Middlefield Law

19 February 2012

Participants - Just me
Where - Middlefield Law, 466m/1,530'

It was a nice crisp day and I hadn't been out for a walk for ages so I drove down to Muirkirk for a walk along the River Ayr Way. It's a nice walk with a bit of industrial heritage interest thrown in and as it never seems to be very busy it's ideal for Ben. On the way back I decided to nip up Middlefield Law; there were a lot of sheep on the hill, Ben had fallen asleep in the car and as it was only a short walk- 50 minutes up and down- I just left him to it. He's quite happy staying on his own for a while; he just curls up in the back of the boot and falls asleep! This is the view of the hill from the walkers car park at Kames, the other side of Muirkirk.....

The approach was along a narrow road that runs along the south side of the hill. Just under a mile from the turn off the B743 and just before the buildings at Forkings, there is roadside parking, a gate onto the hill, and the start of a track. Take the track! This hill contains some of the worst tussocks I have found anywhere and this track appears to be the only way of avoiding them. The only other time I climbed Middlefield Law I was unaware of the existence of the track and it was hell on earth trying to make progress.....

The summit is marked by a large cairn and a slightly lower trig point. The cairn appears to be a modern memorial cairn although I read somewhere that it might occupy the site of an earlier burial cairn.....

Most other hills of note are quite distant from here so it was views of the wide variety today. Didn't matter, I was just glad to be out on a hill again! This is looking east to Tinto, still with some snow on it.....

and south to Cairn Table. The extent of the tussocks on the south side of the hill are well seen in this pic.....

Needless to say, I returned by the same route!