Sunday 23rd June - Hot and Sunny for today's 140 odd mile move from Braemar to Moffat and the first part of our journey was through the magnificent Glen Shee. The road was a bit like a roller coaster with lots of twists and turns and also ups and downs and when we finally arrived at our destination lots of things had moved around in the van! Most of our clothes had jumped of the rail in the wardrobe and were in a heap on the floor 😳 but no worries cos no harm was done!
Once we'd set up we strolled into Moffat (which is right next door to the campsite) but as it was Sunday quite alot of places were closed but thankfully not the very well stocked Coop! The cheerful chap in there happily sold us some very nice chilled cider (no Sunday 4pm closing here)! So once back home we soon had our feet up sipping said beverage while we caught a few rays🍻🌞.
Monday 24th June - Bit of cloud, bit of sun 🌞 but thankfully no rain. Today our visit was to The Scottish National Trusts Grey Mares Tail Waterfall, and when we'd done admiring it we hiked up to the very isolated Loch Skeen. The Grey Mares Tail is one of the UKs highest waterfalls plunging 60 metres from its source which is the Tail Burn that flows out from Loch Skeen. It was easy to see how the waterfall got it's name because it heads downwards in a narrow fluffy mass of white frothing water as it plunges into a deep pool at its base.
After we'd done admiring the waterfall from it's base the only way was up up and up a very long staircase, first of uneven stone steps which eventually gave way to rocky scree. It really was hot hard work but as we went we were rewarded with sights of more smaller waterfalls as the Tail burn tumbled along its way and also we spotted quite a few feral goats 🐐 perched on the crags above us - were we watching 👀 them or were they watching 👀 us?
Then, just when my energy had almost been completely sapped the beautiful tranquil waters of Loch Sheen came into view. It had been well worth the climb and a rocky outcrop provided seating while we scoffed our well deserved picnic.
After a good rest all we had to do was retrace our footprints 👣 back down but that was almost as difficult as going up because there was plenty of trip traps - but I only stumbled once😄.
All in all it had been an excellent walk with fantastic scenery - the whole valley had been scoured out by glaciers during the last ice age, and as we only explored a small part of it today there's plenty left for tomorrow 😀.
Tuesday 25th June - well, the weatherman said it was going to be sunny but today was mostly overcast and humid with grey moody clouds threatening rain 🌧 that never fell! For today's entertainment we went back over the A708 through the same beautiful valley as yesterday and which I now know is called The Moffat Water Valley. However we went further along that road today and ended up in the Scottich Boarders, specifically at the long narrow St Mary's Loch.
Our planned walk for today was a circumnavigation of the Loch (Ring of St Mary's Loch) which after yesterday's strenuous hills was a tranquil low level 9 mile stroll, but it has to be said, although it presented some lovely watery vistas it was lacking in yesterday's WOW factor!
In the early part of our walk we spied the imposing James Hogg Monument which has sat beside the Loch since 1860 - it seems his claim to fame was his poetry and novels. We then followed part of The Southern Upland Way which led us into March Wood which can trace it's history back to the 17th century as it is shown on one of the earliest maps of Scotland and is thought to be part of the Great Ettrick Forest that stretched from Selkirk to Galloway coast.
Then after that we just followed a track that run up one side of the loch and then back down the other and by the time we got back to the car we had been walking for 3 hours so we quickly decided enough was enough and it was home time.
Wednesday 26th June - another day with plenty of 🌞 and a lovely evening for sitting out sipping G&T! Our outing today was to The Devil's Beef Tub which is a dramatic 500 foot deep hollow which is surrounded by 4 hills - Great Hill, Peat Knowe, Annanhead Hill and Ericstane Hill. Apparently it gets its name from it's use to hide stolen cattle by Clansman in times gone by - it seems that they used to call the victims of their thefts 'Devils'.
Once we'd admired the hole in the ground we set off to walk part of the Annandale Way which is a 56 mile route which starts in the hills near Moffat and ends at Solway Firth. However, as its supposed to follow the River Annan we hadn't anticipated how many very steep and rough hills there would be and unfortunately after about a mile it defeated us as we came to a very boggy area that was at the bottom of a hill that was a very long way up! But having said that we'd already had a good walk and as we retraced our steps we came to a perfect picnic spot at the top of one of the 4 hills previously mentioned and from there we had 360 degree views of the distant vistas surroundings us.
Because we'd cut our walk short we still had plenty of time on our hands so John suggested going for a drive - but he didn't tell me it would be of the 'white knuckle' variety😱. To start with it was nice and sedate as we passed the source of The River Tweed in the Lowther Hills but then we turned RIGHT onto a WHITE unclassified steep twisting single track narrow strip of tarmac where passing places were like hen's teeth. Luckily traffic coming in the opposite direction was equally rare but the sheer drops on my side were a bit butt clenching! Then once we reached the summit the only way was down another rickety road and that took us first past the lovely waters of Talla Reservoir (which holds 12.7 million cubic metres of water) and then on to the very long Megget Reservoir.
This Reservoir supplies 22 million gallons of water daily to Edinburgh and for it to get there it takes 18 hours to pass through 28 miles of underground pipes propelled only by gravity. It's other claim to fame is the fact that its massive volume of water is retained by the largest earth embankment dam in Scotland - I hope it never gives way!
Then once we'd finished admiring it's picturesque setting it was only a short way back to yesterday's venue at St Mary's Loch and from there another 20 minutes or so before we were home.
And that's it from Moffat because tomorrow is another moving day and also the one when we'll be leaving Scotland behind. Our next destination will be Haltwhistle in Northumberland and I'm sure we'll have another tale to tell from there xxx.
No comments:
Post a Comment