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This outing would be Parminder's first hill trip for 3 weeks so we opted for picking off 3 more 'wee' hills not too far from Moffat..All 3 hills would be new hills for Parminder & George, I did them all 5 years ago but not in a oner.
I had a few concerns about Grange Fell & Scaw'd Fell as I knew multiple trees would be involved and it would be a matter of whether any had been felled or any new ones had appeared. All will become clear below.
Parminder volunteered to drive so George & I met up with him at our usual meeting place at 7.30am and then we were on our way.
We arrived at our start point for Hightown Hill nice and early and raring to go.
Hightown Hill 90m of ascent, 1.1km, 25mins
Heading up there, hardest part was picking our way through the mud on the track
Pretty flat in this area
Looking back down, we started in front of the farm buildings, parking is almost non existent
Parminder's first hill for 3 weeks so he was taking it easy
The trig peeking over the horizon
Looking across to Black Hill which looks higher but is only 237m
Nice green field standing out
That is just about all we can say about Hightown Hill - nothing much.
A short drive through Lochmaben & Lockerbie to our start point for Grange Fell.
Grange Fell 172m of ascent, 3km, 1hr 30mins
Improvised bit of parking, as the road is closed Parminder's car isn't an obstruction
Marching along the road, the plan was to follow my previous route however......
We spotted a few obstacles in our way
We didn't fancy squeezing past them
When they saw us they started heading up the track we planned to use, so we had to improvise again. Quick check of Locus (our navigation app) and we opted to head up an animal track than ran on the north side of a clump of trees, it would bring us out at the end of the track we had planned to use - without having cows for company
It wasn't the easiest ascent as the bracken was wet after the overnight rain
Head down and loving it
Short sharp shock
Parminder demonstrating the depth of the bracken
An easier bit
You can't climb a Borders hill without the view being enhanced
We spotted a fox running along the wall, George was trying to see where it went
Here we go again, we are becoming experts at navigating through forests
Very green trees
The photo's don't show the true problems encountered in forests, they add extra illumination - it wasn't as light as it looks
A proper 'fire break' that has kind of outgrown it's original plan
Once you manage to get past the dangling branches trying to deter you from entering it is straight forward - in theory
Plenty of ducking and weaving required
Parminder & George celebrating reaching the trig, you can't celebrate the views as there aren't any apart from pine trees, they have completely obscured everything else
Parminder has the smile that says "I haven't seen a trig for over 3 weeks"
George camera at the ready to take a photo of Parminder with his camera out
This is what George was waiting for - but he missed it by not paying attention
A few photo's of the trees surrounding the trig, finding a way out could be challenging if you don't pay attention
Out of the forest and descending via a different route, we found a farmers well used ATV track
Camera shot zoomed of the Solway Firth in the distance
The different descent route was a good idea, until we reached the burn - the heavy overnight rain had made it impossible to cross unless you can walk on water
So we had to head back upstream
I know it doesn't look too difficult but we weren't taking any chances, we had another hill to climb
Back at the car, we headed uphill on the other side of the trees, the forest can be seen on the horizon
Back in the car and it was a slightly longer drive up to the west of Moffat, Parminder's Satnav took us the direct route which meant single track roads, that were either very bendy or went up & down.
Scaw'd Fell 532m of ascent, 13.5km, 4hrs
Moffat Water before it joins the River Annan a bit further downstream, was rather fast flowing
A nice little parking area for half a dozen cars or so
We start off on the Southern Upland Way, not a bad surface
A new mast
A few obstacles which move out of our way
They have to be the ugliest sheep around - Texels, certainly well built
Nice little lochan
Quite a handy source for the hardcore for the track - we do love the odd signpost
We reached a junction, we carried straight on, that track takes you to a house in the middle of nowhere
It was nice to walk in the shade
The house I mentioned earlier
Interesting walled enclosure - I guess used well before all the trees appeared
Not a pretty sight
The track is obviously not used by vehicles
We continued on and things were not looking good, all the new growth was really encroaching on the path and our chances of heading up to the right were looking non existant
So we had a team meeting as we do these days - having checked our navigational app Locus (again), we could see the track continued for a few hundred meters & then stopped. On my previous visit 5 years ago I managed to make my way up the hillside directly to the summit, that was definitely not an option.
Decision made, we would retrace our steps and look for a suitable opening in the mature trees and hopefully emerge out of the forest midway between Yadburgh Hill & Wintergill Head at about 400m. The plan worked like a dream albeit a battling dream - every walk through a forest these days offers up challenges in the form of fallen trees. We now realise whenever you see daylight that doesn't mean you are near the edge of the forest - it means obstacles ahead in the form of trees that couldn't be bothered staying upright during one of the many storms we get these days.
We came very close to just heading back downhill and that would have been a shame having walked the majority of the distance.
So here we go let the fun begin
George in the distance trying to hide
Remains of a burst balloon
You can see the slight incline
There were fairly well defined paths, probably animal ones through the trees
Warning, diversion required ahead
Nice and open
After climbing over the newish fence we only had the small matter of following the fence uphill, as this is not a Munro, no path and awful terrain
Looking back down, one option for our return was head back this way and continue up the other - hopefully picking up the track. We were glad we didn't try that as the other side of the hill has been decimated and descending over trees stumps and other debris is not fun
Looking across to the new trees, that weren't there 5 years ago
Once we reached the end of the fence at Wintergill Head we then had to trudge through knee deep heather and tufty grass, which was similar to walking through snow = hard work
Looking back to Wintergill Head
Not far to the summit now
Not a pretty sight
Parminder & George heading over to the large cairn, I couldn't be bothered as it was much lower than the summit
Camera shot zoomed
Looks tidy from a distance
Typical Borders / D&G photo
On the way back I took this shot (zoomed) of my last route, certainly looks possible from a distance - but we know it definitely wasn't
The house in the middle of nowhere from on high
We opted to traverse back to enter the forest rather than ascend & then descend, it wasn't easy but needs must
Parminder in his usual spot, note the wee clump of trees behind they will feature in a few photos time
George making a beeline for an early entry point into the forest
Shows the terrain
Parminder negotiating one of the obstacles
A ghost like tree
Final photo looking back - note the wee clump of trees, we were there
This turned out to be a much tougher day than it should have been, especially Scaw'd Fell. The obvious problem with Scaw'd Fell is it's remoteness. The obvious way to tackle the hill is the way we went, it is a nice walk in.
Grange Fell is also a challenge, I don't know if there are plans to 'harvest' the trees in the near future, it may mean future walkers could get a view, however that would come at the cost of easy access - as walking over a de-forested area is not fun or easy.
Next for us is a trip to the far NW to try and pick off a couple of new Munro's for Parminder - that is the plan so wish us luck.
