Participants - Neil and Ben
Where - Ward Law, 594m/1,950', Sub-2,000' Marilyn, Map 79, NT 262159
I decided on another trip to the borders- to climb one of the few Marilyns in the Ettrick area that I had not yet attempted. So after a short stop in Innerleithen which was draped in blue and white bunting for its annual gala celebrations, I took the narrow roads heading south to the Ettrick valley- a nice piece of countryside. In the hamlet of Ettrick, I had a look at the monument marking where the cottage in which James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd had been born, had stood. Hogg is buried in the churchyard here.
Shortly beyond that I was able to pull off the road beside the war memorial at the start of a right of way that went through the hills to Riskinhope Hope and St Mary's Loch. The path was a bit faint in places but it contoured up the hillside above the glen of the Kirk burn with a view of my objective across the burn.....
After crossing the burn, it was simply a case of climbing the easy grassy slopes until the cairn came into view. There are a number of distinctive and well built cairns on the hills around here but this one was the daddy of them all- a cairn built to mark the jubilee of Queen Victoria apparently. So who is the £$%!£ who has decided to build a high fence across the moor and which now almost encloses the cairn, completely spoiling its situation? Land management is important but this is just a bit on the excessive side.....
I returned by the same route making detours where necessary to avoid sheep so that Ben could run about as much as possible; I guess that the fact that this is sheep country might explain the need for a fence but they might have kept it a bit further away from the cairn! The view on the way down was to the hills at the head of the Ettrick valley.....
It would be possible to do a few Sub-2,000'ers in a day around here with little driving between them but I was feeling lazy and had climbed them already so we just went to Peebles and had a stroll along the Tweed instead.
3 comments:
That`s what I like about the wee hills Neil.They give you plenty of time to do other things as well if that`s what you feel like.
Nice wild area down that way,great history and the hills are normally so quiet for walking over.
Beats most of the busy Munro,s these days.
bob.
There's an awful lot of trees in that area! I was looking at the map to see if it was possible to climb Law Kneis which is south of Ward Law but couldn't see a route which avoided most of the forest. So I won't bother!
Post a Comment