Collected Musings of a Hill Wanderer

Today, I was in a shop when I overheard someone moaning about the less than exciting weather that has been with us for much of July. Many have very optimistic hopes for the summertime so that sense of frustration was understandable. It's why it's best to spread those aspirations around the year instead. Nevertheless, some spouts of sun this evening added some cheer and there may be a window of better weather latter in the week to break up things.

Maybe I should have made better use of the dry though grey day but I ended up doing some clearance at home instead. It was that activity that caused me to come across a map that I bought in Dublin in May. Surveying outdoors blogs can leave you with an impression that some have a soft spot for certain types of outdoors equipment. For on, it's stoves and another does footwear. For me, it seems to be maps, probably because they are so good at opening up any location awaiting exploration.

The map in question was produced by an alternative producer of Irish Maps, EastWest Mapping. For a while now, they have produced maps for Walking World Ireland to accompany pieces on walking routes in the island of Ireland. There was a time when they sold all sorts of outdoor maps and guides, including OSi and Harvey maps, but that seems to be over now. Nowadays, they use their website to sell only their own wares instead of those from others.

So far, those include three maps for the Dublin and Wicklow Mountains along with map guides for the Wicklow Way and the Táin Way, a circular trail starting and ending Carlingford on the Cooley Peninsula in County Louth (incidentally and perhaps ironically given it features in a Celtic myth regarding cattle rustling, it was the only part of Éire affected in the 2001 Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak; the disease was not allowed to spread any further). All can be ordered over the web and payment is by using PayPal. Regarding the maps for the Dublin and Wicklow Mountains, they are divided to cover the following areas: Dublin & North Wicklow Mountains, Lugnaquila & Glendalough, West Wicklow Mountains. There is another in the offing to complete the quartet and that will be for the eastern Wicklow Mountains. Currently, it is possible to by three of the intended four as a set from the website though that should become a quartet when the final map is released early next year. The scale is 1:30000 and overlap between each of the maps is generous so things look promising.

Returning to that map bought last May, it covers the Dublin and North Wicklow Mountains and I seem to remember that it needed discipline to leave the others after me at Eason's in O' Connell Street. Looking at it now, I have to say that there is a good deal of detail though I'd have to try it out on a real walk and not an armchair one to reach a definitive verdict. As well as claiming to be waterproof or water resistant on the cover, the paper used in the maps seems to be like what Harvey's use in their SuperWalker series so it should stand up to the occasional wetting, even if I wouldn't go opening the map up in a downpour like I got on the way home last Friday evening. Though my work circumstances have changed since the purchase, any excuse for more walking in my native Ireland has to be good. After all, any excuse to return to a area with pleasing hill country has to be good.

After a few weeks of being occupied by other matters, I have managed to clear some space for a hill wandering escape. As is my habit with all these things, I'll keep the details of what I have in mind under wraps for now because plans can change. In fact, it often happens that it's the surprises that often make my outings all the more memorable. If something comes of what I have in mind, I hope to say more afterwards.

For example, it was a surprise meeting with glorious sunny weather for which I recall a Spring Bank Holiday weekend visit to Argyll from a few years back. At the time, I ended up kicking myself for having incomplete plans but the time spent taking in Kerrera and the quieter places around Oban should have made up for it. Looking back now, the intoxicating mix of blue seas and skies along with verdant foliage everywhere on land must have been the cause of embarking on a week long visit to the Western Isles, a trip that lives on my mind. Surprises can take you onto new terrain and it's best to enjoy what comes rather than worry about whether you made the most of it or not.

There may have been wonderful sunny summer weather visiting us over the last few weeks but goings on in my professional life have meant that I haven't made the kind of use of it that is habitual for me. That's not to say that there haven't been restive escapes during the hurly burly. In fact, lengthening my cycling commute on the homeward leg has afforded the spending of some quality time among still fresh greenery.

Not inappropriately given the prospect  of a major change to my work circumstances (a change of job is looming on the horizon), some of those peaceful interludes have had me poking around the National Trust property surrounding the escarpment that is Alderley Edge. The result was that some aimless exploration took me directions that I mightn't have followed while if I had a map with me! Even so, no harm came from them and you need to break out from the constraints of modern life from time to time anyway. The area is a confined one that I know well enough so not too much can go awry. Still, there's plenty to paths for a stroll and it's under tree cover much of the time too, a perfect antidote to the hot bright strong sunshine than occasionally makes its appearance around this time of year. Trees may be things with which I have a love/hate relationship but they have their plus points too and the National Trust's broadleaved collection near the edge offers plenty of shade when it gets as warm as it has been on the way towards midsummer.

Looking further ahead, it doesn't look as if this summer will get the customary longer break that has tended to happen every year in recent times. Nevertheless, there are some days' leave coming to me that I plan to use as well as I can. It's a matter of using what is available rather than having all that I'd like to possess. Ambitions may require control (the sort of Hebridean adventure that I enjoyed a few years ago is out of the question for now but you never know what the future might bring) but one or two possibilities are coming to mind regardless. Despite the constraints that I face, I should get more out of the summer than I did during the one when my career was first set on its faltering course a decade ago. Its next phase is ahead of me and I hope to keep up my wanderings through hill country. They have afforded respite from life's toils up to now and it is unlikely that the need will disappear.

My staying at home over the weekend has less to do with the weather not being all that inspiring. After all, it wasn't that unpleasant either so an outing wouldn't have gone amiss. However, there were other things needing doing whose details don't belong on a blog such as this. Even so, I got to completing the sprucing up the Snowdonia album in the photo gallery for now. Where there was one album, there now are two: one for the area's castles and another for its hill country. As with much of my poring over old photos, ideas come to mind for excursions. The Nantlle Ridge looks interesting and there's poking around the Carneddau from Bethesda. Should the right weather make its appearance and other matters release me, they could come in handy. In the meantime, there are more photos from that weekend in Ireland to be sorted and the Kerry album is being given the once over in between everything else. Also, next Saturday is looking promising and my mind might be free to make use of it. Of course, weather predictions can change but, unless you keep an eye, windows of opportunity can be missed and mental soreness might be the result when the rain soaking seems neverending. For now though, there are stirrings of complaints about a drought but they may be emerging too soon…

It's been a while since my last trip up there but last weekend saw me back in the Scottish Borders and sampling more of its attractive countryside. 2006 was when I last frequented these parts and so decided that it was high time for a return. Then, it was the turn of St. Mary's Loch and Ettrick Head while on a trot west along the Southern Upland Way. That followed a reconnaissance visit based in Lockerbie that involved a poke around Moffat on a largely cloudy weekend. That's not to say that the sun hasn't been out either with previous hikes around Peebles, Traquair and Innerleithen being blessed by blue skies.

Last August's visit to Edinburgh had the unfulfilled ulterior motive of an outing to Melrose to savour the delights of the Eildon Hills. However, a forecast of rain raised the prospect of not seeing them at their best and that was one reason why they have lain on the ideas shelf since. It was that and thoughts of seeing Melrose Abbey that drew my mind to the area again.

Everything may have looked sunny in Carlisle but Selkirk was cloudy when I got there. It stayed like that as I left the town to cross over Ettrick Water as I headed for the Philiphaugh Estate. The possibility of using the Borders Abbeys Way to get to Melrose was set to one side in favour of using the old right of way between Selkirk and Three Brethren before following the Southern Upland Way first to Galashiels and then to Melrose.

To my surprise, the Philiphaugh Estate has set up trails for visitors to follow and a leaflet to go with them. While it may not have been my intention, I ended up sampling a track through forestry that gave me a sneak preview of my surroundings from an elevated vantage point. After retracing my steps, I followed the vehicle track named the Corbielinn (or Corbylinn as the OS has it) Road until it left woodland near a reservoir.

Beyond that, it was onto the slopes leading away from Long Philip Burn with a spot of track hopping until I found myself on one leading me straight towards the Three Brethren. The sun was making a better fist of peering out through the cloud cover and caused me to stop a lot on gradients that otherwise weren't the unkindest. The views were changing all the while too as I gained height, keeping my mind occupied and warding off any sense of impatience. This observation leaves me wondering if it as unchanging surroundings that were the cause any rising impatience during my long walk on the Isle of Man but there may have other factors at play too.

The three cairns that are the Three Brethren came into sight soon enough and grew steadily larger as the approach to them grew ever shorter. They caught the sun too as it ducked out from behind the broken cloud from time to time and I started to think it a pity that someone placed a fence though them. Once beside the cairns, the line of the old drovers road that now carries the Southern Upland Way stretched out to the east and to the west. A useful signpost confirmed that Galashiels was nearer than Traquair, verifying the sense of my route.

With the highest point of the day behind me, I began to lose height as the day grew ever better; it had all the hallmarks of being one of those delightful late spring and early summer evenings of the kind that I met once around Peebles and never have forgotten. There was no doubt about the way to be followed though I found yet another signpost and it included the option to return to Selkirk if I so desired, via a track that I left further down as it happened, but I was bound for passage through Yair Hill Forest.

Mercifully, some forest clearing allowed greater views of what lay ahead of me. Yes, there was the sight of wind turbines that no doubt would annoy some but they weren't all over the place either and enough was left in a unblemished state for unperturbed enjoyment. Woodland wandering demanded good attention to a map but any waymarkers that I met were a useful backup too, not that they made good map reading unnecessary. Without going around in any circles, veering off track or any other difficulties, I found myself at Yair Bridge for a crossing over the Tweed as planned.

From Fairnilee Farm, it was all pastoral wandering in pleasing sunshine. There was height gain but it was fairly gradual and views back towards Selkirk open up behind me; it looked as if it was stuck in constant shadow. Sheep and lambs abounded as did stone wall field enclosures. You'd be forgiven for thinking that you were further south in Britain than Scotland as I crossed from field to field.

In time, the views over Galashiels came too, first from a large neatly constructed cairn much like one of the Three Brethren. From there, it was downhill again as waymarkers draw the wanderer closer and closer to Gala Hill. The Southern Upland Way chooses to go around it and skirt Galashiels in doing so. Saying that, there are plenty of paths on Gala Hill shown in Explorer 338 and Galashiels has its share of waymarked paths too, some of which use part of the Southern Upland Way. Though it would mean gaining some height again, I can see the point of including the woods around Gala Hill and the trail gains height after Galashiels anyway. The Galashiels variant can be left for anyone who wanted it but I think that having the SUW going over Gala Hill would bring its own rewards too and cut down on any urban walking.

Having to face more ascent was not welcome to tired limbs but it did offer recompense in the form of more views of Eildon Hills, this time with the added interest of Abbotsford, Sir Walter Scott's former home. After the last loss of height for the day, I was to find myself on the opposite side of the Tweed from Abbotsford and among trees for a last fling before urban walking was to take hold. More river crossings followed with one of Gala Water coming before another of the Tweed.

The latter brought me along a former railway cutting and the tarmac underfoot was taking its toll on the soles of my feet; is it time to get better insoles for my Meindl Burmas? This part of the SUW is shared with part of the National Cycle Network and the distances on their signs did everything that they could to dispel and impression that Melrose and Galashiels are right beside each other. With sore feet, not seeing much in the way of progress can be dispiriting and it was with relief that I gained one final stretch by the Tweed with hard dry grassland underfoot. When that was behind me, there was the matter of pavement pounding until I found my lodgings for the night but that didn't seem to take so long.

The next morning began with blue skies before a rain shower came the way and there were a few more before the day set to improving steadily. After the one before, it was to be one for gentler pursuits such as relaxed inspection of Melrose Abbey. Other than that, there was a taste of St. Cuthbert's Way before I stopped to soak the views that any gain in height revealed. Not having the time to use that trail to continue in among the Eildon Hills, I left the idea of exploring them for another time and subsequent map inspection revealed a possible alternative itinerary that would achieve that end. Following St. Cuthbert's Way from St. Boswell's to Melrose not only would take me through the aforementioned hills but also near Dryburgh Abbey too. It only needs one excuse to return to any place and I have found it for the Scottish Borders. Let's hope that it doesn't as long to get back as it did before.

Travel Arrangements:

Return train trip from Macclesfield to Carlisle. Outward bus journey onward to Selkirk and more buses to bring me back from Melrose by way of Galashiels.