We drove to Ettrick and the parking area at Potburn again to do a few more of the Ettrick Hills, including the three we had missed on the Ettrick Horseshoe last weekend, White Shank, Fauldside Hill and Bodesbeck Law.
Looking back at the parking area at Potburn
As you can see it was a glorious day.
On the road toward Roweburn
We walked back along the road to access the farm track near Roweburn leading up above Range Cleuch.
A gentle ascent up the farm track from Roweburn
This is Range Cleuch and the burn is Whiteyaud Burn. We stopped to get some water because my bottle of squash had spilled into the boot of the car because the top had come off. Time for new bottles; it isn't the first time that has happened
It got steeper for a while
There was a bit of a breeze to keep us cool as we climbed our first hill, Black Knowe Head.
Looking back on the way up the farm track
Ettrick Pen, Hopetoun Craig and Wind Fell in view
On Black Knowe Head
We dropped down off the summit and had an early lunch. The breeze just about kept the midges at bay.
Bodesbeck Law from Black Knowe Head
Our plan was to pitch on there later but it depended on finding water at Whiteyaud Head. Our next hill was Bell Craig and we left the farm track on a faint trod through boggy ground.
Cairn on the way to Bell Craig top
Saddle Yoke left
I have taken a liking to this hill
Swatte Fell, Saddle Yoke and Carrifran Gans
Carrifran Gans and White Coomb from Bell Craig
Loch Skeen in view from Bell Craig
On the way to Andrewhinney Hill
We were bagging it then retracing our steps to Bell Craig
The hills to the east of Lochcraig Head
The views were superb with mountains and hills in every direction. We love it around here and it is very peaceful. So far we had seen nobody except a policeman who passed by us in a car and another man who passed by us in a car when we were on the road to Roweburn.
The view north east from Andrewhinney Hill
We both said we want to explore over there too at some point.
Andrewhinney Hill summit
We stopped for a banana break and the midges were out and about in between the breezy spells. We both said we could do with more wind.
On the way back to Bell Craig we dropped down a little so we could see the waterfall Grey Mare's Tail
Loch Skeen and Grey Mare's Tail
Grey Mare's Tail in close up
On the way back to Bell Craig
It was boggy and rougher on this bit, we'd been spoiled by the farm track at the start.
Looking back to Bell Craig
There were a few trods to follow or quad bike tracks as we made our way to Mid Rig, then onto Nowtrig Head.
Saddle Yoke and Carrifran Grans
On Nowtrig Head
Bodesbeck Law ahead
We were hoping to get water at Whiteyaud Head in the col but when we got there it was dry. We could either descend left to Whiteyaud Burn to get it then carry it back up and then onto Bodesbeck Law or go over Bodesbeck Law and drop down to Bodesbeck Col to get water from Bodesbeck Burn. It looked a long way down to Whiteyaud Burn and then back up again so we climbed up Bodesbeck Law without getting any water.
Bodesbeck Law summit
It was a tough climb, we were tired and we were ready to pitch but we had no water for our camp so we had to carry on.
Descending Bodesbeck Law
It seemed to take forever to reach the col and we eventually got some water from Bodesbeck Burn. It was rougher under foot near the burn as we looked for a pitch. The views weren't very good so we made the effort to climb another hill up onto Fauldside Hill, very hard it was too, rough and pathless, now carrying 3l of water each
The Hubba Hubba on Fauldside Hill
We found a pretty good pitch thank goodness and we got our water on to filter and sorted out our gear. The wind that was supposed to be about 5mph had picked up and some of the gusts were more like 20 mph and although we had pitched the tent end into the wind, the wind kept changing direction. It kept the midges at bay but we couldn't sit out as it was too cool. We had been wishing for more wind earlier, now we regretted it. We hadn't seen anybody at all out on our route, what an amazing place and fabulous to have it all to ourselves. We had some food and a glass of wine.
The sun going down behind Swatte Fell
The sunset wasn't the best one we have ever had, we needed a bit of cloud to diffuse it.
A bit of a red glow
We finished our wine and we fell asleep as soon as our heads touched our pillows, it had been a tough day.
After a blustery night we awoke to mist over the tops but it lifted by 8.30 and we had wonderful views again like the day before.
The Lowther Hills
Saddle Yoke from our pitch
White Shank from our pitch
Saddle Yoke and Bodesbeck Law from our pitch
We thought it was just as well we hadn't pitched higher up on Bodesbeck Law, the wind had been strong enough 100m lower down.
Going over the summit of Fauldside Hill
We were packed up and away just after 9.
On White Shank
Not quite the highest spot, that was over the other side of the wall.
Smidhope Hill from White Shank
We had pitched up there last Saturday. We retraced our steps on the trod through the rough boggy ground back by Fauldside Hill and down to Bodesbeck Col. We took a pathless shortcut away from the wall we'd been following as the ground was getting rougher near it. To our surprise we saw two walkers, the first in 24 hours out on the hills. We said our good mornings, they were going up Fauldside Hill as we were descending it.
Onto the forest track back to Potburn
From the col there is a forest track that leads back to the parking area at Potburn. Nice easy walking after the pathless rough stuff.
Crossing Longhope Burn
We'd stopped for a brew and some food on the way down before we finished the last bit of easy walking back to the car and our people count remained at 2.
Day 1 route map
Day 1 route was Potburn - Roweburn - Black Knowe Head - Bell Craig - Andrewhinney Hill - Bell Craig - Mid Rig - Nowtrig Head - Bodesbeck Law - Fauldside Hill 8.7 miles with 736m ascent.
Day 2 route map
Day 2 route was Fauldside Hill - White Shank - Fauldside Hill - Bodesbeck Col - Potburn 3.1 miles with 98m ascent. It felt like double the distance because the walking had been over very rough terrain at times.
Another great 2 days and we will be returning to Scotland and avoiding the Lake District for a while, we love the hardly any people here and the views are fantastic, not sure why it is so quiet here
