free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
There was *just* about time for one more hillwalk in 2024. My mother-in-law had arrived from Indonesia so there was some actual childcare, and the week before I had finally "compleated" The Nine-Year Hillwalk by climbing Auchnafree Hill. But just like last week, I couldn't decide where to go until the last minute, and my mind was in chaos as I dropped my wife off at work. Do I head to Dollar Law and climb a whole load of Donalds, or go North and try to bag one more Corbett (Meall na Fearna was close enough)? I genuinely had no idea when I left home, and only had 10 minutes to decide: my indecisiveness reaching new heights (or plumbing new depths?)
Ok we've picked Dollar Law! But a local gang have convened for a meeting.
Street View told me there's a rough layby just before the cattle grid 2km South of the dramatic Macbeth's Castle. A camper van was there when I arrived just before 9:30am but, more importantly, a massive herd of cows was just across the cattle grid. I had staked out this walk for months (Bing Aerial is so much clearer than Google), and established that there's at least one bridge over the Manor Water. But the cows were close, so I would have to nudge my way along the riverbank surreptitiously, to avoid their glare(s).
The bridge is real, and it's a godsend.
Amazing autumnal colours appeared over the Manor Glen.
I knew there was a faint track up the first hill, the catchily-titled "Black Cleuch Hill (or Blackhouse Heights)". After heading left through a little wood round the back of Langhaugh Farm, and lobbing a fence, eventually I found it. Phew! And no cows to be seen (anymore).
A steady climb led to the top of Langhaugh Hill, where the day's first target appeared. I was on 63 Donalds (do we still have to call them that...? Not a fan of that word anymore.
), but there are eight in this round if you count the Tops. So if I managed to get round the whole Manor Glen, I would finally cross the halfway mark on the biggest hill of the day - and probably my last of the year - Dollar Law. And it's crowned with a trig point. What's not to like? Except the word "Donald"...
The hill with the long name appeared on the left, with Black Law on the right.
Dollar Law sat across the valley. It doesn't look that far from here, but it's a big old round to get there.
A long autumnal shadow reminded me that it's probably time to hibernate after today. The clocks go back tonight, and I don't do winter hillwalking,
#ForMySins.
After just over 1hr 5mins, and after overshooting slightly on the track, I struck off to the left to reach the Top of Black Cleuch Hill (or Blackhouse Heights). So good they named it twice.
Less than 20 minutes later I was on the top of an actual Don...Percy? Can I call them Percys?
Black Law is the first of three today, but including the five Tops there are a total of eight, which would equal my total from the White Coomb walk in April. They're an odd group of hills, since apparently Percy used a unique formula to compile the list (described by Andrew Dempster in his Grahams book as "cumbersome"). A lot of people aren't really sold on the idea, which is fair enough, but they're close to my home and a very different beast from the Black Cullin, so if they can motivate me to climb hills and tick boxes then I'm in.
Customary blurry zoom of the Eildon Hills.
It might not look like it, but No.3 and No.4 are straight ahead here. When I say it's not the Black Cullin, it's *really* not.
Just under 2hrs in, I reached the iconic summit of Conscleuch Head: the An Teallach of the South.
A full 13 minutes later, I was on the top of No.4: Deer Law. At least this one had a proper cairn: a single rock sticking dramatically out of the grass. It was less than 2hrs 15mins to here, but I knew things would slow down now, because I was about to strike off into Ye Wilds: the pathless, rough ground at the head of the Manor Glen. It was also clouding over a bit now, and the wind felt almost Arctic. I was glad I didn't head to the Highlands after all, where the ground is rougher and the forecast was worse.
Dollar Law is over there, but looks a bit gloomy.
Oh: eight minutes later, Dollar Law looks sunny.
I backtracked to the col, and I'd seen a bit of a faint path heading Northwest from there. But when I got there, I couldn't find it. Eh, ok, we go on.
I contoured round the side of the hill to reach the track at Foulbrig. It was predictably boggy here, but in the end I just crossed the track and followed a faint path next to another fence as it struck straight up Greenside Law. The proper track goes South so it never actually reaches the summit of Greenside: I figured it would probably waste extra minutes. Last week on Auchnafree I was over an hour late picking up my wife from work, so was keen to avoid a repeat for Logistical Reasons.
Balloons? Again? Have I ever been a walk in the South of Scotland and not seen balloons stuck to fences?
Before 1pm I reached the summit of Greenside Law, the second Full Percy of the day. Like on Conscleuch Head, there was no summit cairn or 'owt, so I had to amble about the top for a bit then basically just leave. It was just over an hour from Deer Law, and it was good to get the roughest part of the walk out the way. Onwards and upwards, 'cause Dollar Law is a fair bit higher than this (if there was a slightly bigger drop to Cramalt Craig and Broad Law, Dollar Law would be a decent-sized Corbett in its own right).
There seems to be a clearer track on the South side of the fence, but I was still on the North side and couldn't be bothered crossing over tbh. Anyway, there was a bit of a track again on this side, so What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
This part of the world isn't known for its dramatic steep slopes, but a nice view suddenly appeared to the North looking over Notman Cleuch to Dollar Law.
No.6 sat straight ahead, with the clear track on the left and this faint path on the right. The Hill Bagging website said there were an extra two deleted Tops on the route (How were they ever Tops? In both cases the drops are 11m...), so I made sure to head straight over the top of them to try and bring the day's total to a slightly comical 10 hills.
And promptly fell right in a ditch.
This was just after Shielhope Head, and tbf I saw the path sidestep it to the right, but just charged straight on ahead. It didn't look bad until I stepped in it......
At least the sun was back. I crossed over to the good track after my faux pas, but it overshot the summit of Notman Law so I had to double back a bit. It was just over 4hrs 10mins to here, and the time had only just left 1:30pm, so things were ok schedule-wise. I was starving, though: I'd only had half my lunch on Deer Law, and kept wanting to carry on at each summit. Hopefully there would be time to finish lunch at Dollar Law.
The story of the day was me always walking close to great tracks, and sometimes getting to borrow them for five minutes, but never getting to stay on them. There's a great track (probably built for grouse stuff) that starts at the Megget Reservoir and climbs up onto the hills before looping left and heading for Cramalt Craig. I passed really close to that but had to carry straight on the faint path from Notman Law, before then having to leave that path and head left for the summit of Fifescar Knowe. At least there are no more Vicar-of-Dibley ditches... I don't think.
No.7! Fifescar Knowe was reached just after 2pm, and I was hoping to be down before 4pm. There might just be time to make it back to Glasgow at a respectable hour. A view opened up towards Culter Fell, and there was definitely a good path from here to the ultimate target: Dollar Law.
Well, if you sidestep the ponds.
Hooray! 12 minutes after Fifescar Knowe, I've made it halfway through the D...Percys! I'm halfway through a list at last.
It is absolutely *freezing*: my jacket was only off for 10 seconds.
A dramatic view opened up towards Broad Law and the UFO spacecraft / radar thing I saw in August.
The Pentlands finally appeared to the North.
I took a seat at the corner of the wall and finally finished lunch. It was a full 21 years since my first Percy, when I passed over Caerloch Dhu on the way up Shalloch on Minnoch with my Grandad. I didn't even know what this list was then, far less what a "Top" was, but two decades later I'm determined to compleat them. The hills in the South aren't so much 'maligned' but they're often overlooked, and it's understandable if you stack them up against Munros. But they can be great practice for Munros in a lot of ways: map-reading, stamina, learning to read the weather, timekeeping. They can be a perfect training ground for the tougher hills, and I enjoy climbing them as a first/last walk of the year when the weather's not so grand.
I reached the corner of the huge field just under 790m, and was hoping to head diagonally Northeast and eventually reach the access road for a mast in the forest. Helpfully there was a path heading this way, although it kind of dissipated soon after, so I was left following really faint sheep tracks and pretending they were actual tracks.
Right there's the mast, but I don't want to head straight there, 'cause that would involve heading back uphill, and eh no thanks lol. I'll head left and try to reach the track at the dogleg.
Eugh. This was a bit of a mess for 5-10 minutes or so. There was a gate at the fence, but afterwards there were felled trees and loads of undergrowth. It was a big relief to finally reach the mast road, and I don't know if I'd recommend this descent route. But then I never really researched the descent of Dollar Law: I was too busy checking the route up the first hill of the round, since that's much more obscure. Dollar Law is the most famous of the eight by a distance, so there must be a good route up it. Or does everyone come from the Broad Law direction? That's tempting, but makes it much more difficult to string all the Tops together.
Ok bit random. Wouldn't mind a seat after those last 10 minutes tbf.
The final descent on the mast road was a great feeling: job practically done, and I was going to make it back to Glasgow on time this week... almost? Some more classic autumn colours came out as well.
It started to rain a bit towards the end, but who cares if it rains at the end of a walk? The start is the kicker.
The time was just leaving 3:45pm when I finally returned to the layby, the camper van now long gone. I would hopefully be back in Glasgow for about 5:15, which would be fine to pick up my wife.
Oh.
A herd of about a billion sheep appeared from out of nowhere to the North of Macbeth's Castle, followed in hot pursuit by a quad-biking farmer. It was a good laugh for a minute or two, but he seemed to be directing them to a different farm miles down the road. I don't know how long it lasted, except that it felt like an eternity. Finally he reached his destination and started to herd them off to another farm at the side. It look three or four goes (the stereotype is that sheep all follow each other, but a handful of them weren't adhering to this rule...), but eventually he managed it, and after a friendly wave we were on our way!
Satu Satu does amazing Malaysian curries at Charing Cross btw. And they hit differently after eight hills.
In the end it was a perfect choice for my last hillwalk of 2024. I hadn't even been focusing on Percys this year (since exiting lockdown and getting my car back it's been all about Munros), but had ended up climbing 23 new ones and finally reaching the halfway mark. Who knows when I'll finish them - it could be four years or thirty-four, since it's quite a weird list in so many ways. But it was great to get there in the nick of time: that night the clocks went back, and soon after there was Storm Darragh, and Storm Éowyn, and everything in between......
