Author Archives: drow 'n smirr

The Jewelled Loch

5.6 miles  4h 45m ascent 160m Kirroughtree Forest Work, a wedding, Arran’s whisky festival and fine-dining in Whitehaven had kept my walking boots idle for several weekends, so it was good to tighten the laces again and feel the crunch … Continue reading

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Flowers in June

           : Kirkconnell Flow Raised bog, birch and oak wood, scots pines, marshland. Abundant: greater stitchwort, blaeberry, cotton grass, heather but not yet in flower. Plentiful: bluebells and bugles. Here and there: wood sorrel, buttercups, dandelion, … Continue reading

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Littering far the fields of May

4.1 miles 2h 5m A stroll in Kenick Woods, and along Kenick burn I stepped from the car, breathed in the forest air, let the spaniels loose and went to take a closer look at the white flowers scattered on … Continue reading

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Dog Walking

The bracken is unrolling in the Birch wood, though not to the level at the Wells o’ the Rees. The Hawthorn is in bloom. This cosmopolitan area by the hawthorn has oak, rowan, birch, heather, sphagnum, hair cap, gorse, and … Continue reading

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The Raider’s Road – Manx style

6.8 miles 4h 2min ascent 117m An unusual day out, the distance and time is made up of three walks joined by short hops in the car. it was cool enough for fleeces and though we had a few spots … Continue reading

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A lonely mountain lake in a treeless waste

9.2 miles 3h 30m ascent 283m This was a straightforward there and back route from Craigencallie, along forestry tracks past Loch Dee, over the Laggan Burn and up the slopes of White Hill/Curleywee to the Loch Dee Rosnes Benches. On … Continue reading

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Swallows on Loch Trool

5.1 miles 3h 50m ascent 112m Another Rosnes Bench outing. I was keen this time to find the Covenanter’s Memorial that I had missed on the previous visit to Caldons when we were walking the SUW. We didn’t realise it when … Continue reading

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Glentrool, Black Linn and the three Waters

8 miles 4h 30m  ascent 185m Black Linn-Minniwick Woods-Bargrennan-Braes of Barmore-Cree Woods Our walk began at Stroan Bridge where the Water of Minnoch cascades through a rocky gorge. The Glentrool visitor centre here once nestled among tall conifers but the forest … Continue reading

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