6.2 miles 2h 32m 273m ascent
Forest walk by the White Esk
A simple walk this one, mostly on forestry tracks. There is space to park near Bessie’s Hill and at Castle O’er and I stopped at the former. A woodland path with blue waymarker posts leads up Bessie’s Hill, with some wooden steps where it meets the forestry track.
There are the remains of two large enclosures on Bessie’s Hill, both providing good views north up the valley of the White Esk. The lower site is said to be a fort and the higher one a settlement. Paths lead on to the “rampart” of each and the lower fort is best seen from the upper settlement. The lower fort is impressive. Canmore’s description states “This defended settlement measures 200 ft N-S by 175 ft within an earth-and-stone rampart, 51 ft broad at base and 22 ft at the entrance, with an external ditch, in places cut through rock.” These are described as Iron age and an information board at the car-park suggests that they belonged to the Selgovae tribe.
White Esk
I then walked along the forestry track to Castle O’er with glimpses of the White Esk below me. Castle O’er fort is also on a waymarked path, from the Castle O’er car park. Unfortunately there were sheep on the fort, so the dogs had to be on leads. This meant getting them over a stile because someone had nailed the adjacent gate shut. Who nails gates shut?
The way back was by the forestry track on the far side of Castle O’er fort. I could hear running water beneath me and had thought it was the Black Esk, but consulting the map when I stopped for a sandwich I found it was just the Black Burn.
Castle O’er Fort
Almost back at the car park we passed the Twin Rings settlement but it was flooded so I didn’t explore.
Despite Autumn having arrived, most plants were ageing into fruit but there were still a few wildflowers hanging on: tormentil, daisies, dandelion (flowers and clocks), cat’s ears, nipplewort, forget-me-not, foxglove, woundwort, red and white clover, thistles, knapweed, heather, yarrow, bird’s foot trefoil, valerian, ragwort, stitchwort, rosebay willowherb. The mosses were fruiting and showing off a little colour as well.
Photo Gallery
[osmap gpx=”http://www.screel.co.uk/walks/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/RK_gpx-_2015-09-26_1131.gpx”]
