90: sweltered in march
The bus dropped me off in Carnwath, a seemingly unwelcoming village, even in incongruous March heat. I walked straight out of town. It was to be a long road walk to my first proper hill of the day, but I left the A721 for a while to bag a trig. I was soon sweltering. This would turn out to be perhaps the hottest walk of 2012. It certainly felt that way to a body still accustomed to winter.
North Medwin Water
Black Mount in the background
I returned to the main road to cross South Medwin Water but was soon following pleasant lanes to Walston. I decided against risking a confrontation with apparent gomlers who seemed to be discouraging people from using the footpath onto the ridge of Black Mount by subsuming it into their garden (or something like that: my memory is a bit hazy). Instead I carried on down the lane and then took a more direct route towards the summit. There was plenty of heather (which makes the Black Mount look dark but not really black from a distance) but it wasn't too thick. A slow, hot trudge then to the summit where I found a trig and lots of flies, but no welcome breeze. I'll put Black Mount (516m) towards the bottom of
my marilyn list in interest terms, a big nondescript lump rather cut adrift from more interesting Pentlands to the northeast. However, I was able to pick out some of the hills I'd bagged on a firgid day just two months earlier.
I descended via White Hill (440m) before taking the road over the Garvald Burn. As I ventured into fields heavily populated with sheep a farmer implored me to keep the gates closed. I never bother opening them, I always climb over, and if they are open, then I leave them open.
Mendick Hill (451m) was a steady grassy climb, a doddle, but I was flagging badly, and almost out of water. After the summit, more impressive than Black Mount despite feeling more like a hill and less like a mountain, and the initial steep descent my form returned.
The A702 was busy with a surprising number of removal vans heading into and out of Edinburgh. I made it into Dolphinton in time for a quick ascent of the monument topped tump Kippit Hill (262m) and an awkward ten minutes waiting for a bus while not talking much to a twentysomething woman. The bus driver wasn't minded to accept my valid ticket so I had to pull the whole 'well, I'm just going to sit down now' routine leaving him to worry about where he would get his "refund" from. Later I had a pint of Lia Fail in a smoky beer garden in Biggar inbetween buses and saw an impressive sunset over Wishaw from the train.
North Medwin Water
Black Mount in the background
I returned to the main road to cross South Medwin Water but was soon following pleasant lanes to Walston. I decided against risking a confrontation with apparent gomlers who seemed to be discouraging people from using the footpath onto the ridge of Black Mount by subsuming it into their garden (or something like that: my memory is a bit hazy). Instead I carried on down the lane and then took a more direct route towards the summit. There was plenty of heather (which makes the Black Mount look dark but not really black from a distance) but it wasn't too thick. A slow, hot trudge then to the summit where I found a trig and lots of flies, but no welcome breeze. I'll put Black Mount (516m) towards the bottom of
my marilyn list in interest terms, a big nondescript lump rather cut adrift from more interesting Pentlands to the northeast. However, I was able to pick out some of the hills I'd bagged on a firgid day just two months earlier.
I descended via White Hill (440m) before taking the road over the Garvald Burn. As I ventured into fields heavily populated with sheep a farmer implored me to keep the gates closed. I never bother opening them, I always climb over, and if they are open, then I leave them open.
Mendick Hill (451m) was a steady grassy climb, a doddle, but I was flagging badly, and almost out of water. After the summit, more impressive than Black Mount despite feeling more like a hill and less like a mountain, and the initial steep descent my form returned.
The A702 was busy with a surprising number of removal vans heading into and out of Edinburgh. I made it into Dolphinton in time for a quick ascent of the monument topped tump Kippit Hill (262m) and an awkward ten minutes waiting for a bus while not talking much to a twentysomething woman. The bus driver wasn't minded to accept my valid ticket so I had to pull the whole 'well, I'm just going to sit down now' routine leaving him to worry about where he would get his "refund" from. Later I had a pint of Lia Fail in a smoky beer garden in Biggar inbetween buses and saw an impressive sunset over Wishaw from the train.