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After the tribulations of Blackhope Scar the previous week, we decided to give the bogs, snow and bigger hills a miss this time and visit a couple of sub-2000 foot Marilyns instead.
The walk starts up at the end of Broughton Place, a private road left off the main road just before Broughton village as approached from the north on the A701. A castle is passed on the way up, with access to the road and car park at the end granted on the strict understanding that you're going walking in the hills beyond. On the way up we passed a lady walking her dog. I gave a friendly wave as we passed, but the gesture was not returned. Methinks the queen of the castle is somewhat miffed that riff-raff are permitted up there at all.
We were out early enough on a Sunday morning that we found the car park almost empty, with just a couple of other cars there. It looked like one of those days where it couldn't decide whether to be sunny or overcast, and would probably settle for a mixture of the two. We passed through the gate and on up the track bearing the John Buchan Way, heading NE into the Hollows Burn valley.
- Almost empty car park at Shepherds Cottage
- The start of the hike
- Walking the John Buchan Way
- Passing the Duck Pond Plantation
- Footbridge and ford across Hollows Burn at Broughton Hope
After the ford, the track curved round in a more northerly direction, and began climbing.
- Looks foggy ahead
After another mile or so we reached a bench, where we stopped for a couple of minutes. Here the John Buchan Way turns eastward, but our route took us first west, then north a short climb up to the col between Clover Law and Broomy Side. Here the view west and north opened out and we could see across to the southern end of the Pentlands.
- View of Broomy Law (centre) and Black Mount behind and to the right
Turning north-east we continued up Broomy Side. Pausing half way up for another look at the view, we spotted a lower grassy hill a couple of miles to the south-west which appeared to have some man-made looking mound structures on it. Consulting the map, we found it was Langlaw Hill, and right enough the mounds are the remains of an ancient fort.
Looking back along the way we had come from the car park the valley now appeared fog-filled.
As we made our way north we could see ahead the next hill Green Law and Broughton Heights behind it. Looking back it seemed the fog was chasing us down and we would soon be engulfed in it.
- The way forward north: Green Law and Pyked Stane Hill
- Looks fine to the east...
- ...but the fog is about to overtake us from the south
Sure enough, by the time we reached the summit of Broughton Heights at the Pyked Stane the only view was the thick grey fog all around.
- Pyked Stane Hill: a trig point, a cairn and no view - a familiar sight of late!
From here we double-backed and followed the track back down to the bench and the John Buchan Way. Happily, now that we had turned around it seemed the fog had passed us going the other way and we had a bit of sun. We stopped again at the bench and had a chat with the local sheep. Setting off again, this time we continued west along the Way until we reached a gate.
- A fine view along the John Buchan Way towards Pirliega Hill (left) and Penvalla (right)
Here we turned right and followed the fence up the steep side of Hammer Head.
- Heading up Hammer Head and into the sun
- Looking back the way we'd come
Soon we reached the decent sized cairn at the top of Hammer Head. From here we had the finest views of the day, despite it being at lower elevation than the two main hills on the walk.
- Cairn atop Hammer Head, with Trahenna Hill beyond
- Looking back down the valley towards Broughton
- Penvalla again, with the southern Moorfoots and Glentress Forrest in the distance
From here we made our way over the tops of Green Lairs and Grey Yade and on to the second Marilyn of the day - Trahenna Hill.
- Our route over the tops: Green Lairs, then Grey Yade
- Lots of lichen
The actual summit of Trahenna is about 500m off the main path. It's worth the detour for the view over the other side of the River Tweed.
- Hazy view over the other side of Trahenna Hill, with the Tweed glinting in the sunlight
The view west was pretty good from here too.
- View of Tinto in the distance, from the top of Trahenna
Making our way back to the main path, we continued down over Cat Cleuch Head, heading back towards the start.
- Looking back to the start from Cat Cleuch Head, with the castle and Broughton village off to the left, and Biggar just visible in the distance with Tinto behind it
Instead of heading directly back to the car park, we rejoined the outward path further along, in the hopes of finding a balaclava lost on the way up. Sure enough, it was spotted on a fence post where someone had placed it. Once retrieved we returned to the start.
- Heading back to the car park. Culter Fell is visible as the highest peak in the distance.
A decent walk taking in a couple of subs. Although the view from Broughton Heights was lost in the fog, the views from Hammer Head and Trahenna more than made up for it. And my son got his balaclava back!