{"id":36,"date":"2011-04-16T17:58:42","date_gmt":"2011-04-16T17:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cba5403d-5157-4228-876b-680daa5d1a87"},"modified":"2012-03-04T18:24:11","modified_gmt":"2012-03-04T18:24:11","slug":"rehabilitation-on-glen-hill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.screel.co.uk\/walks\/dumfries-galloway\/rehabilitation-on-glen-hill\/","title":{"rendered":"Rehabilitation on Glen Hill"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The crutches had been returned. The limp was fading. I didn\u2019t think I could yet run or attempt a penalty kick but I was only 3 minutes slower than usual on the Georgetown circuit.<\/p>\n

It was time to try my leg on a wee hill.<\/p>\n

When last I visited the Waterloo monument, my children were little angels, I had some non-grey hair and the path was shaded by trees all the way to the summit. All the trees are now gone. So where once I would have seen only stones and trunks there is now a view of the Solway, Loch Kindar, New Abbey and Criffel. The steep climb seems to have become steeper than it was a decade ago.<\/p>\n

Once at the top I felt obliged to climb the additional 65 feet of the tower itself. The lack of a parapet at the top had me hanging on like a scaredy-cat as usual, but the views were good (see gallery).<\/p>\n

The tower\u2019s inscription reads:<\/p>\n

Erected AD 1816
\nTo record the valour.
\nOf those British, Belgian
\nAnd Prufsian soldiers:
\nWho under
\nWELLINGTON and BLUCHER
\nOn the 18th of June 1815:
\nGained the victory
\nOf
\nWATERLOO:
\nBy which, French Tyranny
\nWas overthrown:
\nAnd Peace restored.
\nTo the World.<\/p>\n

Now I remember there used to be a sign pointing out the alternative path down. No sign now. The only candidate path was heading off in the wrong direction. Then I spotted a stump of wood about 18 inches high and thought it might be all that remains of the old sign. I set off that way and, lo and behold, a path appeared. Well, there were footprints…at first.<\/p>\n

As faint paths do, this one faded out and I found myself stumbling over piles of rotting wood and weaving through unpleasant undergrowth. I suppose is was a good test of the leg though.<\/p>\n

I could hear running water and my heart sank at the thought of trying to get across New Abbey Pow. Luckily my navigation was a bit out and I was well short of the pow. I found a wee burn that could easily have been crossed. Even better though, there was a well trodden path running alongside it which led me back to the village.<\/p>\n

On the lower reaches there were plenty of lambs and calves about, reflecting the time of year. There were ducks on the pond and even a field of bulls. Spring is here.<\/p>\n

2.75 miles 204m ascent (including tower) 1h 2m<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The crutches had been returned. The limp was fading. I didn\u2019t think I could yet run or attempt a penalty kick but I was only 3 minutes slower than usual on the Georgetown circuit. It was time to try my … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[21,14],"class_list":["post-36","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dumfries-galloway","tag-low-level","tag-wee-hills"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.screel.co.uk\/walks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.screel.co.uk\/walks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.screel.co.uk\/walks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.screel.co.uk\/walks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.screel.co.uk\/walks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.screel.co.uk\/walks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1304,"href":"https:\/\/www.screel.co.uk\/walks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions\/1304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.screel.co.uk\/walks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.screel.co.uk\/walks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.screel.co.uk\/walks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}