Brief Encounter with a Border Broad

[old danensian]

I visited the Corbetts north of Moffat two or three years ago but shunned the opportunity to include Broad Law. I've always regretted not driving up to the Megget Stone and heading for the radio masts in the evening light.

Since then, each time I've been on the M74, I've promised myself a diversion. Stretching the legs on a hill is more attractive than a circuit round a motorway service station. But, I've never got round to it. There's always been a reason to put my foot to the floor and press on.

With the prospect of snow on the tops, and boggy ground frozen, it was time to grasp this neglected nettle. However, I hadn't planned on an andrenaline-filled start to the day.

Driving along Talla Water I wondered where the road was going to lead. Valley sides closed in and reared up, with no sign of a gap in their defences. Finally the road swung sharply to the left and a road sign warned of a 20% slope ahead. With the temperature well below zero, I suspected sheet ice could add a touch of spice to the mile of single-track hairpins, with no passing places, that had to be confronted before starting the walk.

Anxieties proved to be groundless and I arrived at the watershed grateful that nobody had nabbed the single parking space at the cattle grid and gate.

Slopes of Fans Law from the cattle grid and gate by the solitary parking space

The recent frosts made the initial russet slopes above mercifully squelch-free. It didn't take long to reach the two eastern cairns on Cairn Law, then the rounded dome of Broad Law lay above the snow-line ahead. Cover wasn't deep and there were no peat hags into which the snow might have drifted or into which I might have had to wade or plunge. It was simply a pleasant amble that seemed to go on and on.

Eastern Shepherds' Cairn on the way to Broad Law

Encrusted fence and final walk to the top of Broad Law

After barely an hour from the car, the trig point came into view. The transmitter building beyond, paraphernalia that would normally be seen as a blot on the landscape, took on a more appealing appearance encrusted with rime and snow.

Summit cairn and radio beacon on Broad Law

A persistent bite to the wind prevented thoughts of lingering. There was little to be gained from a brief wander to the adjacent mast unless I was extending the walk to Dollar Law. So, it was already time to return, broadly by the way I came up.

Following the fence, I made a downhill dog-leg via the other Shepherd's Cairn and, after just a couple of hours out from the car, I resumed my journey south down the M74.

Heading south from Broad Law

Short and sweet, it was just what I needed. Cobwebs were blown away, I was reinvigorated by simply being on a hill and, albeit small, I'd made a little progress on my Corbett journey, glad that I'd done it in attractively snowy conditions rather than the flat bland browns of other times in the year.

[PeteR]

Love the encrusted fence shots You'll be converting your lowland Corbetts in to a fulll on Donald onslaught before too long.........great hills as an alternative to long drives north in my view

[simon-b]

A nice area, Nigel. That road from Talla Reservoir to the Megget Stone has some beautiful scenery.