Limping around Drumelzier

9.8 miles  4h 30m  ascent 723m

Pykestone Hill

Pykestone Hill, Middle Hill, Drumelzier Law

This walk starts at the tiny settlement of Drumelzier. The area has a close link with Merlin (Myrddin) who was killed here by a method he himself had predicted; to be bludgeoned, stabbed and drowned and apparently a thorn tree marks Merlin’s grave. There are ruins of a fort, presumably the fort of the reaping-men which gives Drumelzier its name. I had intended visiting these but developed a painful knee while tramping over the hills and left with just my newly bagged Donalds.

Footbridge at the ford

Luckily the lower stretches of Drumelzier Burn have plenty of footbridges, and it certainly raises one’s spirits to find a bridge where the OS marks a ford. The bridges were basic, without handrails, and were slippery with moss, so some care was needed.

Larch and Spruce

I crossed one of these bridges close to where I had parked and walked along the east bank of the burn for 500m before crossing back to the farm track and crossing again where there is a choice of bridge or ford. This leads between two stands of trees. These were a mixture of autumnal larch that were shedding their golden needles and spruce holding on to their greenery.

The path on the east bank of the burn had a mild slope, enough to be noticeable but not difficult. I mention this now since I wonder if it was a trigger for my later problems.

Beside the track is a rock with a small plaque inscribed:

Jim Cox
1934 – 2003
In memory still I climb the hill
and hear the curlews haunting call
listen to the murmuring rill
and see the purple heather bloom

After the spruce and larch the path splits, and I took the fork to the right which slowly climbs over Den Knowes. I climbed from autumn into winter, the heather gradually becoming hidden beneath a thin blanket of white. Once over Den Knowes Head, the snow was deep enough to crunch beneath my feet (reminiscent of a pericardial friction rub). I suspect that the path over this last kilometre to Pykestone Hill is usually boggy, since an additional sound, of cracking ice, warned of deeper puddles. I decided it was better to avoid the path and walked on the heather instead.

By the time I reached Pykestone Hill, with its trig pillar and small cairn I was in a winter wonderland. It was a little too early for lunch so I pressed on for the next target, Middle Hill. There are a couple of minor summits on the way, but this is essentially a ridge walk. The going was unpleasant but not difficult. The ground was boggy with scattered pools but snow hid the boggy sections.

The Thief’s road could be seen wending its way up the side of Dollar Law. Presumably it was somewhere beneath my feet but lost under the snow. It was while walking down from Pykestone Hill that the unpleasantness in my left knee began to manifest. Anterolateral discomfort worse when the knee was bent, much worse going downhill but unaffected by heel-strike. This was the first time in several months I had ventured out without a walking pole, having decided that carrying the pole, usually strapped to my rucksack, was a waste of effort. I blame to sloping path at the beginning, though decrepitness and lack of stretching may have played a part.

Grey Weather Law

The first of the minor summits was Grey Weather Law. This lived up to its name. The top was covered with light mist that still allowed the sun to be seen but diffused the sunlight. This combined with the white ground made me wish I had brought sunglasses. Visibility was very poor, but cleared as I descended just a few metres.

In the col between Grey Weather Law and Long Grain Knowe, the Thief’s road heads off towards Dollar Law and I headed up the deeper heather threading between boggy sections. Middle Hill was also in mist. There was a lone pole in he ground but I felt the highest point was a little way beyond it.

Shepherd’s Cairn, Glenstivon Dod

I returned to the bend in the fence and finding myself in mist headed out on a bearing for the Shepherd’s cairn on Glenstivon Dod. I was pacing out the distance but after a couple of hundred metres I emerged from the cloud and could see the cairn. Glenviston Dod is in fact higher than Drumelzier Law so that was the last of the mist.

Whereas all the other hills were white, Drumelzier Law was black from here with a double white line of a path climbing it. The descent to the col awakened my knee pain, but the ascent, done in the walking equivalent of first gear, was not especially sore. Unfortunately, the path which should have offered the best terrain was icy, so it was more climbing up heather.

Drumelzier Law: no lunch here

There is a small cairn on a knoll at the top of the steeper section of climb and I decided to break for lunch in the lee of this. It seemed to get colder as I sat there, despite the addition of an extra layer. At first I thought this was just because I had stopped walking, but the next event made me question this. I poured myself a coffee from my flask and the wind blew the coffee out of the cup, mostly over me. Luckily it was lukewarm so it didn’t do any damage.

Drumelzier Law summit

I put lunch back in the bag, wiped the coffee from my glasses and got moving. By now the wind had turned very cold indeed so I didn’t hang about at the summit. The first 100m descent was quite painful so I decided to change my descent route. The original plan was to head down towards a sheepfold where the Finglen and Drumelzier burns meet. I chose instead the gentler gradients over Logan Head and Finglen Rig.

Culter and Tinto from Logan Head

This was harder going at first in deep heather but then I came across a track of burnt heather where the going was very much easier. There where several small cairns along the way. In the picture you can see a cairn and the path of burnt heather, with Culter and Tinto in the distance. I rejoined the farm track by the ford marked on the OS (where there is also a bridge) and followed that back to the car.

Den Knowes from Logan Head

I left the ruins of the fort etc. for a day with a better knee.

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