Law and Ordure

7.2 miles 609m ascent 3h 40min

An alternative walk to that planned, due to illness and forecast low cloud. The illness wasn’t mine but once on the hills I joined the club and foreshortened the walk. The plan had been to head for Gana Hill via Wee Queensberry, Queensberry, and Earncraig but I bailed out after Queensberry.

I parked at Mitchellslacks (see picture above) which was once the home of James Harkness, a covenanter who ambushed a party of dragoons in 1684. I believe the “CT” on the sign means Covenanters Trail. It’s over 400 years since those Killing Times and the area seems very placid now.

The weather was forecast as drizzle and the forecasters were on the mark, so I set off, and remained, in waterproofs, which means I was uncomfortable all day.

There is a farm track leading away from Mitchellslacks through sheep and grouse filled fields up towards a wee hill called The Law. The view therefore could be said to be Law and Ordure. The paths here had their fair share of deep puddles and it wasn’t long before I had a wet right foot. Damn you, refractive index.

I wondered what the strange upside down bins were for, until I saw the grouse around them. I also saw a sheep shake itself like a dog. I’m sure this isn’t particularly strange but I’ve never seen it before, and it was a black sheep.

I took the path to the east of the Law (the right side of the law!) which winds up and around before dropping down to a complex of dry-stone sheep pens. Here I forded the stream following which I had the unmistakeable squelch in my right boot.

From here I climbed up onto High Church and entered low cloud. The path ended, or I lost it and there was no hill visible to aim for so the going was slow, stopping to get my position from the magic electronic device and heading off in directions dictated by the magnetic device. And this while struggling over rough vegetation, placing feet in hidden water filled holes and overheating in technical textiles.

I found a cairn on the way up High Church which I interpreted as meaning I was going the right way. The cloud briefly cleared to reveal a hill with two tops which I presumed was Wee Queensberry and so I picked up the pace. Once on top I got out the camera, and as I did the cloud cleared a little more to reveal Wee Queensberry still ahead of me. So down into a valley and back up to climb Wee Queensberry (another 20 minutes). This hill has two tops one with a trig pillar and the other a cairn. The visibility was reasonable when I got there, you will see there is some blue sky on the picture of me on the hill. Unfortunately the cloud came down again and it was back to GPS and compass.

There are quad bike tracks on Wee Queensberry and I thought these might lead me up Queensberry but that was not to be. Between Big and Wee Q there is a boggy region without obvious paths. There are a few scattered trees and I wondered if this was where lonesome pines are reared.

Once the ground started to rise I presumed I couldn’t really go wrong and despite the lack of paths I came across several cairns which I took to meaning I was going the right way.

Once on top of Queenberry I found myself on a relatively flat hill without any obvious clue as to where the summit would be, and visibility was again poor in cloud.

More compass work got me to the summit, but the GPS records how I wandered about (lonely, in a cloud).

It was about now that I began to feel less well and decided to head straight down towards the farm track by Capel Burn. More wandering as I located the track to follow and set off. I obviously don’t have inherent directional ability because as I followed the track it veered such that I thought I was going in the wrong direction. So much did I believe that I was headed in the wrong direction that when the compass suggested it was the correct direction, I thought the compass wasn’t working. Perhaps there was an iron laden alien spacecraft beneath the ground interfering with the compass? I moved about a little but the compass still lied. Then I got out my iphone to use its compass, and since it works by GPS the spacecraft should not interfere. Turns out the compass was working correctly.

Once I was about 100m down Big Q the cloud started to lift and I could clearly see a track heading down, so my navigational problems were over. The path was clear, if muddy and in places quite steep. I think this is the tourist route.

Once down to the farm track, near some abandoned houses the way back was clear, though walking on pebbles and through deep puddles was a bit of a bind.

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