08/10/2019

The day we climbed Criffel.

Its going to be nice today, well that's the information that I got from the Met office website..Unbroken sunshine between 9 am and 2pm, with a 5% chance of rain [but where that rain might come from with unbroken sunshine beats me] it cant be true? can it? we shall see..It certainly was nice at 9 o clock as we took the short drive to the walkers car park at Ardwall near New abbey.We were expecting a steep climb,someone told us it would be boggy, cant be that bad we thought. The summit rises to the modest height of 1870ft but it appears much higher..It dominates the views around these parts of the Solway estuary. Boots on and we were off.

Once into the forest we picked up a most inviting path that runs alongside the attractive Craigrockall burn.The well constructed path was a gem to follow and the Burn added interest to the climb,as did the numorous Fly agaric mushrooms and puffballs.

Gaining height quickly we were soon free of the forest, the open fell beckoned, its looked easy enough, we were probably nearly halfway up already. However what came next can only be described as "a Bastard"..We had reached an area of dreaded bog, Black ooze hindered progress. We slipped and slithered up hill at a snails pace, I was being pulled along by Alfie, Thanks Alf, but Karen was soon left behind floundering in the black grime.

After a while the going got a bit easier although a lot steeper..Lungs rasping and calfs fit to burst we pressed on heads down, eventually making it up to the huge pile of stones known as Douglas cairn. at the summit of the hill. I don't know who Douglas was or why he has a cairn named after him but he chose a good spot for it, looking out across the waters and sands of the Solway towards the English Lake district...

The views are stunning from up there, although a trifle windy today, I decided it was time to put a waterproof on to help with the wind..Imagine my dismay when I realised that a bottle of Lemonade had leaked in my rucksack, soaking my coat, oh well I put it on anyway, it will soon dry in this wind and whats more It smelt quite nice. Back to the views I dropped down a bit to get a good look at the view to the south across the Firth.I don't know what had happened to the wall to wall sunshine.

A quick visit to the Triangulation pillar before retracing our steps a bit to pick up the path heading for Knockendoch, one of Criffels satellite peaks, its closest friend...We followed the reasonably dry ridge, for me this was the highlight of the day... Standing at around the 1400ft mark its a grand viewpoint, to the north the Southern uplands while to the south Criffel itself dominated the scene.

All downhill now towards the forest, but first we had to deal with "the bastard" again, only this time it was twice as bad. several times I went in over the boots..My white socks turned to grey, who the hell would go out hillwalking wearing white socks anyway. I decided I may as well just walk though the bogs now as my feet couldn't get much wetter.

The views down to New abbey and Dumfries made up for the wet feet..Karen was struggling on this terrain..i was walking as slow as I could but I was getting further and further in front...I would wait for her when I reached the forest track

Nice to get back down to a solid track through the woods, No more mud..it seemed like luxury, black water squelching from my boots with every step..I need to get these dry for tomorrow but I feared that this was never going to happen..We made it out of the woods where we needed to cross a couple of meadows to reach Loch Kindar...But somehow or other we got lost and ended up crossing the wrong meadow, ending up at a dead end, we had to retrace our steps, I cant believe we got lost..we never get lost..Ok lets just say we went astray "just a little bit"..Then to make matters worse it started to chuck it down...Whats going on , its not 2 o clock yet...Anyway we eventually made it to the shores of Loch Kindar...Its a lovely place..Alf had a swim to clean himself up a bit.

Almost back now..An easy walk through the woods back to the farm at Ardwall...We hadn't seen a sausage all day although there were now half a dozen cars parked up in the car park. I wondered how many othere were up there floundering around...I had planned on going down to New abbey for a well deserved pint but looking like bedraggled tramps we decided against it..It wasn't all bad..In fact I loved it and I would do it again at the drop of a hat, Those that love the hills will know what I mean.

06/10/2019

The Colvend coast.

Today is the first day of our holiday up here at Colvend in Dumfries and Galloway..I made the big mistake of checking out the weather forcast for the week ahead and I have to say that it is not looking good, pulses of rain spreading in from the west every day, never mind its only rain...
It rained for a solid 12 hours last night..i wasn't holding out much hope for today either..But on wakening I was pleasantly surprised, the rain had ceased, even a few specks of blue up there...We decided on a walk from the cottage today to kick start the week..After a hearty breakfast and a few cups of tea we were off...we had walked no further than 50 yards and it started to rain..so what,its not going to spoil my day..The first section of the walk was to follow a quiet country road down to Sandyhills..Nice to see some early Autumn colours.

After about a mile and a half of trudging along tarmac we turned off to the right into Sandyhills bay, It was great to get away from the road, it felt like the walk was just beginning..I like Sandyhills bay..even on a dull,damp day it seems a cheery place..Miles and miles of sand stretching out before us. A few of the lake district mountains could be made out on the horizon..Thats Skiddaw on the left, panning round to the Grisedale pike group and further to the right lies Red pike and the High stile group..All firm favourites..We took time to explore a bit..i love to have a wander around on a beach.

Alf was off his lead along here, bounding around like a pup...Sometimes he forgets that he is 12 years old...Before long we had to leave the beach, following the coastal path up to Torrs hill...Great views opening out across the Solway firth. The firth forms the border between Scotland and England and was designated as an area of outstanding natural beauty in 1964...It certainly looked beautiful today..In fact I was mesmerised as I stood and looked out over mile upon mile of shimmering sands.

Soon we dropped back down to sea level to visit the little scattered village of Portling..I think most of the cottages around here are holiday lets, its a quiet little "off the beaten track" sort of place...After Portling it was steeply uphill again as we walked up the slopes of White hill,..We are walking the Coast path as far as Rockcliffe about 3 miles distant..i enjoyed every step...The hillsides were alive with Gorse..I never knew Gorse flowered at this time of year..We passed a monument below the path..i couldn't resist dropping down to take a closer look [and a photograph]..I read the inscription on the Cross, the words were sketchy but I got the jist that the monument was a memorial to Samuel Wilson whos Schooner "Elba" ran aground on the rocks below

A little bit further and I saw a fox on the beach..never seen a fox on a beach before so I was chuffed with that...Lots of Gulls about, Karen reckoned it was after their eggs...She could be right, A wily critter the Vulpes Vulpes.

We were now closing in on the small coastal village of Rockcliffe. Its a nice spot along the estuary of the River Urr..It has some lovely views out to Hestan island and Rough island which can be reached at low tide by a natural causeway across the mud/sands..We were treated to the sight and sound of a group of 20 or so horses cantering out onto the mudflats..second to dogs these are mans best friends...so nice to see them enjoying themselves....We let Alfie have one last swim here to clean him off of all of the crap he had collected to his undercarriage along the way..Its hard to keep a Springer clean, of all the breeds they seem to be the biggest muck magnets going..He was soon spotless but could we keep him clean as we ended the walk with another mile and a half of road walking back to the cottage?..I enjoyed the walk back..it was quite uneventful...although I did take 3 photographs of signs that I saw along the way..This first one made me smile.

Its been a good day.....Now where shall we walk tomorrow.