Edzell - Rocks of Solitude

It was a fine autumn day as 6 of us - plus Ruby, Dave's puppy - drove over to Edzell for a riverside walk up the banks of the North Esk.

After parking the cars, we took a short stroll up Edzell High St., checking out the potential coffee stops after our walk, then turned down the lane next to the garage which took us down to the river. The North Esk is wide and still at this point, but it was to change fairly dramatically as we headed upriver:

The trail, which is mostly well above the river, is good and clear, but there had been a small landslip recently and there was a short fenced-off part - which we ignored, pushing aside the council's large steel fences.

The trail soon took us up to the main road where we crossed the Gannochy bridge, taking time for a few snaps of the river:

To resume the walk we had to go through the famous blue door which leads in to the grounds of the 18th century Burn House (https://theburn.co.uk/), now an academic retreat and conference centre.

We all enjoyed scuffing our way through the autumn leaves, strewn all along the trail. It's a very pretty walk but we certainly didn't expect to meet a man walking his dog with a parrot sitting on his shoulder:

The wide river had turned in to a raging torrent as it fell through the gorge and there were even a couple of waterfalls:

The Rocks of Solitude marks the point where we turn back and walk downstream. The "official" recommended route is down the Glen Esk road back to the Gannochy bridge, but we only trod the tarmac for a short period before re-entering the vast grounds of the Burn House and a pleasant grassy walk back to the Gannochy bridge.

The directions from here took us back to Edzell on the opposite side of the river from the one we had gone up and most of it is good quality woodland walks, but as we neared the suspension bridge to take us back to the town, the trail narrowed substantially and a fair bit of scrambling was required. This was what we were looking for:

It's a lot narrower from this angle:

Ken's chosen cafe (Sinclairs Larder) was closed by the time we got back so we had to revert to the Tuck Inn, which proved to be excellent.

All that was left now was the team photo:

Unfortunately, my phone ran out of battery power half way round so my Strava stats are not complete, but we know the walk is 10.5 kms with very little elevation change. Here's the route map:

There was a little bit of a scurry home as Jeb hoped to catch the 17:52 bus back from Banchory to Culter. We got there pretty much bang on time but it was obvious the bus had been early and had gone, so Bill drove us over to Tesco and we dropped Jeb off there. We spotted the 201 on our way back so Jeb wasn't going to have to wait too long at the bus stop.

Pitfichie

A fine morning was followed by a slightly duller, but dry, afternoon as six of us headed over to Tilliefourie to start our walk up the Green Hill. Stewart, Jeb, Colin, Nigel, captain Ken and I all present and correct.

The Pitfichie trails are good quality but ebikes are essential for some of the climbs. It was, however, fairly easy walking with most of the slopes relatively gentle. We kept up a pretty healthy pace - somebody remarked that our Borders training must have done us some good.

The first point of interest was the Whitehill Stone Circle. Most of the upright stones had fallen over and the circle is fairly overgrown so it's not a "must do". Apparently it was constructed and probably used for ceremonial purposes in the 2nd and 3rd millennia B.C.

At the point where we left the wider trails and meandered up through a narrower track in the forest, there were no entry signs warning us of logging operations ongoing. We decided, however, that, the chances of any serious activity on a Friday afternoon were pretty remote and carried on regardless.

Through the forest and out in to the clearing we started to get some good views of the surrounding countryside before climbing to the top of the Green Hill, where we had wonderful 360 degree views and we played point out the mountains with our leader - Mount Keen, Lochnagar, Morven, Ben An, Buck of Cabrach, Ben Rinnes, Knock Hill, Hill of Foudland. Ken got pass marks.

It was pretty windy at the top and hoods were the order of the day for some:

Nowhere to prop the camera up for a timer shot, so I asked Ken to take one of me - plus onlookers:

On the descent, we apparently passed the Luath Stone, which allegedly marks the spot where Lulach, the stepson of King Macbeth of Scotland (1005-1057) was murdered. The evidence for this is thin, however and it was 150 metres away from the trail anyway and there was nothing really visible to mark the spot, so we marched on.

Eventually we came across a timber lorry which was loading up for probably its last delivery of the week to Cordiners Sawmills, Banchory. The area round there was seriously chewed up by the heavy vehicles and was properly muddy. We gingerly traversed this area without incident other than me losing one of my boots in the mud as I tried to skip through the quagmire. Much mirth all round as Nigel kindly retrieved the footwear.

The walk was a lot quicker than ViewRanger's website estimate of 3.5 hours. In fact, our actual walking time was only 2 hours 13 mins, although our elapsed time was probably half an hour more than this. The length of the walk was, however accurately assessed at 10 kms. Here's the full stats:

Time for coffee now and we decided to head to Alford and the bistro there. Very nice it was too - excellent carrot cake, but not cheap - but we probably could have headed to Monymusk which was a bit nearer.

That's walk 8 of 2019 completed so we're still playing a bit of catch up. Next walk is planned for Friday 25th October.

Walking Weekend 2019 - Day Five

Monday was the final day and Steve and John made their own way back - by train and bus - to Banchory, whilst the 3 golfers headed off to West Linton Golf Club, so there were just 6 of us left for the final walk - driving south towards Selkirk for the walk round St. Mary's Loch:

We came across this strange piece of kit - something to do with cable-laying, we thought?:

At the head of the loch we stopped for coffees etc at the cafe there, before heading back up the west side of the water, passing a few interesting signs and buildings on the way:

The stats for the walk were:

Back north we drove, with a stop at West Linton GC for a quick lunch for some of us - and then it was all over for another year.

Walking Weekend 2019 - Day Four

Sunday saw a bit of a change in the weather with some rain forecast. It was also the morning of Scotland's first game in the Rugby World Cup, so half of our group opted to watch this on the big screen at the adjacent County Hotel whilst the other half went for a short riverside walk, trying to dodge the showers:

John D travelled back south at lunchtime, but the rest of us got together for the afternoon walk, which started at Eddleston, meaning another bus ride. The idea was to visit the Great Polish Map of Scotland (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Polish_Map_of_Scotland):

Gordon wasn't feeling great and took the bus back to Peebles as the rest of us got a bit wet walking back - there were few opportunities for photos. The stats for the afternoon were:

Jeb had organised our evening's entertainment - down to the Bridge to watch the Chelsea - Liverpool match (in what was virtually our own private room), followed by some excellent musical entertainment before crossing the road for a curry. Great day out despite the weather and Scotland's defeat.

Walking Weekend 2019 - Day Three

Saturday now and Ken's plan was for us was to walk from Peebles to Innerleithen and lunch at the Traquair Arms, which has a nice beer garden.

The weather was again superb and the Borders hills remained wonderfully quiet despite it being the weekend:

Coming off the hills, we were back on tarmac for a bit:

We looked around but there appeared to be no path along the river from here to Innerleithen, which was still a couple of miles away and the road was so narrow and windy that it would have been dangerous for us to walk it, so this was when Ken produced his joker card and phoned the local taxi firm who came out and took us, in two tranches, in their 8 seater to the Traquair Arms for lunch and beers:

Our stats for the morning walk were:

We had dinner booked this evening at the Horseshoe Inn, Eddleston, which would mean catching the 6:15 pm bus and time was now marching on, so several of us opted to catch the bus back to Peebles - and managed to squeeze in another swift pint at the Bridge. The others decided to stick with Plan A and take the "5 mile" walk along the riverside way, which turned out to be 7 miles long, meaning a very swift turn-round.

Dinner at the Horseshoe was excellent and we all safely made the bus back to Peebles.

Walking Weekend 2019 - day two

Friday was another stunner and it was to be the day of our longest walk - the whole distance from Peebles to Broughton along the John Buchan Way. A few team photos were taken:

We found a suitable spot for lunch:

which meant it was time for this:

Cheers!:

Nigel's headgear attracted some laughter:

and Dougal just loved taking a splash any time he saw water:

It was quite a hike and we were all pleased to finally make it to Broughton. There was some discussion about visiting the eponymous brewery, but we decided to start with teas and coffees first of all - at Laurel Bank, the self-proclaimed "best tea room in Scotland", which we later discovered was closing for good the following weekend! Nonetheless, it served us well, particularly when we discovered that they also served the local cask ale:

We caught the bus back to Peebles, but the day had proved to be a little too much for some:

The stats for the walk were:

Back in Peebles, several of us took the opportunity to enjoy another beer on the patio of the Bridge Inn, CAMRA's Scottish Pub of the Year (again):

Dinner in the Tontine again.