Thurs 5 November: Blackhope Scar and Windlestraw Law

Blackhope Scar (NT 315 483; 651m)

Start Point: End of track to Blackhope Farm at NT 38412 52440  (a good area just off the track itself, and a car would probably manage not to block the gate - in my case, Mick was staying behind and could move if gate access was required) 

Distance and ascent: Bike: 7.3km & 100m; Foot: 4.5km & 270m

Weather: overcast with low cloud and some light rain

Blue = bike; red = foot

Closer look at the walked section. The more westerly (return) line was perhaps slightly better than the outward 

I was in two minds as to whether to take the bike on this one, but if I wanted to get both hills done and get to Moffat (where we were booked onto the campsite for the night) before dark, it was the only sensible choice. Having not paid any attention to the contour lines in planning this route, the first I realised that I was going to start by going downhill was when we parked at the end of the track, but even then I didn't realise how steep the switch-back bit of the track was and how hard it was going to be to cycle back up it at the end - I'm not a cyclist and it was right at the limit of what I could do.

Other than that the bike ride went relatively smoothly ... if I ignore the minor detour I took on the outward leg (took the obvious track at the first shooting hut, only then to realise I was heading in the wrong direction and I needed to take the far less obvious grassy track down in the glen) and the fact that I tried to cycle through a burn that proved too deep and I ground to a halt in the middle, in both directions. Thank goodness for knee-length waterproof socks, but even then I could feel the cold of the water.

Having abandoned the bike at the second shooting hut, an ATV track took me to and past a line of shooting butts, after which I just chose the best looking line, following a streamless dip in the landscape. 

The weather wasn't fantastic on the way up, and with the summit shrouded in the cloud, robbing me of a view, it didn't strike me as a contender for one of the most interesting hills I've ever been up. Having visited the trig and the high point I wandered around everywhere else that looked like it could be a contender for a future summit move, then swiftly made my way back down. There wasn't much to choose between the line I'd taken on the way up and the slightly different one I took on the way down, but the return route perhaps marginally pipped the outward. 

At Bertie-the-Motorhome, the bike was soon stowed back in the boot, a quick lunch had, then it was a 10-minute drive down the road to my next hill.

Blackhope glen was the highlight of the day. My bike is leaning against the back of the shooting hut that's in shot. 

Summit selfie
 

Windlestraw Law (NT 371 430; 659m)

Start Point: track end at NT 34389 43967

End Point: pull-in at NT 34085 43529 (neither start nor end point were really ideal for a Bertie-sized vehicle). 

Distance and ascent: 7.2km & 380m 

Weather: Low cloud and an increasing wind but I don't remember any significant rain on this one. 

Urgh! This one was an absolute bogfest for much of the way, with the upper reaches of the track marked on the map being churned up peat-soup. There were various other faint ATV lines adjacent, but they were both rough and waterlogged. Add in the monoculture (although I did see a few trees; on the previous hill I'd only seen one) and the low cloud and this one was also not going to trouble even the lower reaches of my 'best hills' list. A pity that there was no view, as that may have been the redeeming feature. 

Cutting the corner to the trig was a bit pointless as it omitted the high point, so I came back the slightly longer way - but we're talking a matter of a few metres difference. 

With lots of logging lorries going up and down the road, Mick had moved from where he dropped me off to a marginally better pull-in down the road (he'd found an even better one, but didn't have a phone signal to tell me where he was, so had to backtrack). There was no point in me returning to my start point and calling him to pick me up, so I just dead-headed down the hill and, happily, found the fence between me and the road to be step-overable. 

 

Summit selfie

Choice: a peat-soup track or the bog-fest of an ATV track adjacent (I think I managed to take a photo at one of the driest points - it really was soggy for much of the way after crossing the 350m contour)