Green Lowther

13 January 2012

Where - Green Lowther, 732m/2,403', Graham, Map 71, NS 900120
Participants - Neil and Ben

I always think that the Lowther hills provide good value walking for short winter days. Especially as there is a tarmaced road all of the way from start to summit thus avoiding any chance of muddy boots. Just right for today as my boots had not fully recovered from the mud bath on Grey Hill earlier in the week! For only the third time this winter, I had to scrape ice off the car, but it showed that a high pressure system had definately moved in and that a fine day was in prospect.

The other advantage of the Lowther hills is the high starting point- the village of Wanlockhead which claims to be the highest in Scotland.....

There is also ample parking and I got the car into a space right next to the building at the start of the private road that runs all the way to the summit. These are among the best known hills in Scotland because of the radar and radio stations on their tops and these installations do add a sense of the different to the walk, especially the "golf ball" on the top of Lowther Hill. There was a good view of the days objective from a point not far after the start.....

They may be industrialised hills but a lot of grouse shooting also takes place. Grouse were everywhere; Ben had a great time raising them! Evidence that this is prime shooting territory was the number of mink/stoat traps, although I have yet to see anything caught in one.....

The road winds up and across the hillside to the top of Lowther Hill but most of it can be avoided by diverting on to grassy tracks which though steeper, are also more direct as they cut out all of the corners. They are also easier on the feet. In no time at all, we were approaching the "golf ball", which I think is quite artistic and attractive.....

The sign restricting access to the site had disappeared and all of the gates were open although there was nobody about so we just followed the road through the compound. The main top of Green Lowther was about a mile away and despite the road, I find this a grand walk along a broad ridge with wide ranging views. This is Green Lowther from Lowther Hill.....

The area is becoming even more industrialised with the construction of the Clyde wind farm at the side of the M74; some of the turbines can be seen to the right of the summit in the picture above and in the next two pictures. I suppose that it is only the presence of the radar station that saves the Lowther Hills from the march of the turbines. This is approaching the summit of Green Lowther.....

and this is the trig set amongst the clutter of the radio station masts. Not artistic here at all, just an ugly mess. And not a place to hang around at but it was easy enough to move away from the installations to look at the views.....

I decided to stay high for as long as possible so retraced my steps along the ridge to Lowther Hill......

before descending by the service road.  I got a good view of Wanlockhead on the descent; I guess that surrounded by hills it must be a very cold place in the winter time. Today, the frost never lifted from around the houses.....

I find the village a really interesting place; on previous visits I have wandered round the Museum of Lead Mining and had a look at some of the old mining areas. An interesting full day can be had combining the hill walk with visiting the various places of interest. But not at this time of year; today it was back in the car and a drive to the nearest place that sold a cup of hot chocolate!

Grey Hill

9 January 2012

Participants - Steven, Ben and Neil
Where - Grey Hill, 297m/975', Sub-2,000' Marilyn, Map 76, NX 164928

There has been a lot of weather in west central Scotland in the past weeks, rain, wind, a little snow, rain, wind. You get the picture. Even Ben was starting to get fat from lack of exercise. So when a good day eventually came along, there was only one thing to do....grab it.

The better weather was coming in from the west so it was into the car for a run down the Ayrshire coast. Grey Hill is a small lump just to the south of Girvan but it promised a good view of Ailsa Craig. I took the Newton-Stewart road out of Girvan and after a couple of miles, at Pinmore, turned on to a single track road that passed the east slopes of the hill. There was space to park a car just off the road near the farm of Knocklaugh from where a path started up towards the hill. There were two immediate problems; the entrance to the path was by a stile and Ben has so far proved unable to tackle these on his own. So he had to be lifted over. The second problem was that the "path" was a sea of mud; Ben was on his lead at this stage and was so excited and desperate to be off that I had to watch that I was not dragged face down into and then through the mud! Having survived that, we wandered up a very wet hillside for a bit before arriving at this sign and another fence and stile.....

Having lifted Ben over again, things improved after that. The hillside was much drier as we gained height and the only worry was that there were a lot of sheep about. However, they had obviously clocked us and they soon moved off. There was a 4wd track higher up but on the way up that was where the sheep were so we detoured towards the north ridge to avoid them.....

It was good firm going on short grass and we were soon at the trig; it was indeed a good viewpoint. This is Steven and Ben with Girvan in the background.....

me and Ben with Ailsa Craig in the background.....

and a zoomed shot of Ailsa Craig. It looks like an exciting Marilyn to do.....

It could have been a spring day, warm with only a gentle breeze. Going down, we had to repeat the dog lifting exercise but managed to avoid a lot of the wetter ground although not the mud. And going down through the trees....was that a midge....surely not! What was not in dispute was the snowdrops that were fully out in sheltered spots beside the burn. And sitting in the car preparing to leave we watched a treecreeper running up an old tree in front of us. Could spring really be on its way?