{"id":1684,"date":"2012-09-02T20:29:21","date_gmt":"2012-09-02T19:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.screel.co.uk\/walks\/?p=1684"},"modified":"2013-12-10T19:48:38","modified_gmt":"2013-12-10T19:48:38","slug":"lotus-hill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.screel.co.uk\/walks\/dumfries-galloway\/lotus-hill\/","title":{"rendered":"Lotus Hill"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>3.75 miles \u00a0 1hr 54min \u00a0ascent 262m<\/p>\n

A nice short walk, but best done during a drought. There was a deer standing in the car park when I arrived, as there was the last time I parked there.<\/p>\n

I had set off from home intending to walk the dogs along the forestry track at Kissock, but Lotus Hill was too tempting. About half a mile from the car park the forestry track divides and I turned right up a gentle slope. The first mile is on firm tracks but then degenerates into a boggy path that climbs to the bog that covers most of the summit.<\/p>\n

I was picking my way across the marshy area with Sweep running along as point man when he disappeared in the tall grass ahead of me with a loud plop. The sound of a dog entering deep water. I was therefore forewarned to alter course.<\/p>\n

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View from Lotus Hill, Loch Arthur<\/p><\/div>\n

From the summit we headed down through the heather then into a forest break. The first few metres of this break were muddy, and I mean muddy. Sweep ran into the mire and sank to his wedding tackle. A short burst of scrabbling and he was out the other side. Leo and I picked our way around the edge.<\/p>\n

There are a couple of forest breaks that lead from this one to the lower track and I had decided to take the first one. Less muddy from memory. I came across a way marker and presumed it marked the first break.<\/p>\n

I shouldn’t presume. The break was impassable with fallen tress so I went a few metres further and took that break mumbling to myself that the waymarker was badly placed. The way I took showed signs of others using the same route but eventually joined the more substantial path of the forest break I should have been on.<\/p>\n

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