Ettrick Hills horseshoe

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The green rounded hills at the head of the Ettrick valley offer pleasant walking in a very quiet area. This fine undulating circuit is fairly easy to follow thanks to the ever-present boundary fences.

Terrain

Forest tracks at the start and finish. Faint paths on the tops but mostly sound going over grassy slopes and only a few softer sections.

Public Transport

None to start.

Start

Head of Ettrick Valley. Open start point in Google Maps for directions.

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Grade (key)

Bog Factor (key)

Walk Statistics

Distance: 15.75km / 9.75 miles
Time: 5.5 - 6.5 hours
Ascent: 827m (Profile)
Start Grid Ref: NT189092

Summits Climbed

Graham / Donald: Capel Fell
Graham / Donald: Ettrick Pen
Donald: Bodesbeck Law
Donald: Wind Fell

Maps, App and GPS

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Accommodation

Walk Description

Stage 1

A minor road winds for some 10km south-west from Ettrick village to the head of the valley. Where the road ends there is parking for about four cars on the edge of the turning circle. If full, there is further parking about 600m back along the road. From the turning circle take the right hand track which is helpfully signed 'Ettrick Horseshoe and Bodesbeck Law'. After 400m, next to a broken signpost, take the right fork which continues a gradual ascent through the forest. The track peters out shortly after emerging above the treeline but a faint quad bike track continues west over Bucht Hill to Bodesbeck Law.

Stage 2

The top of Bodesback Law is crossed by a boundary wall and a fence. Go through a broken section of wall and cross the fence to reach the summit cairn (no stile, but a conveniently placed stone allows a simple step-over). The best views are to the west, particularly of Saddle Yoke and White Coomb.

Stage 3

Having crossed the fence it is now easiest to continue with it on your left as you descend 200m over easy grassy slopes to the slightly boggy Bodesbeck col. Then stick with the boundary on your left, initially a wall and later a fence, as it zigzags and steadily gains height over the minor tops of Fauldside Hill, White Shank and Smidhope Hill, all the way to Capel Fell. This hill has a broad grassy top and a good view of the more craggy north-west side of Croft Head.

Stage 4

To continue, go through a gate and descend south-east to Ettrick Head with the fence now on your right and Wind Fell directly ahead. Here you meet the Southern Upland Way. (Turn left and follow this back to the start in 3.5 km if you want a shorter version of this walk). The peat hags at the col are best avoided by crossing the stile into Dumfries and Galloway and skirting round them on the right, heading for the shallow dip between Wind Fell and Loch Fell. Then trend left on easier-angled grassy slopes to meet the fence which leads to Wind Fell

Stage 5

The summit of Wind Fell is undistinguished save for a fence stump in a patch of bog just to the right of the fence. Continue with the fence on your right to Hopetoun Crag, which has a more impressive cairn slightly offset from the boundary.

Stage 6

Continue on a steady climb to Ettrick Pen, the next summit and the highest point of the day. Here there is an untidy cairn at a fence junction.

Stage 7

From Ettrick Pen follow a faint quad bike track north-west for 300m and then strike off west over pathless grassy slopes. White Shank, on the other side of the valley, makes a useful direction guide. Soon an obvious gap in the plantations comes into view - aim for this to meet a forest track which leads to Phawhope bothy. The bothy is maintained by volunteers from the Mountain Bothy Association; please help by carrying out any rubbish you find here, and always follow the bothy code when visiting. Turn right here to join the gravel road which goes past the boarded-up Potsburn farmhouse back to the start.

Route: john923

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