4.8 miles 2h 40m 311m ascent
Forestry tracks, paths (stony, mossy, boggy), pine-needle covered forest walks, heathery moorland, fallen trees, felled trees, distant gunshots, rocky outcrops, erratics, collapsed dykes, burns, bridged and unbridged, forest (conifer, deciduous, felled and replanted), ad hoc wooden sculptures, with views of sea, lochs, hills, dales, and monument to 19th century victory.
Quite a collection for a short local walk.
Having been struck down by minor illnesses which rendered me unfit for Drow ‘n’ Smirr type walks (e.g. wandering through bogs in low cloud, facing burn crossings where the bridge is but a memory, the plunk of a foot entering an unseen pool….ahhh…the dopamine rush), this was my first outing for a wee while. I decided a short walk close to base camp would be the ticket, and being a short walk both dogs (one with unlimited energy and one who limps) could accompany me. Being slightly out of practice, I could only find one gaiter and Audrey forgot hers.
On a handful of occasions there has been a deer in the car park when I have arrived, but not on this day. The small car parking space at Kissock Forest was in fact empty when we arrived. A map here shows some waymarked walks and there were waymarker posts all the way around though their positioning seems aimed at reassuring you that you are on the route rather than directing you. I didn’t pay much attention to the colours on the posts but I think we went red, then yellow, then green, our route taking us up the northern slope of Lotus Hill, down the south slope choosing the longer route that crosses Drungan Burn, across the end of the forestry track, then down through the forest close to Drungan Farm and back along the forestry track.
The kissing gate at the car park clearly isn’t designed for a person with a rucksack on his back and a camera hanging in front of his protruding abdomen, but some wriggling got me past the obstacle. The track up the northern slopes of the hill is firm but degenerates higher up and has a couple of short boggy sections. There are pools of crystal clear water beside the track but the dogs ignored these and explored the steeper slope below the path. The scents must be more interesting there. The fields below us didn’t have any sheep so I wasn’t too worried.
The track ends at what once must have been a turning area but is now overgrown and boggy. I remember there being a bench here years ago and a bit of a view of Loch Arthur, one of the candidates for Excalibur’s resting place, but the bench is long gone and the trees so thick that I must be mistaken about views of the Loch. The waymarked route turns left along a narrow path up the hill, though a faint track does continue on.
The single file path winds up through the trees, the friable ground on steeper sections transmuted into mud requiring care by the humans, but of no concern to the dogs who happily ran up and down through it. Once out of the trees and on the heather covered hill top we had our first good views of Loch Arthur. The way here is through boggy ground, sometimes obviously muddy with tricky sections of bright green moss that might support a foot but could just as easily give way into water. This reminded me of stripping the willow, flinging yourself, or being flung, with gusto towards a waiting dancer to find her arm is just there for show and isn’t going to twist you back into the dance.
Criffel in cloud
Well, across the moorland and on to the summit, where stood another walker with a spaniel (volume set at 11). Eddie was hackles up, Sweep unperturbed. The walker and his spaniel, peace disturbed left the summit to us and we had nice views from the top, Criffel’s summit hidden in cloud, Waterloo Monument below it. Stopping was not to Sweep’s liking however and he barked and barked and barked until we got going again.
I wonder if one day I should come over Lotus Hill and head across to Cuil Hill. I bet that will be battle with tussock and bog. Best done during a drought perhaps.
We headed down the southern slope of the hill, along the obvious track and used the stones of the collapsed dyke as seats for our coffee break. For reasons that escape me, Sweep tried to climb onto the wall, which wasn’t a good idea with his arthritis. When denied that option he took to rooting in holes, but the rabbits must have been beyond his reach.
Post coffee, onward. Down to the forest again and along a wide forest break carpeted with the friable moss. The dogs running ahead gave us some warning as to how deep one might sink into this. The gap between the trees then lessened and we walked around several large erratics that would be good seats for lunch. We passed the well walked waymarked path leading back down to the forest track and continued on the other waymarked forest break, but now without any discernible path. A word of warning here. If you are expecting to take the shorter route beware that a path seems to go off about 50m before the real route. I’ve used that by mistake before and it goes nowhere.
We crossed the Drungans Burn which at this level is two small watercourses that are easily stepped across. I fact you could hop across them if you felt inclined. After more forest break and erratics we emerged at the turning circle at the end of the main forestry track. The trees below here have been felled so there is now a good view across to Mabie. A wooden bench sits here for the weary to rest. That wasn’t us. The bench used to be a little further up the slope amongst a mire but I presume it has been moved since the tree felling.
We could now look back up to Lotus Hill and see the wall where we had our coffee. We now had a choice of walking back along the forestry track or taking to the woods again and chose the latter. It isn’t particularly obvious where the path leaves the forestry track but that said, it isn’t particularly hidden. The dogs went along it unbidden. Initially this descends through felled forest but the path hasn’t been destroyed in the felling. We walked past several curious wooden things that I had previously thought were pulleys but they are in fact just stacked wood.
Once back in the trees we had a few sections of boggy ground but most was firm. We crossed the burn again but this time on a footbridge and soon emerged back onto a branch of the main forestry track and followed these back to the car.
[osmap gpx=”http://www.screel.co.uk/walks/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/RK_gpx-_2015-02-14_0949.gpx”]
