Law, Shank, Hill, Fell, Craig and Pen

9.6 miles   4h 43m  823m ascent

The Ettrick Horseshoe: Bodesbeck Law, White Shank, Smidhope Hill, Capel Fell, Wind Fell, Hopetoun Craig, Ettrick Pen.

Plan B (version 3). The original plan was the Awful Hand Ridge as a linear walk with two cars. The forecast, however, suggested we would be parking our cars in cloud and walking in rain. Fair-weather walkers I hear you say, but that would be unfair. I’ve walked in my share of drow ‘n’ smirr.  As it was, the second driver ended up having to work so I headed east where the low cloud wouldn’t arrive until later in the day.

Samye Ling

Potburn, where the walk starts is not that far away, just 25 miles as the crow flies, but 50 miles by road and much of that on pot-holed, single track, chicane which tends to limit speed somewhat. Mind you there are certainly some nice houses out there. I was surprised, however, to see some brightly coloured things up ahead which I at first thought was a childrens’ playground. As I was musing on what a stupid place this was for such an undertaking, it came into better view and I realised it was the Samye Ling monastery.

There is a small area to park cars just before Potburn Farm, and closed gates to dissuade further access. The sign (above) pointed the way onto a forest track that climbs steadily winding around Bushie Law. I had intended to do the lesser horseshoe leaving Bodesbeck Law for another day (version B.1). This entailed leaving the track on a smaller track which strikes off to the left and leads to the col between Bodesbeck Law and Fauldside Hill.

Well… there was a junction of sorts, with a signpost, the top of which had broken off and the signage was nowhere to be found. This path lead down and across a small bridge which looked in pretty good nick (relatively new, I imagine). The path was overgrown and didn’t look much used and it was also sooner than I had expected, so the map was consulted and misread. I blame this on the wind blowing it in my hands. I presumed the real path to be a little further along.

Forest track up to Bodesbeck Law

I was feeling happy. The path I was walking was firm and dry, climbing steadily but not uncomfortably. There were wildflowers aplenty, butterflies and many small white tailed birds. The sky was blue in places and it was tee-shirt temperature. On the down side the views were limited since there was dense forest either side of the path.

So it was that it gradually dawned on me that I had missed the path I had intended to take and was only 100m short of Bodesbeck Law’s summit. It seemed pointless to walk back down so Bodesbeck Law was included in the hike (now version B.2).

The track actually climbs a little further than the OS map would have you believe and the terrain was firm with short grass. Once at the summit there is a much wider vista to take in, of the hills lining either side of the A708. The two deep valleys of the Carrifran and Blackhope Burns can be looked into from Bodesbeck Law. The cloud base was just hiding the summits of the nearby Corbetts.

Looking south I had my first view of the route I was to take over to Capel Fell and round to Ettrick Pen, which looked quite distant. This walk follows the boundary between Dumfries and Galloway and the Borders and is marked by a fence (and sometimes a dyke) making navigation simple. There are three minor hills between Bodesbeck Law and Capel Fell but all feel like shoulders of Capel Fell. The going was mostly good except for a few boggy areas where Bodesbeck Burn rises. This is where version one of the walk would have joined the boundary fence.

Cat’s Shoulder, Croft Head

At Capel Fell the wind had picked up enough to need a fleece and and I got the dreaded low battery warning from my camera, so photos were limited. There was a good view of the trefoil shaped Croft Head with the zig-zag path coming down Cat’s Shoulder. It looks like a hill worth visiting (in good visibility).

Between Capel Fell and Wind Fell there is a steep dip down to Ettrick Head. The descent was giving my knees some gyp, so I gave jogging a go, but that was worse. As I looked down there was a wide stile to carry the SUW walkers across the county boundary, and it looked as if it could double as a picnic table for my lunch. Sadly, on closer inspection there was considerable guano, and though this was only on the part which would be the seat, I had my banana while leaning on the fence rather than sitting.

Sign on the SUW

The fence headed directly up Wind Fell and looked steep, though in actual fact it probably looked worse than it really was. There was however a quad bike track heading up from just 200m away and it looked less steep, crossing the contours at more of an angle. So I took in 200m of Southern Upland Way then picked my across some boggy grass to follow the tracks. The wind was blowing colder now which was no bad thing with the added exertion.

Wind Fell’s summit was anything but sexy. There was no obvious top among the flat expanse of grass, but one area looked like a likely summit and had piece of broken fence post planted in it looking like a broken cross from a cemetery in an old western film. This small totem was encircled by peat bogs and hags, so there was at least some sense of achievement in reaching it without getting covered in mud.

Cairn on Hopetoun Craig

Hopetoun Craig, the next hill, has a small, campfire-size cairn at its summit and a couple of more substantial fellows nearby. One of these looks like a cross from afar but up close is a well constructed cairn about the height of a man. I trudged over to see if there was a plaque on it, but found nothing.

 

Ahead of me now was the stroll up Ettrick Pen. The hill which had seemed so far away earlier in the day was now within reach. There were a couple of short steep sections but with firm ground underfoot the going was easy. By now however, the clouds were closing in from the west and every now and then a raindrop would fall. At the summit I met the only other walker I had seen all day. I told him he had spoiled my record of seeing no-one but he trumped my record since I was the first person he had seen in eight days of walking. He was doing a route similar to mine but clockwise, so I asked how the walk up from Potburn was. It was because of his answer that my walk became version B.3.

I had intended heading north, with the fence, for 100m then heading west to find a forest track. He said that the route up was no problem, “just follow the fence”.

Ettrick pen has a considerable cairn, but also a wide scattering of stones suggesting that it may once have been larger. It was certainly large enough to act as a windbreak while I had my lunch. It had taken three and a half hours to get here, which I thought was good going. Surely I would be back at the car in no time. No problem, “just follow the fence”.

The shape of these hills is such that you cannot see what is at the bottom of a slope until you start down it. I followed the fence. The ground fell away nicely. This terrain could have been unpleasant if wet, with long grass and spongy moss, but it was dry.

My first problem came when the fence split, one arm going precipitously downhill, the other just steeply. I choose the latter and knew that I could always cross back to the other fence if necessary. This fence ended at a dense forest plantation so I made my way across and down to the other fence, where I found a stone wall and what looked like a trodden path.

It soon became clear that this was not a well trodden path. The give away was the interlocking branches that could only be passed by breaking them. No-one had walked this way in a long time. Then the difficult path was blocked by several fallen trees. Attempts to get round these led to me discovering a whole line of fallen trees, presumably a domino effect, so eventually I had to backtrack to the wall and climb over it. I had already crossed this a couple of times falling for the “it looks easier on the other side” fallacy, but this time is was easier.

Once at the bottom of the slope I breathed a sigh of relief. Then realised that there was Ettrick Water between me and the car. Luckily the stream’s water was relatively low leaving many rocks to help my crossing. The only problem was that the banks were high and finding a way down onto the rocks took some searching. By now the rain had started to fall.

I wouldn’t recommend this route off Ettrick Pen, but overall this was an easy walk since there is the boundary fence to follow around most of it. I would definitely include Bodesbeck Law in the horseshoe since the route up is relatively easy being on good forest track most of the way.

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