M&G Go For A Walk: Wednesday 6 May: Gathersnow Hill & Goseland Hill

In our hasty packing for this trip, whilst also trying to decide on where we would be going and what we would be doing, I belatedly decided that I needed to include my mountain bike, to ease access to one particular hill in the Braemar area. Thus the abandoned steed was hauled out of the shed, where it has sat unused for the last 6.5 years (I think; I'm relying on a dodgy memory and some searching of this blog). After pumping up the tyres, I took it for a spin along the road, just far enough to establish the gears still worked adequately before I put it in Bertie's boot.

Other than 'a few hills in the Braemar area', we left home without a plan, so this morning over breakfast (in a layby near Shap) I pored over my records on hill-bagging.co.uk and found there were a few hills along the A701, between Moffat and Edinburgh that I haven't visited yet, and as the first one I looked at lent itself to being accessed by bike, it became my objective for the day. It was a bonus that it had such an excellent name.

Gathersnow Hill (NT058256; 689m)

Start Point: End of windfarm track, on A701, at NT 11004 27724. Room to park a car without obstructing the gate.

Distance and ascent: Bike: 12.0km, 220m, Walk: 3.1km, 320m

Weather: Sunny intervals.

Blue = bike, red = walk.

Fortunately, Mick had no aspirations to join me on this one, as there wasn't really room to park Bertie-the-Motorhome at the end of the windfarm track, so he was positioned blocking half of the gateway, with Mick available to move him should the need arise. It didn't, which is surprising (based on previous experience that the moment you pull up in a gateway, someone wants to use it).

Getting the bike out isn't an easy endeavour (half the boot needs to be emptied first), but Mick made short work of it whilst I faffed, and with the front wheel reattached and the brake reengaged (a key part of the process that I may have overlooked once or twice), we joined forces to heave the great lump of heaviness over the locked gate.

A couple of minutes later, I realised that I had completely forgotten how to use gears, which resulted in me pushing up the first significant incline. Happily, I soon got to grips with which gear was which and the rest of the outing went smoothly (even if I did have to ride through a herd of cows with calves at one point; I approached slowly and talked to them nicely, and they all moved politely out of the way for me).

The track was pretty decent, if rough in places, up to the remote house at Hopehead. Beyond, there was a mix of hard track and grassy surface, but all dry enough at the moment that I could still make easy enough progress.

My intention had been to go to the end of the track, but at Nether Cule Burn, it seemed that it would be more efficient to just head straight up the hill, rather than going the long way around. The bike was abandoned, and I was just about to strike off up the hill, when I saw a trodden line heading up onto the spur a little further to the west - less direct, but the extra distance would be offset by the relative ease of an ATV track.

The ATV track took me so far, then petered out, and I continued across ground that was neither smooth, nor too rough, constantly thinking that there was probably another ATV track just to my left. I concluded many years ago (if I went searching, I could probably find the blog post - it was a hill somewhere up the Great Glen) that if the going isn't too dreadful, then there's no point weaving around searching for a good line that may not exist. So, bash onward I did, until I did eventually converge with the ATV track that had indeed been to my left for some while.

The summit was an excellent viewpoint and a worthwhile objective. I took in the views, took a few snaps, then rather than retracing my steps, I dead-headed for where I'd left the bike. A steep descent, but quick.

The return bike ride wasn't all downhill, but I did it significantly faster than the outward leg. Just knowing how all the gates fastened was a benefit, as was the fact that the herd of cows had dispersed and this time I only had to deal with four adults.

Back at Bertie the boot was again half emptied, the bike stowed and off we went to Broughton for a late lunch - a location chosen purely because I knew there was a car park here, as we'd used it last year when I did a round of three hills to the east of the village.

Over lunch, I looked at the map and contemplated another hill nearby that would also lend itself well to being approached by bike. As much as I wanted to sit around and do nothing all afternoon, as it's not often that I have the bike with me, it seemed silly not to put it to good use, so out it came again, and off I pedalled to...

Goseland Hill (NT 07115 35014; 435m)

Start Point: Broughton Village Hall Car Park

Distance and ascent: Bike: 11km, 100m; Foot: 1.8km, 190m

Blue = bike; red = walk

Cycling on tarmac is a whole lot easier than than toiling up a rough or grassy track - that was my main observation from this afternoon!

The bike took me to the access track to Gosland, to the S of the hill, where I locked it up under a tree (and spotted a Geocache in the process), then took to my feet to attack the side of the hill. Trying to find grassy bits through the heather as much as I could, I eventually stumbled upon a really good ATV track that looked like it would have been the better line of ascent, although I didn't follow it for long, as I couldn't resist taking a more direct line.

The top was another excellent viewpoint, so I sent a short video to Mick to show him what he was missing as well as taking my usual snaps. Being a tad nippy (it was now late afternoon and at no point had the day been hot in any case - 9 degrees was the warmest we saw on Bertie's display, and the forecast suggested a high of 5), I didn't linger long.

The ATV track that had looked promising on the outward leg proved not to be as beneficial as I'd thought - it was too steep for comfort, as well as being less direct, so after a short while on it, I decided that going through the heather was the better option after all.

Getting back to Bertie just 20 minutes after reaching the bike, I was rather proud of my speediness, until Mick pointed out that Sebastian Sawe (who won the London marathon a couple of weeks ago) ran faster than I had managed to cycle, and he'd had to go considerably further.