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Does anyone else have those days when they just don’t want to deal with people? That was me on Sunday…. Despite several offers of other trips North, I opted to head South where the weather looked to be better. More on that later….
I arrived at the tip of the Talla reservoir and found a parking spot just next to the footbridge. The river looked pretty mental
Although the rain had stopped, it was fairly windy so layers went on before crossing the footbridge and heading up the steep end of Garelet Hill. It was 11 o clock which gave me about 7 hours of daylight; more than enough unless something went badly wrong
Looking back down towards Colonel Mustard and the farm
I followed the fenceposts which bypassed the summit of Garelet Hill. I passed a television aerial
The views behind me seemed to be opening out a little – a good sign
However….as I climbed higher I was into the cloud, where I would stay for a long time
The fenceposts led me along the ridge towards Erie Hill. As I got closer it started to loom out of the mist, looking..eerie
A short pull upwards later I was on the summit of Erie Hill
It was windy and my 6th sense wasn’t telling me the cloud was about to clear so I continued onwards. At the bealach I did get a view down towards Fruid Reservoir and Erie Hill almost poking out of the cloud
It was easy walking, again following fenceposts over Common Law and deviating from the fenceposts for the final ascent to Garelet Dod. However….as I reached the top it started raining and the wind had picked up even more than before….
I ducked out of the wind (well, I tried to) and got my waterproof trousers on. Hoping for just a brief shower I walked back to the safety of the fenceposts and followed them along the ridge.
Gameshope Loch appeared out of the mist
Onwards….
Before the ascent to Din Law was a drop where it was interesting and rocky and I didn’t take a photo because it was chucking down and all windy
I continued over Din Law before the fenceposts bent again towards Cape Law which I reached after crossing “The Spout”
Cape Law summit
From here it was a long trek out to White Coomb which involved crossing “Rotten Bottom” which I could only imagine would be fairly moist after the recent (and current) rainfall
Coming off Cape Law the rain eased and it seemed to almost be clearing as I approached Rotten Bottom…
Looking ahead I could see Games Castle across Rotten Bottom. I was about to find out how wet it was…
The answer was…very. I had stopped caring about dry feet long ago as my boots had started leaking before Erie Hill, but as I headed into the marsh I sunk enough that the water went over my boots. As I walked further across, I regularly started being knee-deep. Again, not a massive problem, only annoying. However I came to a dodgy looking bit which I gingerly stuck a pole into….the pole was entirely submerged
I was sinking….it was time to abort
Due to my anti-people mood, I had told no one where I was, and was very aware of this as I skirted around the worst of the bog and avoided doing any actual swimming
The worst of the bog was now past and I squelched my way past Games Castle and followed the fence up towards Firthhope Rig.
As I climbed some of the crags towards Carifran were visible
Safely across, looking back across Rotten Bottom
At Firthhope Rig I turned right along the fenceposts for an easy climb to White Coomb; both a Corbett and a Donald. This should have been a great viewpoint, but it wasn’t. It was incredibly windy but dry, and the conveniently placed cairn provided somewhere to shelter a camera
From here it was an easy walk back to Firthhope Rig where it promptly started raining and I struggled to get my leg over the style (blame Fencing the other night
) I followed the ridge over Donald’s Cleuch Head (I love the names in the Borders
) to Firthybrig Head. Here was decision time – did I make the diversion to Lochcraig Head? I’d kick myself if I didn’t, I had plenty of light and my knee felt fine, so I made it over the fence and down the steep and slippy hill towards Talla Nick. It almost appeared to be clearing again here and I was naively hopeful of views from the top….however it wasn’t to be.
The steep ascent wasn’t as bad as it had looked and I found a large cairn to the right of the fenceposts.
Studying the map it seemed that the actual summit was further to the left….crossing the fence and landing in a puddle, I struggled along into the wind and made my way along to a very small and easily missed cairn. Looking back I thought it probably was higher. Glad to have made the effort (and even more glad to be walking away from the wind) I made my way back and then back down and up to Firthybrig Head. Here it started raining more heavily and I plodded my way along towards Molls Cleuch Dod, my final summit of the day. It was a very easy walk to this final summit and my face describes the weather at this point
Molls Cleuch Dod
I could see a wee cairn about 50m away so popped over just in case….again it did seem to be higher so worth the effort
The rain was now horrible – the wind had picked up so much it was hard to walk and it was blowing the rain into my face and trying to blow my hat off. I’m aware that the pink hat and red jacket is a crime against fashion, but it was keeping me nice and warm
I headed downhill in a vaguely diagonal line to meet up with fenceposts leading down towards the Games Hope Linns.
Once the gradient had eased I crossed the fence with as much dignity as I could muster and headed over relatively easy but very squishy ground. I was now largely out of the cloud and could see a nice looking track on the other side of the burn….however, a quick look at the burn suggested that crossing was going to be impossible.
Down at the burn, my assessment was correct. Nae chance
However, it seemed other people had had similar problems as there were smatterings of a path along the side of the very impressive river
Reaching the Gameshope Bothy I met the track marked on the map. Huzzah
Unfortunately I was unable to cross the river to have a wee look in the bothy!
But it looked very inviting
Now on a track, the walking was now easy. The rain was on and off as I walked down the glen but at least I was relatively sheltered from the wind.
Looking back up the glen
Looks like this may have been a bridge at some point
It was a lovely glen though, lots of impressive water features and pine trees too.
The last section was quite muddy as I walked past farm buildings and other detritus and after another shower I was glad to be back at the car, where I de-mudded myself and stripped off all my wet clothes
The Talla Reservoir looked deceptively serene
Not quite the forecast I’d hoped for but was exactly what I needed – a day entirely on my own where I could plod along in my own misty wonderland
