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This little round of Donalds has been on my radar for a while and after reading all the available WR's I would like to thank gmr82, rockhopper and RTMcB for the useful info and photo's in their reports
One thing you notice when set your sights on hills other than Munro's is how few reports there are
I was determined to get out before the weather changes for the worse and as I was expecting numerous peat hags, the recent dry weather would make the going so much easier
Because I am such a thoughtful husband I said to Mrs F on Monday which day would you like me to hit the hills Wed or Thu? She preferred me to be absent on Wednesday, so decision made, now to finalise the plans.
I arrived at the 'limited' parking area, which as you can see from the photo was a bit muddy and wet, looks like there had been a shower or two overnight - we haven't seen any rain for what seems like weeks in Fife
A useful point to note, the walk starts at nearly 350m, almost shades of Drumochter
Car park
Not the way ahead, that would be the way back
The way ahead and up
As soon as I got out of the car I was pounced on and assaulted by the local midge population, they must have thought I was breakfast, I had other ideas and was on my way in seconds, well minutes
The temperature was already in double figures and the humidity was rather oppressive and it wasn't long before I was leaking all over and I mean really leaking. I was beginning to wonder if I had enough liquid, especially if this continued. I had put a good dollop of sun cream on but with all the perspiring I would think it would be a tad diluted. Not to worry, I had hills to climb, well not really climb, more like walk up - if anyone is expecting to use there hands on this route forget it
The initial part of the walk involves keeping to the south (left) of the wall and the forest, once the forest is behind you just pick a spot and head uphill. Ideally I would have made for a junction in the fence to the right, but there were a herd of cows gathered there so I was forced to climb over a barbed wire fence, which wasn't too high and didn't shred any of my gear
Looking back down towards the reservoir
The way ahead, note the blue sky
Once I reached the horizon, the obvious problem was trying to locate the summit, so after much wandering around I found what I thought was the highest point and continued on my journey
Comb Law summit area
One thing I noticed on this lengthy walk is that like lot's of walks in the Borders, fences and walls tend to lead you between summits. A useful addition on this route is the numerous ATV tracks, they make walking across tufty grass so much easier and do tend to be fairly direct
Another thing you will notice is the lack of decent summit cairns, there is only one trig point and that is on Rodger Law which isn't a Donald or part of the route
Looking back
The way ahead
The only peat hag that was damp!
Random cairn in between hills 1 & 2
One for the peat hag lovers
Summit collection on Ballencleuch Law
To make the walk a bit more interesting I was trying to keep a note of times between the summits, this was difficult as I said before some of the summits aren't exactly obvious. Timings will be at the end of the report
Another thing I was doing to pass the time was trying to think of a witty title, this was proving to be quite challenging, 7 hours later I still couldn't really come up with much inspiration
On the way to Ballencleuch Law I saw the lump on the left (Rodger Law), so after checking the map I decided not to make a detour, even though there was a visible ATV track going right up to the summit
After a couple of photo's I was on my way again, a bit of descending followed by a bit of ascending, nothing difficult or steep until the last two hills.
Looking back
The way ahead
Typical terrain
The way ahead, follow the ATV track
Scaw'd Law summit cairn
I doubled the height of the cairn by adding a stone
On leaving Scaw'd Law and the now higher cairn, a good track can be utilised that heads up towards Wedder Law
Track heading towards Wedder Law
Not quite sure there is enough traffic to merit such a track?
Noticed this interesting collection and my learned friends on Facebook advise me it is for catching vermin
Once I had ascended uphill using the track it was time to go off piste to the summit of Wedder Law, like the rest of the summits it was not what you would call memorable, it was so memorable I didn't even take a photo, it was during the descent I suddenly realised and I wasn't for returning
As the walk progresses if you do the route the same way I did anti-clockwise, the descents and ascents increase and that is definitely noticeable on the final two ascents
Looking back
The highlight of the day was stumbling across a herd of wild goats, I wasn't aware they existed in the Borders?
Goats were resting in the peat hags
I must have looked pretty scary to make them run that fast
After the goat excitement it was time to continue onto the next summit of Gana Hill
Summit cairn on Gana Hill
Looking from Gana back towards Daer Reservoir
Track rather visible
Angle of ascent, by far and away the steepest walk of the day - on the way up towards Earncraig
Earncraig Hill or just a collection of stones?
Another fence to climb over once I worked out the direction to head in
Following the fence again
The way down, the peat hags at the bottom don't look overly inviting
The way up towards Queensberry, however I was entering the cloud
The prize for the biggest cairn of the day goes to Queensberry, sadly nae views
Obstacles on the way down, in the distance is Daer Reservoir and where the car is
Lots of wild cotton
The descent off Queensberry was easy on nice soft grass, however the route I was following involved a few more slight ascents which would lead me towards this derelict house - in the middle of nowehere.
In need of lots of TLC
Burn to cross to get to the derelict house
Once you are on the other side of the burn (Daer Water) you then pick up a really good track that takes you back to the Reservoir and the car, albeit is does have a few twists and turns
Good track
Daer Reservoir
How to ruin a nice photo, plant some wind turbines that were redundant due to the lack of wind
Timings give or take a few minutes, purely as a guideline, maybe of use to at least one person
To Comb Law - 40 mins
Comb Law to Ballencleuch Law - 25mins
Ballencleuch to Scaw'd Law - 40mins
Scaw'd to Wedder Law - 40mins
Wedder to Gana Hill - 35mins
Gana to Earncraig Hill - 40mins
Earncraig to Queensberry - 60mins
To sum up, a satisfying walk not particularly demanding apart from the distance covered, they are defintely the poor relations in the Lowther Hills
Next will probably be another trip into the Borders before the final Munro countdown begins in just over a weeks time
