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The Hunting of the Jarkness - an outing in eight fits

The Hunting of the Jarkness - an outing in eight fits


Postby EmmaKTunskeen » Wed Aug 17, 2022 5:47 pm

Sub 2000' hills included on this walk: Craiglee (Galloway)

Date walked: 10/07/2022

Time taken: 5 hours

Distance: 15 km

Ascent: 468m

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Fit the first - The Arrival

"Just the day for the Jarkness," the Scotsman cried,
As he lathered on suncream with flair.
"There's a breeze against midgies, and if we're not fried,
We'll lunch at Craiglee, we pair."

Image002 Watching whitethroats above Gairland Burn

Image001 One of many whitethroats

Image009 Golden-ringed dragonfly

Image012 Small pearl-bordered fritillary mating

Image013 Argent and sable with small argent and sable

Fit the second - Reaching Loch Valley

Navigation is easy, just follow the birdsong
Through bracken, by burn and uphill.
It's muddy and rocky. It's hot and it's long
Til you get to the loch where it's still.

Image014 Two miles in at Loch Valley

Fit the third - A Jig on the Rig

Navigation is simple. Hop over the burn,
Then wade your way up in a splurge.
Hop over the heather, each tussock in turn,
And up on the Rig you'll emerge.

Image

Image018 Burn crossing

Image019 Burn crossing

Image021 Terrain to Rig of the Jarkness

Image022 First blaeberries

Image023 Rig of the Jarkness top looking at Curleywee and Lamachan

Fit the fourth - What's a Jarkness?

It's the Rig of the Jarkness, a mystical name
For a stroll all the way to Craiglee.
Clints of Buss on your way, Point of Snibe in the frame,
And a stop by Dow Loch for some tea.

Image026 View west down Loch Trool

Image029 Over Round Loch of Glenhead S to Curleywee from Clints of Buss

Image030 The Deils cloven hoofmark

Image031 Craiglee - Millfore - Curleywee

Image032 Loch Narroch - Point of the Snibe -Meikle Millyea beyond

Image033 Grassy ascent to Craiglee before terraces

Image036 Lovely Dow Loch

Image037 Failing to photograph newt

Fit the fifth - A lesson in false tops and terraces

Craiglee has a trig, but it stays far away
No matter how much you walk to it.
To make it get closer could take you all day,
Or that's how it feels. You may rue it!

Image039 Large red damselfly

Image040 Many terraces and false tops

Image041 Boggy ground and erratics

Image043 Not a rocking stone

Image044 Trig point and deceptive foreshortening

Image045 Between terraces again

Image046 Broad-bodied chaser

Fit the sixth - The Views

But once at the top, it's a fine place to gaze
On the vista in every direction.
This amply repays all the wearisome ways
The Jarkness and co can be vexing.

Image047 Trig finally

Image048 SE to Clatteringshaws Loch - R of Ks on left

Image049 Euans hat - Craignaw left - Corserine right

Image050 Rhinns - Clatteringshaws - Loch Dee

Image051 Meikle Millyea

Image052 Corserine and Carlins Cairn

Fit the seventh - The Descent

Not wanting to fall off the end of Sound Clint
We headed downhill at its back.
Through cattle-churned mud, a burn-and-grass stint
Delivered us on to the track.

Image052 Descending

Image053 Lochs of Glenhead and Trool

Image053 Merrick left - Craignaw centre

Image054 Craiglee buttress - Sound Clint

Image055 Craiglee from below - summit circled

Image056 Merrick pano

Image057 Tussocky boggy hard-going descent

Image060 Our clamber up to the road

Image061 First terra firma since summit

Fit the eighth - The Return

There are adders down here and toads if you look,
And Galloway names for your glee.
Well worth an explore of each cranny and nook,
For the Jarkness is fun as you see!

Image063 Adder

Image065 Gairland Burn from little bridge

Image066 Bufo bufo - common toad



[For a proper account, see nxmjm's from 10 years ago at https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=25978
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EmmaKTunskeen
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Location: was West Sussex, now Ayrshire

Re: The Hunting of the Jarkness - an outing in eight fits

Postby weaselmaster » Wed Aug 17, 2022 8:41 pm

Nice one!
(Snark, Snark, Snark :lol: )
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Re: The Hunting of the Jarkness - an outing in eight fits

Postby Alteknacker » Wed Aug 17, 2022 11:28 pm

Absolutely brillig! And that's just the poem. The pics, especially the wildlife pics are brilliant. :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

Got to be Nr 1 candidate for report of the month.
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Alteknacker
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Re: The Hunting of the Jarkness - an outing in eight fits

Postby Sgurr » Fri Aug 19, 2022 7:38 pm

Couldn't decide if the names were Snark, Jabberwocky or general Tolkein when we went. You must have had great fun bending the landscape into rhyming couplets. EXCELLENT. One day I might post bagging with Rupert Bear from the defunct SH.
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Sgurr
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Re: The Hunting of the Jarkness - an outing in eight fits

Postby EmmaKTunskeen » Mon Aug 29, 2022 7:19 am

Sgurr wrote:Couldn't decide if the names were Snark, Jabberwocky or general Tolkein when we went. You must have had great fun bending the landscape into rhyming couplets. EXCELLENT. One day I might post bagging with Rupert Bear from the defunct SH.


Yes please, Sgurr! :lol:
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EmmaKTunskeen
Mountain Walker
 
Posts: 348
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Joined: Aug 19, 2016
Location: was West Sussex, now Ayrshire

Re: The Hunting of the Jarkness - an outing in eight fits

Postby Sgurr » Thu Sep 01, 2022 8:11 pm

Congratulations on a well deserved Trip Report of the Month.
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Sgurr
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Re: The Hunting of the Jarkness - an outing in eight fits

Postby dogplodder » Thu Sep 01, 2022 8:32 pm

All round beautiful report. Well done. :clap:
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Re: The Hunting of the Jarkness - an outing in eight fits

Postby EmmaKTunskeen » Fri Sep 02, 2022 11:37 am

Many thanks. Always liked The Hunting of the Snark. A friend of mine once produced Mike Batt's rather odd staged version of it (1991 in London's West End), and Euan reminded me the other day that I'd taken him along on a comp ticket to see it. Feels a heck of a long time ago! I've got a nice old battered 1916 copy of the poem, picked up in a second-hand bookshop somewhere...
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EmmaKTunskeen
Mountain Walker
 
Posts: 348
Munros:32   Corbetts:28
Fionas:12   Donalds:14
Sub 2000:4   Hewitts:50
Wainwrights:41   Islands:24
Joined: Aug 19, 2016
Location: was West Sussex, now Ayrshire

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