Wisp Hill

24 October.

Participants - Just me
Where - Wisp Hill, 595m/1953', Sub-2,000' Marilyn, Map 79, NY 386993.

I had been at a weekend of MBA meetings including the AGM at Greenhead in Northern England and just had enough time for a short walk on the way home. There are a small group of Marilyn's just north of Langholm that I had never visited so I made a small diversion up the A7 to tackle one of these. Wisp Hill was the closest to the road so that was the one that I chose. This is a view of Whin Fell, its southern top, from the A7.....

The eastern slopes were steep sided so I drove as far as Mosspaul hotel before parking so that I could tackle the more gentle north-east slopes. Wisp Hill turned out to be a grassy hill and it was a bit tussocky in places but generally the going was OK. I paused on the way up to take this picture of the road with the hotel and the hills in the direction of Hawick.....

The trig soon came into view.....

It had been frosty the previous night and the atmosphere was very clear so the views were excellent. I could see some of the Lake District hills on the southern horizon.....

and to the north I could make out the distinctive shape of the Eildon hills (right of trig) with Rubers Law, another hill that is on my list to climb in this area, further right.....

Not having been in this area before, I was a bit puzzled as to what the highest land across the valley was but eventually decided that it was Caldcleuch Head, which I climbed from the Hawick side many years ago.....

There was another Marilyn, Pikethaw Hill, just to the south of Wisp Hill but it involved a fair bit of descent and reascent and the sun was already starting to get quite low in the sky so no time to do it today. There is a third Marilyn, Ellson Fell across the A7 but it was surrounded by trees and looked as if it might take a bit of planning to find a way up. So there is plenty to do here and it is a nice area so I must make the effort to come back sometime. Anyway, I had snatched a new Marilyn for my list from an otherwise busy weekend so I was content!