Yeork-sher: wet boots, mired tyres and abandoned walks

That doesn’t sound particularly promising, does it? But I enjoyed it. The old adage is that good sailors are not made by smooth seas. And the philosophers suggest that enjoyment is perhaps heightened with a wee dash of adversity thrown into the mix. Certainly, the pain of the latter does seem to fade as the memory of the former blooms.

Our plan had been to continue southwards from the end of the Eden Way at Garsdale, to hook up with the Dales Way, which would carry us through the Dales. But we were dealt a middling hand at the outset, and what cards I had, I played poorly. But that said: I now know where to find my car’s towing hook; I had a steak and ale pie that will be the one by which all others will be measured; Storm Babet kicked our plans in to touch but made the waterfalls impressive; I saw Swaledale sheep in Swaledale; walked in Wensleydale and ate Wensleydale cheese; we crossed moor and dale in sunshine and mist; and trod parts of the Dales Way, Ribble Way, Three Peaks trail, Pennine Journey, Pennine Way and Pennine Bridleway.

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Mull of Galloway Trail: 5 – moorland, laight, and stane

7.50 miles 4h 25m ascent 310m

Cairnryan-Glenapp-Finnart’s Bay

BEING WRITTEN

The final leg of the Mull of Galloway Trail took us along the Loch Ryan Coastal Path to Glenapp and from there we walked on to Finnarts Bay. Before setting off I had looked up the derivation of the name Glenapp and found it might have originally been LachtAlpin, (Grave of Alpin) named for Alpin mac Echdach, a ninth century King of Dalriada who was assassinated nearby. Laight Moor over which we would walk means Grave Moor, and the Taxing Stone on that moor is said to mark his grave.

Alpin’s son was Kenneth mac Alpin, the king who united Dalriada with the Picts, either through skilful diplomacy or genocide, depending on your historical source. The historical record says little about Alpin himself. He is named as the father of Kenneth I in the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba (written in the eleventh century), while the Scotichronicon (written in the fifteenth century) records that Kenneth’s father was killed by the Picts. This latter event being one of the four issues that caused Kenneth to wage war with the Picts, the other three Pictish offences being: stealing his dog; making alliance with the Saxons; and breaking promises regarding the marriages of Scottish Princesses. These facts, written centuries after the actual events, do need to be taken with a pinch of salt, so other traditions such as the place of Alpin’s death and where he is buried should perhaps be taken with a full barrel of brine.

But…. Alpin mac Echdach would be my great (x39) grandfather. So for the duration of the walk I chose to regard these histories as incontrovertible truth. I cursed Pictish deceit and shed tears for my wronged ancestor…well I might have done if I wasn’t paying so much attention to where I stepped as we waded through the marsh grass, the characteristic “ker-plunk” of our point man, the spaniel, warning of wet feet ahead.

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Mull of Galloway Trail: 4 – Swans, Gorse and missed turns

7.12 miles 3h 56m ascent 38m

Stranraer to Cairnryan on The Loch Ryan Coastal Path

A puncture on the way to Stranraer had me thinking that we would have to postpone the walk but speedy service by Sandmill MOT Centre soon had us back on the road. But we decided on a shorter walk, to Cairnryan rather than Glenapp. As it was, that was for the best. The day proved hotter than expected and a jungle-like session with me carrying one of the dogs sapped my energy. I’m sure we could have made it to Glenapp but I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed the last four miles.

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Mull of Galloway Trail: 3 – oh ffs! off piste again

8.31 miles 4h 15m ascent 87m

Clayshant Bridge to Agnew Park

BEING WRITTEN

This should have been an easy stroll from Luce Bay to Loch Ryan. Not too far, indeed perhaps too short a leg. The weather forecast promised a hot sunny day, and was spot on. I expected an enjoyable walk with little in the way of challenges but the section between mile-markers 22 and 23 was the jalapeño lurking unsuspected in my sandwich.

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Mull of Galloway Trail: 2 – trudging over shingle and wading through bracken

9.42 miles 5h 48m ascent 68m

Myroch Point to Clayshant Bridge

Being Written

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The Mull of Galloway Trail: 1 – overgrown, elusive and unfrequented

10.68 miles 5h 42min ascent 279m

Part 1: The Mull of Galloway to Myroch Point

It had been quite a while since we had had our walking boots on for anything more than ceremonial purposes, so I had planned a short(ish) section for our return. Just 10 miles. And how pleased I am that I hadn’t thought “way marked trail, no big hills” and gone for a dozen miles or more. The Mull of Galloway Trail has been allowed to mature into its surroundings and has, in places, been suborned by agriculture or reclaimed by nature. It seems to have been way-marked by the sort who look at the map but do not walk the trail they advise.

That said, it was an enjoyable outing. That is not to say that we always enjoyed it in the specious present, though it was agreeable at times. And just as sweetness is better appreciated with a relish of sour, our pleasure was perhaps enhanced by a pinch of adversity. By the time we could glimpse the car and the end of day’s walk was in sight, the sourness was forgotten. Mabel gave up the ghost a hundred metres from the car and had to be carried. Perhaps the dose of joy was just too much for her to carry.

I look back now and remember sunshine, hedgerow flowers, sea birds, rock formations, shingle beaches, cows and sheep on cliff-tops, deer bounding across the fields, the Scare Rocks and views of the Isle of Man, and her calf, across 25 miles of sea. The overgrown, and sometimes elusive path, the fences we had to climb and bramble-laced hedgerows we tramped through are still clear in my memory, but their emotional effects are melting away.

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Eden Way: 12 – Water Cut, Ure Force and Ruswarp

7.1 miles 3h 42m ascent 291m

Thrang-Garsdale Station

BEING WRITTEN

Well, the Eden Way proved to be quite an epic, interrupted as it was by legal lockdowns, common-sense social distances, various illnesses, and bad weather (too hot and too cold). We had completed the Solway to Source sections and were left with the niggling epilogue – Hell Gill Bridge to Garsdale station. Part of the route that really just exists to have the walk end somewhere other than a hill top .

High Hall

The quickest way to get up to Hell Gill Bridge would have been to park at Aisgill Moor Cottages and walk up the farm track but I thought it would be better to start at Thrang Bridge instead so we could include one of the Eden Benchmarks in the section.

Lime kiln

It was a moorland kind of day. Grey skies with an occasional wink of blue, enough wind to rustle the grass and cool enough to make hat and gloves comfortable.

Fording the River Ure

It was dry, which was a nice change, and meant it was easier fording the many becks we crossed. We even had a lunch break on the smooth boulders of a dry stream bed.

Wee Bridge Scars Gill

As you can see, the bridge at Scars Gill wasn’t needed.

Ure Force
Ure Force bridge
the last mile
Ruswarp
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Loch Katrine

13.4 miles 5h 25m ascent 373m

BEING WRITTEN

Loch Katrine was gouged by glaciers during the last ice age, named for the highland robbers, ceathairne, such as Rob Roy MacGregor who stalked its surroundings, and co-opted by Victorian engineers, who raised its water level by seventeen feet to provide a healthy water supply for Glasgow. It inspired Sir Walter Scott to pen The Lady of the Lake, and his descriptions kick-started tourism in the Trossachs.

The wanderer’s eye could barely view
The summer heaven’s delicious blue;
So wondrous wild, the whole might seem
The scenery of a fairy dream.

The Lady of the Lake, Walter Scott
Trossachs Pier – The Lady of the Lake ferry behind me

There is a ferry between Trossachs pier at the eastern end of the loch, to Strochanlachar. We took the wee ferry, Lady of the Lake, from Trossachs Pier to Stronachlachar, and walked back along the loch-side track.

View from the ferry approaching Strochanlachar

It was a pleasant 45 minute cruise, the weather being just right, sunny and clear. The pilot gave us a potted history and pointed out the landmarks along the way. Most of our fellow travellers were taking bicycles across, mostly regular bikes but I did notice quite a few e-bikes. I had expected a flurry of riders to pass us in the first few minutes of the walk but we saw very few. The majority must have gone elsewhere.

And now, to issue from the glen,
No pathway meets the wanderer’s ken,
Unless he climb with footing nice
A far-projecting precipice.
The broom’s tough roots his ladder made,
The hazel saplings lent their aid;
And thus an airy point he won,
Where, gleaming with the setting sun,
One burnished sheet of living gold,
Loch Katrine lay beneath him rolled,
In all her length far winding lay,
With promontory, creek, and bay,
And islands that, empurpled bright,
Floated amid the livelier light,
And mountains that like giants stand
To sentinel enchanted land.
High on the south, huge Benvenue
Down to the lake in masses threw
Crags, knolls, and mounds, confusedly hurled,
The fragments of an earlier world;
A wildering forest feathered o’er
His ruined sides and summit hoar,
While on the north, through middle air,
Ben-an heaved high his forehead bare.

The Lady of the Lake, Walter Scott
Looking along the loch at Rubha na Mòine

Our plan was to walk back to Trossachs Pier along the “Great Trossachs Path”. A map at Trossachs Pier showed the route as 14 miles, but one at Stronachlachar gave the distance as 12.5 miles and along the way signs showed the distance to each end of the path with the sum of those distances as 12.5 miles. As you can see from the distance we walked, the 14 mile estimate is closer to reality.

Glengyle Water
Loch Katrine – Ben Lomond on the far left

The path is used by cars but we saw fewer than half a dozen all day. The path was mostly gravel or tarmac, with just a kilometre of loch side footpath. The hills immediately by the loch looked very much like those of Galloway. The picture at the top of this post could easily have been taken at Loch Dee.

Burial Ground, Portnellan

We made good time and took a break every 3.5 miles or so. There were some tree stumps after Glengyle House for the first break, then benches at the viewpoint opposite the Royal Cottage, and a grassy bank near Brenachoile Lodge.

Old Man

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