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After watching a government spokesman on the TV telling me it was okay to drive a short distance to take my daily exercise I did just that, Twenty five minutes later parked with three other vehicles at a layby on the A702 I started up the path to Scald Law. I met one walker on his way down on a parallel route and we exchanged greetings at a distance of ten to fifteen metres. As the gradient steepened I noticed another walker several hundred metres behind me. Nearing the top several red grouse scurried about through the heather all at a safe distance
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- Maintaining a 5m separation
I started in bright sunshine and as I climbed met a chill wind that didn't encourage a stop at the trig point.
- South Black Hill from Scald Law
Instead I continued on to the ring cairn on South Black Hill where I stopped for a snack and a drink of water.
- Scald Law from South Black Hill
- The Kips with East Cairn Hill in the distance
Looking back I could see a couple of walkers reach the trig point and then retreat. In the other direction another two reached the top of West Kip. So no difficulty in maintaining my distance from them.
- Looking down the east ridge of South Black HIll
From the ring cairn I took the path down the east ridge and then followed a track to Silverburn Quarry then a combination of ATV track and sheep paths back to my uphill route and so to the car.
- Silverburn Quarry
Once home I later heard that driving to go for walks was now being frowned upon. I am now exploring my local landscape for routes, though most paths are narrower than 2m so more difficult to maintain the required separation..