20 October Durisdeer

Davie C, Hugh, Jimmy, Robert (Davie Mc)

Four intrepid Ooters made it to Durisdeer this morning. (Actually, five did but more of this later) Since there was just the four of us, we decided not to do the usual Kettleton Bothy-Morton Castle walk and take to the hill. And to this end we set off up the well path.

The sun was shining, the wind was on the back and the slope gradual. In high spirits we walked easily up the well path. Up past the new shooter’s road climbing the hill on our right; up past the Roman fortlet; up to the head of the pass. Though the slope was gradual and the walking easy, it was a pechy, sweaty quartet that sat out of the wind behind a drystane dyke for refreshment. We had tried the shepherd’s hut just beyond but this didn’t prove as accommodating as the drystane dyke so it was here that we sat.

Now the decision had to be made – should we go left or right? One slope looked as steep and daunting as the other but taking the advice of he who knows things, we opted for the right. If we were peched climbing the Well Path, now came a greater test of legs and lungs. The wind was now no help as it blew coldly on our right sides. And the slope was steep. Up we climbed: Up through the heather: Up beside a drystone dyke topped with barbed wire: Up on the vestige of a sheep pad: Up on the remains of another dyke: Always up! Half an hour of muscle tightening effort and we topped out on Durisdeer Hill. It was here that we saw the road that we had seen leaving Durisdeer. And it was here that three quarters of us donned jackets against the chilling wind while the other relied on internal insulation. It was also here that we met the man.

He was and ex-pat Dundonald man now residing in Dumfries and he was ready for a blether. We are not folk to refuse a blether so there we stood, chatting away and getting colder as the wind picked up. Then we left the man to his own devices and moved onto the road.

Though this eased the slope to the summit of the hill it went no further. He who knows things said we should continue along the dyke to Scaw’d Law where we would find a fence running away on the right and this would take us down to Kettleton Bothy.

At our age the certainty of youth has gone and doubts creep in. When we reached the summit of Scaw’d Law there was no fence on the right. Doubts crept in to the mind of he who knows things. We could see down on our right the Kettleton gap near where the bothy sits and that was our destination. We headed down in that direction. There began our adventure.

Just off the top we found another new shooter’s road heading in our direction so we followed it downward. Then the road swung away to the north. That wasn’t helpful but quadbike tracks continued down into the cleugh. We followed them and, just as the quadbike tracks turned back up to the right, we looked up to the left and there was the missing fence on the skyline. We had come down the hill too soon. But it was higher up and the father of the group had had enough of climbing for the day. He found a sheep pad going across the face of the hill and took off along it. We followed.

The pad petered out but in the middle distance we could see the new road coming down the hill. We trudged through the heather and eventually came to the road. Now we stopped for lunch. We could hear the shots as we sat, and the shouts of the beaters but we couldn’t see them nor even guess where the shooters were. We were out of the wind and sat for a wee while and the shots stopped as we sat. They were gone by the time we set off again. This time we followed the road down the slope of Blackgrain Shoulder. We found the shooters packed up and the beaters still hanging about blethering. They were at the junction of the road we were on and the one we wanted to be on. We passed the time of day with them and then moved on.

We strolled casually along the Kettleton road past the cemetery and it was here that we saw a familiar figure walking up the road into the village. It was Davie Mc who had tried to catch us up on the Kettleton – Morton Castle walk. He joined us for the last hundred yards back into Durisdeer. We will leave Davie to tell his own interesting story.

The five of us took FRT in The Crown in Sanquhar which has recently changed hands. We wish the new, young proprietor the best of luck.