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First Aid Kit required

First Aid Kit required


Postby Fife Flyer » Wed Sep 26, 2018 7:42 pm

Sub 2000' hills included on this walk: Pikethaw Hill, Wisp Hill

Date walked: 22/09/2018

Time taken: 3 hours

Distance: 7.5 km

Ascent: 670m

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My monthly visit to the Borders on my way home from Cheshire, I opted to visit Pikethaw & Wisp as they eluded me last month due to rather wet feet. Once again I have to thank Inca as I loosely followed his route.
With these 2 hills now ticked off I only have 2 hills left on the east side of the A74.
The title of this WR is not quite as dramatic as it sounds, I did need to open my First Aid kit and will explain why later.

The forecast was favourable and the weather turned out as predicted. Yet again my new (ish) boots did the job as the ground was damp and the bracken which is starting to die back but was still above knee high - and there was plenty of it, both on the ascent and the descent. If it was in full bloom it would definitely be very challenging.
After reading Inca's report I was a bit concerned about parking, I opted to improvise and parked on a grassy area leaving access to the farm unaffected. Having said that if these hills became popular (which I somehow doubt) then my parking spot could become churned up - judge for yourself?

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Careful parking and room for at least one other car

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You could get a wee car in this spot, but this is the A7 and although not the busiest road there is still plenty of traffic

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The track that takes you to Eweslees Farm

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Plenty of junk lying around

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Not sure if anyone was within the buildings when I wandered past, certainly didn't see anyone

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Looking back to the farm

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Eweslees Burn that has to be jumped across

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This rickety barbed wire fence assaulted me

To explain, I wandered along the fence looking for a suitable spot to climb over the fence, there didn't appear to be a sturdy post so opted to clamber over what appeared to be the easiest and lowest point. The idea was good however wet soles on my boots and a strand of wire combined mean my foot is going to slip, hindsight is great. So I was traddling the fence when my right foot slipped and I became impaled on the rusty top wire. My trousers were snagged and in a bit of a panic I put both hands on the top barbed fence, which ended up with cuts on both hands. My trousers are undamaged as my Ronhill trousers are very hard wearing, I do have cuts on both thighs and TCP was administered when I got home. In an effort to stem the bleeding I opened my first aid pack and found a couple of plasters. The plasters have been dormant for quite a few years and had lost a bit of the stickiness, but they di the job.

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Left hand

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Right hand index finger

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Once over the fence I was treated to my first bout of bracken

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Unfortunately this stuff is almost unavoidable

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Looking down on the farm

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Looking down on the A7

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Looking down on the A7 south, also shows the angle of ascent

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The pointy hill in the distance is near Melrose one of the Eildons

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Looking across to the descent shoulder, the brown area is bracken

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First view of the cairn on top of Pikethaw Hill

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Nice twisting gully looking across to Wisp Hill

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Large cairn on Pikethaw

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Next target Wisp Hill with Eildon in the distance

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Helicopter flypast

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The descent down into the glen, 220m

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Looking down the glen back to the farm

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I followed a faint ATV track uphill

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Looking across to the gully from a previous photo

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Looking back downhill

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Came across the little chap

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Eildons from the trig on Wisp Hill

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For anyone who is interested!!

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It wouldn't be the Borders without these things improving the view

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Eildons zoomed

My descent plan was to head back down via Whin Fell, it looked good on the map but I am not a fan of ascending before descending. Looking at the 20 or 30m ascent of Whin Fell put me off so I made the executive decision to traverse round the west side. The descent was steep and the lower slopes were covered in crispy knee deep bracken which was a bit of a battle. I had spotted a gate and was heading for it, the gate would then mean the battle with the bracken would be over and the farm was very close.

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Looking down on the farm, the brown area is bracken

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The gate I climbed over and that bracken

I really enjoyed these 2 hills and I have scars to prove I was there. If anyone is travelling down or up the A7 I would recommend stopping off.
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Re: First Aid Kit required

Postby dibs » Wed Sep 26, 2018 7:55 pm

Shame about the requirement for first aid, could have been worse though. That little chap you found was the same as the one we found last weekend, quite colourful caterpillar things. Good report Martin.
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Re: First Aid Kit required

Postby parminder » Thu Sep 27, 2018 7:43 am

The Border Reiver has done it again...well done FF....
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Re: First Aid Kit required

Postby Mal Grey » Thu Sep 27, 2018 9:27 am

Ouch!

A fine way to make a journey into a little adventure.
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Re: First Aid Kit required

Postby razzah » Fri Sep 28, 2018 10:34 am

Ahh bracken battles - I've had a few of them lately :roll:

Looks a nasty little cut that. Cracking looking walk though - nice, quiet and scenic part of the country.
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Re: First Aid Kit required

Postby Sack the Juggler » Fri Sep 28, 2018 11:28 am

cut my thumb whilst wild camping the other night, so got my trusty first aid kit out and opened up one of the antiseptic wipes to clean the cut, only to find it was a dry as a bone, as was the next one :lol: note to self, buy new antiseptic wipes every now and then!

Also, on the bracken theme, a few weeks ago we did quiet walk from an old wood, along to a reservoir, then up into the hills, with a planned direct route back back to the wood from the top of the hill, which was marked on the OS map.

We got down the hill to a barbed wire fence, and there was an old wooden style right where the route said it would be, but it was severely rotted away, so much so that missus decided to cross first in case my weight broke it :lol:

Anyway, it groans and swayed under my weight but we made it over, but couldn't find the path as the hillside was overgrown with bracken, it was up to my chest, and up to my wife's neck, so I went first to force a path through the bracken, literally trying to create our own path back to the woods.

I was fine, but my wife kept tripping up on the bent bracken that she couldn't see and kept disappearing beneath the foliage. It probably didn't help that I found this really amusing. :lol: :lol: :lol: we made it back in one piece, with our marriage still intact also! :D
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Re: First Aid Kit required

Postby malky_c » Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:14 pm

These look quite pleasant for a stop-off actually (injuries aside). Certainly more shapely than Caldcleuch Head nearby, which is the only hill I have done in the area.
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Re: First Aid Kit required

Postby James Turpie » Sun Apr 11, 2021 2:08 pm

IMG_20210411_130934468.jpg
Might be better parking elsewhere, I came back to this today
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Re: First Aid Kit required

Postby Fife Flyer » Sun Apr 11, 2021 7:18 pm

James Turpie wrote:
IMG_20210411_130934468.jpg


Interesting. Did you park on the grass where I parked? Not sure if the laybys are nearby?
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Re: First Aid Kit required

Postby McMole » Mon May 09, 2022 5:29 pm

In 2019 I parked on the bridge on the south side of the road as recommended by Inca so it would not impair visibility for farm traffic. There was a notice as mentioned by Inca on the railing on the opposite side about not parking on that side. I didn't get a note. And there are no suitable laybys. The nearest isn't far to the north but it's too dangerous to walk along the road from there..
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Re: First Aid Kit required

Postby Sgurr » Mon May 09, 2022 10:05 pm

People always envisage solo walkers falling over a cliff or down a hole and unable to rescue themselves, but so far, the biggest annoyance has been trying to put a plaster on with one hand.. When R was put on blood thinning medications, that sort of snag would turn into a major episode while he stood with his hands above his head waiting for the flood to subside while I circled him plaster at the ready. Glad it wasn't more serious. Whoops, only just realised that this was writen 4 years back.
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