Meikle Says Law

16 May 2014

Participants: Just myself
Where: Meikle Says Law, 535m/1,755', Sub-2k Marilyn, Map 67, NT 581617

I had been putting this one off as all the reports that I had read suggested that it was just boring moorland. However, east was best for weather and there was nothing else new to do in that direction within a day's drive from home. So the highest point of the Lammermuir Hills it was. Spring is a great time to visit East Lothian, it is a county that seems to go in for colour both in the fields and gardens. There are some picturesque wee villages too and I drove through some of them on my way to the starting point on the Gifford to Duns road. There was space to park off the road opposite the start of the track to Faseny cottage. Meikle Says Law looked a long way away.....

And the bad news was that the first part of the walk was downhill so it would be uphill at the end of the day. And it was the steepest slope of the route.....
 

 

The good news however was that the start point was 401m so there wasn't a great deal of ascent involved between the start and the summit. This is grouse country- serious grouse country going by the number of shooting butts. An area to be avoided in the shooting season. An early obstacle was the Faseny Water, I crossed dry-shod at the first ford but it might well be a case of off with the boots and socks in the rainy season. After that, it was simply a case of following firstly a well made track, then a 4WD track and finally an intermittent path across the moorland all the way to the summit. This is looking to the summit from the 4WD track.....

and here is the trig with the turbines of the Fallago Ridge wind farm in the background. If the Lammermuirs are a home for grouse, they are also a home for wind turbines.....
 

 

It was indeed a bit featureless, this is looking south-east with Dirrington Great Law framed between turbines.....
 

 

looking west, mercifully free of turbines.....

 

 

and looking north, back the way that I had come.

 

It was one of these hills where you could have plonked the trig down in any one of a number of places, called it the summit and no-one would be any the wiser! However, the day was livened up by the sheer number and variety of birds- as well as grouse, there were lots of wheatear, lapwing and curlew and golden plover were making their plaintive call. The nesting season was in full swing. I also spotted rabbits and hare, and a buzzard circled overhead at one point no doubt looking for a feed. I sat around at the trig for a bit before returning by the same route. Back across the moor this time with Spartleton in the background.....

 

and the final uphill pull to the car.....
 

 

It was between 5 and 6 miles and with lots of stops, took me 3 hours and 40 minutes. And it was not boring at all, although I wouldn't like to do it in bad weather.