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This was a kind of short notice venture back down to the Borders, one has to try and make the most of the 'unseasonal' dry spell and Donalds are an ideal destination
I have to say that this group of Donalds were far more interesting and exciting than the last 2
I did my usual research and although there are only a handful of reports for this group, most of the previous visitors either tackle them from the south or visit them as part of different groups. I for one reason or another had these 4 sitting close(ish) to each other so I thought why not plot out a route and go for it and that is exactly what I did. I knew the problem would be getting from Cramalt Craig to Greenside Law with plenty of going down and then back up.
I knew the walk would take approximately 5 hours (according to Naismith) so I just got up at the usual time and then set off to battle with the usual Edinburgh commuters
If anyone reading this is a regular commuter you really do have my sympathy, I find it so frustrating stopping and then starting
It took me about 90 minutes to reach the start point and I was on my way just after 9.30am
Parking area
Not the way I was heading
Walk along the road as far as the wall and then head steeply uphill
First photo looking back down
Looking across the glen
The way up, trying to avoid the dying bracken
Looking down from slightly higher up
Looking down the glen to the north
Looking back down having followed the wall uphill
Word of warning as soon as you leave the track the going up starts in earnest, there is a faint path and as you gain height the path merges with an ATV track which makes walking uphill slightly easier. I reached the summit of Dollar Law in an hour after lots of huffing and puffing and stopping to take a few photo's
Dollar Law trig.
The way ahead after Dollar Law
Once I reached the summit the wind had picked up a bit and the temperature had dropped quite a bit, and I had to root out my woolly hat and gloves for the first time for a few months
The route to the next port of call Cramalt Craig was a doddle, basically following a fence or a wall, I walked between the two
It took me 45 minutes to reach Cramalt Craig which was intermitently shrouded in cloud, a few photo's and I was off again
Follow the fence/wall
First glimpse of Megget Reservoir
Following the fence, Cramalt Craig in cloud
Looking back towards Dollar Law
Looking west and the obligatory wind farm
Cramalt Craig summit, 45mins from Dollar
Cramalt Craig is a "demoted" Corbett and would be the high point of the day, so in theory it would be all downhill from here
There are a couple of shoulders heading east, the one directly from Cramalt Craig would involve much more descending and then ascending, so I opted to retrace my steps and head back towards Dun Law, but start descending before reaching the higher ground. As stated previously I knew it was going to be tough going and it certainly was, descending was easy however the ascending was basically a slog
I have to confess I haven't got a photo of Greenside Law summit, not quite sure why
Megget Reservoir again
Some sort of furry caterpillar
After Greenside the trudge across to Black Law wasn't very interesting or exciting, there is a bit of a bogfest to negotiate
Rather undulating terrain
Black Law summit
I noticed from previous reports that Black Law was a major disappointment and I totally agree and there was no reason to linger, so I was off on the final stretch the descent back to the car. The descent was really easy until the bracken is reached on the northern slopes on Sting Burn, luckily the bracken was on it's last legs and getting ready for the winter
Manorhead Farm in the distance and the way down
Lots of dying bracken to wade through
For the bracken lovers
A very enjoyable day and I enjoyed these hills so much I would even visit them again and I haven't said that about too many Donald's so far
That is 60 Donald's down, the majority that are left are now down in the deep south west
Next on the horizon is another visit to tackle the "Ring of Steal" with Tommy, this coming Thursday, forecast looks OK at the moment, bit blowy but dry
