Dosing up on Vitamin D in Costa Del Peebles
Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2017 2:08 pmThe forecast was suggesting that Hurricane Lee would bring apocalyptic weather to the Highlands, scuppering my Kintail plans. Desperate to get out after a hill drought of a few weeks I looked a bit harder and found a sunny patch in the Borders 
After a terrible night’s sleep and a difficult drive because it was too sunny
I parked in the parking area near the entrance to the Haytoun Estate and got my stuff together. It was pretty chilly – it’s definitely Autumn now 
A few metres further down the road it became a track – the Cross Borders Drove Road. Despite being only a mile from the centre of Peebles it already felt pretty isolated and the pretty Autumn colours made the stresses of the last few weeks melt away.
I met a few people along the first section of this walk but soon left them all behind and was all on my own. I had naively thought that this would be a nice easy walk in; how wrong I was – almost immediately I was climbing steeply up onto the ridge. However it was a good path underfoot and I made good progress.
The Drove Road skirted the summit of Craig Head, but I decided to climb it, because why not
The views were awesome and the rest of my walk was starting to come into view.
The ridge stretching out to Kirkhope Law and Birkscairn Hill
The sun was shining and it was an absolutely stunning day. The only reason that I wasn’t massively overheating was the wind – fairly strong but not bad enough to spoil my fun
A panorama shot of the whole walk
Looking down Glensax towards Dun Rig
As I descended Craig Head towards the path I was actually supposed to be on I met a guy down from Edinburgh. We concluded it was a wonderful day to be out and continued in our opposite directions.
Back on the Drove Road, my route stretched out in front of me. My first target was Kirkhope Law which was now beginning to look closer. The path became a bit boggier along here, but nothing the wasn’t easily avoidable.
Looking backwards, the Pentlands in the distance
It was an easy and enjoyable walk along the ridge, gently climbing and enjoying the sunshine and breeze.
Looking back down the ridge
A wee rainbow over Preston Law
I reached my first target of Kirkhope Law and the views were excellent. Looking back down the ridge
Wee Christmas tree
Towards Galashiels and the Moorfoot Hills
After a few photos I continued along the ridge. Shortly after Kirkhope Law the Drove Road turned left and I continued onwards towards Birkscairn Hill. Although boggy in places it was still a good path with only one major bog-hop required.
Looking back down the ridge towards Kirkhope Law
It was a relatively easy climb up to Birkscairn Hill and I reached the summit in bright sunshine. Here I was confronted with the full force of today’s wind. It appeared that Hurricane Lee had eaten baked beans for tea the night before as it was fairly blowy.
The summit cairn of Birkscairn Hill with Dun Rig behind
I managed to shelter the camera behind the cairn
From Birkscairn Hill it was an easy downhill before heading up Stake Law. The bealach was fairly boggy in places requiring a bit of jumping around.
Stake Hill had an impressive cairn and some nice views…
Before the final ascent to the main event, Dun Rig. As I approached the summit I could feel the weather starting to close in and approaching showers were looking ominous. There was a fairly unpleasant section of Peat Hags here but fortunately it didn’t last for very long
The trig was sitting upon a wee hill of its own making it look more impressive than it was
This also made posing on the trig fairly difficult and after several failed attempts this was the best I could manage….
It was windy and the rain was approaching so I pushed on downwards, following the fenceposts to walk around a big gully. As I was walking around here the shower arrived and I had to stop to get the waterproofs on. This whole section was pretty boggy so I got my head down and squelched my way across the hill towards Glenrath Heights. It might have been drier to stay a wee bit higher but I went for the slightly more sheltered option.
Reaching the fence (not marked on the map) I followed this downwards towards the bealach. The rain came to a stop, the sun came out and I was confronted by an amazing full rainbow! I may not have a wide-angle lens (soooo expensive
) but the panorama function was the next best thing
From the bealach the Drumelzier Hills looked impressive
It was also a perfect spot for some lunch, as it was lunchtime and sheltered from the wind
After my munchies had been satisfied it was an easy climb up to Glenrath Heights where the good weather was well and truly returned and I was able to ditch some of the waterproofs
From here I had the option of bailing out and just heading down…but that was never going to be an option, especially with the excellent weather. I continued along the fenceposts a short distance before leaving the ridge.
Broom Hill, Door Hass and Stob Law
I headed over Broom Hill and steeply down towards Door Hass where I had to stop to take off more clothes as it was roasting
Looking North from Door Hass
I climbed steeply up Stob Law, although it was mercifully short and before long I was standing on my final summit of the day.
Looking down Hundles Hope
Having carried my heavy zoom lens this far I figured I might as well use it….the Pentlands
Oooh look a windfarm!
It was fairly blowy so it was time to go….back down to Door Hass where this side of Glenrath Heights was impressive
Back up onto Glenrath Heights I cut across some boggy ground (not the best plan ) and followed the fence to Hundleshope Heights which despite having a trig point wasn’t a Donald in itself (maybe a Donald top!? )
I decided to have a wee pose anyway as the cairn was so pointy
Hundleshope Heights
From here it was an easy walk down a ridge to the car. However it was time for a classic Jaxter navigational screw-up as I wandered off the summit heading towards to wrong ridge…as it turned out either ridge would have been fine but I ended up cutting across heather and bog to get back to the correct one
A tale of two ridges – the right hand one was where I should have been!
Amusingly this ridge was called Dead Side… although I was feeling far from dead – slightly tired legs perhaps but it felt amazing to be out on the hills after two week off.
As I dropped lower the sun got hotter, the wind lessened and it could easily have been July
One of the wee settlements marked on the map
Newby Kips and Preston Law, the route I could have taken
It was a good path all the way down the ridge…looking back
Newby Kips and Preston Law again
Some sheepy friends
The gateway to civilisation
At this point I had to cut down steeply to the right onto a track which led me past Upper Newby farm. Shortly after the farm the track became a road which led me past a few houses and some inappropriately dressed people out on bikes. About ten minutes from the car the heavens opened and I had to put the waterproofs on which was pretty annoying. It was a wet walk through the Haytoun Estate and back to the car. It was an easy drive back to Glasgow and I was back in time to romp to a comprehensive victory in Trivial Pursuit
After a terrible night’s sleep and a difficult drive because it was too sunny
I parked in the parking area near the entrance to the Haytoun Estate and got my stuff together. It was pretty chilly – it’s definitely Autumn now A few metres further down the road it became a track – the Cross Borders Drove Road. Despite being only a mile from the centre of Peebles it already felt pretty isolated and the pretty Autumn colours made the stresses of the last few weeks melt away.
I met a few people along the first section of this walk but soon left them all behind and was all on my own. I had naively thought that this would be a nice easy walk in; how wrong I was – almost immediately I was climbing steeply up onto the ridge. However it was a good path underfoot and I made good progress.
The Drove Road skirted the summit of Craig Head, but I decided to climb it, because why not
The views were awesome and the rest of my walk was starting to come into view.The ridge stretching out to Kirkhope Law and Birkscairn Hill
The sun was shining and it was an absolutely stunning day. The only reason that I wasn’t massively overheating was the wind – fairly strong but not bad enough to spoil my fun
A panorama shot of the whole walk
Looking down Glensax towards Dun Rig
As I descended Craig Head towards the path I was actually supposed to be on I met a guy down from Edinburgh. We concluded it was a wonderful day to be out and continued in our opposite directions.
Back on the Drove Road, my route stretched out in front of me. My first target was Kirkhope Law which was now beginning to look closer. The path became a bit boggier along here, but nothing the wasn’t easily avoidable.
Looking backwards, the Pentlands in the distance
It was an easy and enjoyable walk along the ridge, gently climbing and enjoying the sunshine and breeze.
Looking back down the ridge
A wee rainbow over Preston Law
I reached my first target of Kirkhope Law and the views were excellent. Looking back down the ridge
Wee Christmas tree
Towards Galashiels and the Moorfoot Hills
After a few photos I continued along the ridge. Shortly after Kirkhope Law the Drove Road turned left and I continued onwards towards Birkscairn Hill. Although boggy in places it was still a good path with only one major bog-hop required.
Looking back down the ridge towards Kirkhope Law
It was a relatively easy climb up to Birkscairn Hill and I reached the summit in bright sunshine. Here I was confronted with the full force of today’s wind. It appeared that Hurricane Lee had eaten baked beans for tea the night before as it was fairly blowy.
The summit cairn of Birkscairn Hill with Dun Rig behind
I managed to shelter the camera behind the cairn
From Birkscairn Hill it was an easy downhill before heading up Stake Law. The bealach was fairly boggy in places requiring a bit of jumping around.
Stake Hill had an impressive cairn and some nice views…
Before the final ascent to the main event, Dun Rig. As I approached the summit I could feel the weather starting to close in and approaching showers were looking ominous. There was a fairly unpleasant section of Peat Hags here but fortunately it didn’t last for very long
The trig was sitting upon a wee hill of its own making it look more impressive than it was
This also made posing on the trig fairly difficult and after several failed attempts this was the best I could manage….
It was windy and the rain was approaching so I pushed on downwards, following the fenceposts to walk around a big gully. As I was walking around here the shower arrived and I had to stop to get the waterproofs on. This whole section was pretty boggy so I got my head down and squelched my way across the hill towards Glenrath Heights. It might have been drier to stay a wee bit higher but I went for the slightly more sheltered option.
Reaching the fence (not marked on the map) I followed this downwards towards the bealach. The rain came to a stop, the sun came out and I was confronted by an amazing full rainbow! I may not have a wide-angle lens (soooo expensive
) but the panorama function was the next best thing From the bealach the Drumelzier Hills looked impressive
It was also a perfect spot for some lunch, as it was lunchtime and sheltered from the wind
After my munchies had been satisfied it was an easy climb up to Glenrath Heights where the good weather was well and truly returned and I was able to ditch some of the waterproofs
From here I had the option of bailing out and just heading down…but that was never going to be an option, especially with the excellent weather. I continued along the fenceposts a short distance before leaving the ridge.
Broom Hill, Door Hass and Stob Law
I headed over Broom Hill and steeply down towards Door Hass where I had to stop to take off more clothes as it was roasting
Looking North from Door Hass
I climbed steeply up Stob Law, although it was mercifully short and before long I was standing on my final summit of the day.
Looking down Hundles Hope
Having carried my heavy zoom lens this far I figured I might as well use it….the Pentlands
Oooh look a windfarm!
It was fairly blowy so it was time to go….back down to Door Hass where this side of Glenrath Heights was impressive
Back up onto Glenrath Heights I cut across some boggy ground (not the best plan
) and followed the fence to Hundleshope Heights which despite having a trig point wasn’t a Donald in itself (maybe a Donald top!? ) I decided to have a wee pose anyway as the cairn was so pointy
Hundleshope Heights
From here it was an easy walk down a ridge to the car. However it was time for a classic Jaxter navigational screw-up as I wandered off the summit heading towards to wrong ridge…as it turned out either ridge would have been fine but I ended up cutting across heather and bog to get back to the correct one
A tale of two ridges – the right hand one was where I should have been!
Amusingly this ridge was called Dead Side…
although I was feeling far from dead – slightly tired legs perhaps but it felt amazing to be out on the hills after two week off. As I dropped lower the sun got hotter, the wind lessened and it could easily have been July
One of the wee settlements marked on the map
Newby Kips and Preston Law, the route I could have taken
It was a good path all the way down the ridge…looking back
Newby Kips and Preston Law again
Some sheepy friends
The gateway to civilisation
At this point I had to cut down steeply to the right onto a track which led me past Upper Newby farm. Shortly after the farm the track became a road which led me past a few houses and some inappropriately dressed people out on bikes. About ten minutes from the car the heavens opened and I had to put the waterproofs on which was pretty annoying. It was a wet walk through the Haytoun Estate and back to the car. It was an easy drive back to Glasgow and I was back in time to romp to a comprehensive victory in Trivial Pursuit
