and just do Blackhope Scar instead.

At Long Edge, looking south west to Emly Bank, with Bowbeat Hill lost in the fog behind

However we were heartened to see from here up to the Pentlands, Edinburgh and the Forth. Pretty much the only genuine view of the day.

An actual view!

We struggled on north-east up Long Edge before turning north for the final push to the top. Here we were welcomed by yet more frozen bog, fog and a forlorn looking trig point.

Blackhope Scar summit. Let's go home.

We stayed long enough for a photo, then headed south again towards Garvald Punks to retrace our steps down. I was delighted and surprised though to see a mountain hare briefly, about 30 feet away, before it darted out of sight. Resplendent in its white fur coat it was well camouflaged, and I wouldn't have spotted it at all if it hadn't decided to run for it. I didn't know they were to be found this far south.

Beating a hasty retreat back down, we were relieved to reach the road again before anyone succumbed to hypothermia.

[jmarkb]

Enjoyed that - you haven't really sold it to me as a better option that the Gladhouse approach, though!
Not that I'm in much of a hurry to repeat Blackhope Scar. Dundreich, however, is a better and somewhat less boggy hill.
Bowbeat is an insignificant lump that has been ruined by the wind farm - it would be more fun to do by mountain bike from the south, I reckon.

[thedonalds]

The Bogs of Blackhope Scar........I mind them well! Think yourself lucky that its winter and much of it was frozen. Its such a joy at other times of the year!

[Graeme D]

Looks fairly unappealing in those conditions I have to say! I always think Blackhope Scar sounds like a character from a Pirates of the Caribbean film!

[The English Alpinist]

Wow, how different (yet similar) to how I found it 3 weeks later! (my report called 'Wind!'). I breifly contemplated going at it from your direction and wondering what 'punks' meant (nothing good I reckoned), but ruled out the idea of slogging against a westerly gale across that. I love the photographs and can almost feel the otherwordly grimness of the experience. Well done. ps I saw a mountain hare too - maybe it was the same chap! Far too quick to get a photo.