Walkhighlands

With a forecast of heavy snow and high winds, it was not a weekend for Munros. An affront to my schedule, but hopefully will be able to make up some ground next weekend. So our eyes turned south - Allison has been feeling guilty that she has not completed all the Donald Tops - a dozen remained unclimbed for her. I have to admit that in my second round I have left a number of tops also unclimbed. Hmmm. So I worked out a weekend's worth of walking that would net her 8 of her remaining 12.



Friday morning - we left at 7 and had a smooth run down the road to Glenkirk, which would allow us to approach the Culter Fell round from the east, saving 8 or 9km on the circuit from Coulter. It's a nice way to do the circuit if you aren't bothered about Hudderstone. Plenty of grassy roadside parking at the beginning of the walk. We followed the road to the farm and took the track up onto Chapelgill Hill - a steady pull on heather/grass. From the top it was over to the Top of Cardon Hill, under a lot more snow. We'd left our snowshoes in the car, something we'd regret as the day wore on. Top reached, we turned our attention to Culter Fell - looking crisp and white ahead of us. The section from King Bank Head is notoriously boggy - at least it was snowy, not too boggy today. Crusty icy snow on Culter Fell made ascending easier and we paused for a breath.

Glenkirk
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Culter Fell
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Cardon from Chapelgill
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Cardon
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CulterFell
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Things you find stuck in the snow #1
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There's a long downward trot over Moss Law to Holm Nick before the climb to Gathersnow Hill - we followed the track, under varying amounts of snow to the top. From here it was across towards the windfarm and Coomb Dod, by way of Hillshaw Head - we met another walker out taking his exercise. Coomb Dod reached, we about turned and retraced our steps up Gathersnow, meeting another walker who expressed his gratitude for the tracks we'd ploughed in the snow. On to Coomb Hill and down towards the track at Holms Waterhead and back to the car. My GPS was playing up, not receiving a signal for some reason... We pondered whether to camp in the valley where we'd parked or drive along to The Meggat where we'd be walking tomorrow. We were quite close to the farmhouse here, so decided to move along to The Meggat and our usual waterside spot.

Down to Holm Nick
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Gathersnow to Coomb Dod
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Weathered trig of Coomb Dod
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Things you find in the snow #2
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Coomb Hill
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When we drove along to Talla Linfoots we were faced with a very snowy steep road up the hillside towards the Meggat Stone. I did attempt to get up the hill, but when the car started slithering towards the drop on the left, I decided that was a bad idea and had a rather hairy reverse back down the sinuous slope - ditch on the right, drop on the left. By this time it was getting dark - we cast around for a place to pitch and eventually ended up pitching by the river at the bottom of the hill. Lumpy and wet and right in the teeth of a gale coming along the valley. Some extra guy lines and a few big rocks were required to keep us attached to the earth and a very noisy night ensued. Rain came on in the evening and battered right into the tent. We did manage some sleep despite the noise - in fact Allison said I fell asleep right away despite the chaos outrside. Better wind than loud Edinbuggers!



Saturday morning - the road still impassable despite rain all night, I had to edit my route and start from where we'd parked rather than 100m or so higher up the hillside. Carlavin Hill is one steep honey - still a fair amount of snow underfoot. We inched up towards the cairn in poor visibility, tough going underfoot. I'd brought my snowshoes today, Allison had chosen to leave hers behind. We continued along to Molls Cleuch Dod, the going becoming easier on firmer snow with deep drifts burying the fence in places. On to Donald's Cleuch Head then a deviation to Great Hill and back, with a stop for lunch down from Firthhope Rig. From here we had to contour round White Coomb to Gupe Criag and the final Top of Carrifrans Gans - there and back took and hour. Noticed a collapsed cornice avalanche on Hart Fell. Back along by Donald's Cleuch Head and onwards to Lochcraig Head. The day had brightened up nicely, blue skies instead of clag, always welcome.

Steeply up Carlavin Hill
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Talla Reservoir
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Summit of Great Hill
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Round White Coomb
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Carrifrans Gans
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Hartfell - avalanche evidence
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Carrifrans Gans
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Another view of avalanche debris
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Clearing up - view to Donald's Cleuch Head
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Towards Loch Skeen
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Up to Lochcraig Head
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From here it was down over Nickies Knowe towards the road - Allison falling over in the boggy lower section and getting a wet bum When we reached the road there were 3 guys from Borders SAR who had been called out with a story of a family car going off the road further along - asked if we'd seen anything. They'd not been able to get their Defender up the hill (which made me feel a bit better about my efforts the evening before). We walked back along the road and saw a collection of Mountain Rescue folk at the foot of the hill. Soon the helicopter came over - don't know the outcome of thier search. We had thought of camping in the same place as last night, especially since the wind had dropped, but it was a little busy Instead we drove about a bit looking for a suitable spot before settling on a nice level grassy pitch at the north end of the Talla Reservoir where we spent a quiet night.

Talla again
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Snowy road
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Sunday - Taberon Law and Hunt Law were on the menu today. These are outliers of the Drumelzier and Dollar Law circuits respectively and the latter I remember as being quite a slog. I saw they were easy to combine from an approach along the Stanhope burn, reached by walking along a private road from the A701.We parked up in a layby north of the bridge across the Tweed and walked through the estate buildings with quirky metal sculptures, past signs pointing the walkers' right of way. Then onto a firm track that led us to the shoulder of taberon Law, where a helpful bulldozed track went all the way to the summit. There was one of those foul crow traps with one incarcerated occupant - I didn't free it though felt bad about that. Allison was a bit breathless at the top - the cough/cold that's been plaguing her all week not liking the claggy air and steep ascent. I wondered if she was fit to go on, but she insisted she was.

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Up the shoulder of Taberon Law
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Steeply down by some gross butts towards a narrow footbridge over the burn then up another ATV track, again passing gross butts to the summit of Hunt Law. The eigth of her Donald Tops claimed. We retraced our steps and wandered back along the track, drove back to Glasgow and had time for a wee wander there, sampling a new cafe on Great Western Road (V&V's) where we had coffee and cake but noted their fab menu including Pakora Toasties!! Then a bit more walking and a fine Chinese style repast in the Hug and Pint.

Hunt Law
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Walking the plank
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Hunt Law
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