Wanlockhead. Leadhills. Lowther Hill. Green Lowther.

                                              ALL PHOTOS CLICK FULL SCREEN
(Sorry for the delay in putting up a post or commenting on other blogs. Alas, I changed broadband provider to a cheaper deal but due to the set up in my house- master telephone socket in gloomy living-room downstairs which never gets any sun- office and computer upstairs in a spare room, via a telephone extension line, which always receives plenty of sunshine, winter and summer, and is a much cheerier and warmer place to write and think up ideas in...I now have a problem. This set up worked perfectly well under Sky and I never had any problems but since changing to Talk Talk a couple of weeks ago I've been off line and have had no phone for well over a week then slow patchy broadband and/or no phone at all- a situation which is still ongoing. I thought it would be a simple matter to change providers and save some money but apparently not so in my case :o(

Anyway, a Sunday outing with Alan and dog took us down to Leadhills and Wanlockhead, two pretty villages now, situated in the Lowther Hills, west of Moffat in the Southern Uplands, but once heavily industrialized with large scale mining for Lead, Zinc, Copper, Silver and Gold.  These two remote villages are the highest in Scotland and sit snugly at over 1,400feet above sea level situated in a remote upland region of Dumfries and Galloway.

Conditions for the miners proved hard and brutal in the 1700s with many parts of Scotland sending children underground from the age of seven or eight until they died around 40 or 45 years of age, still grafting hard in the mines. I recently read an excellent book on the working conditions for these 'white slaves' toiling underground in the mid 1700s when they could be sold to any new owner as essential commodities along with any necessary machinery and mineral deposit rights. It was a book I thoroughly enjoyed - A Place Called Freedom by Ken Follett,  a well written, historically accurate account of coal mines in Fife, conditions in London, America and other places, during an age of slaves ships transporting people across continents.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/825509.A_Place_Called_Freedom

Buzzard on a spoil heap. The highest vantage point around. Anyway, this book helped to give me  greater insight into life at that time as well as being a cracking story and romantic drama set in places I've actually been to in an effort to check out the details in the book myself. Where I grew up, Nitshill in Glasgow, the landscape was similar to here in many ways with beautiful rural scenery entwined with abandoned mines, coal and lime works, brick quarries, railway cuttings and flooded holes. A dangerous but highly exciting place for children to go exploring but we never thought much about what went on in past times to give us such a great playground.

In spring sunshine, as it was now, both villages are enjoyable places to explore and Wanlockhead has a visitor museum, car park, toilets,  a small underground mine to go down, miners cottages, and a delightful network of paths weaving between all the attractions.

As it was too early in the season to be open yet the mine, cottages, museum and toilets were closed (open every day 1st of April to end September) but that didn't bother us as we were here for the walking possibilities. A steam railway runs every weekend from Easter to September between both villages but a circular path runs from Meadowfoot past Wanlock Dod into Leadhills then returns between Mine Hill and Stake Hill. At around 8 to 12 kilometers, depending on  paths taken, it provides an interesting walk around the area at lower levels through the various passes.

As Alan had never been here before we were more interested this time in climbing the highest hills in the region, Lowther Hill, 725 metres and Green Lowther, 732 metres, the latter seen here. A fresh fall of snow made a stark contrast between winter conditions above and warm spring below. Pleasant green paths are still a feature of Wanlockhead, a sight that used to be common in Scotland but is much rarer now due to increased visitor numbers, hill-walkers and mountain bike use trashing most of them in the last 20 years. Maybe wetter climate conditions have not helped but I've noticed many of my former favourite walks in city parks, rural countryside or on small hills have degenerated into muddy ruts for most of the year when they used to resemble this path in the photo below. 

Grassy path network around Wanlockhead. Hopefully they will still look like this in another 20 years time.

The paths around Wanlockhead village which also boasts the highest pub in Scotland, the second oldest subscription library in the British Isles (beaten by Leadhills which is the oldest recorded, in 1741) for the miners to improve their education and knowledge of the larger world around them.
Even today few trees grow in this pleasant hollow but on really warm summer days (we don't have that many sadly) the sheltering embrace of the surrounding hills and a lack of wind can produce oven like temperatures where it's not difficult to imagine yourself in one of the hotter mining countries like the American old desert states or the greener parts of mining Australia.

For us though the great white golf ball on the summit of Lowther Hill beckoned. This is the Civil Aviation authority radar station tracking aircraft positions over Southern Scotland, Northern England and the edge of Northern Ireland.

A DIY ski tow at a basic level (i.e for locals and guests only) runs a short distance uphill between both summits. For many decades proper ski facilities have been proposed here but a shifting local population (many part time holiday homes in both villages) unreliable snow conditions, or young folk simply leaving to find work elsewhere as they grow up means this never happened on a larger scale. It does have good cross country and downhill skiing potential though with a hardly used tarmac service road across the plateau between both summits providing an easy run away from the bumpy tussocks and gullies.

After a winter without much snowfall it felt really good to be up here, especially on a day of bright sunshine, zero winds and terrific cloud formations in the dazzling skies above.

A view across to Green Lowther.

The snowy plateau between summits.

A cracking day out. Wanlockhead Village from the snow slopes. Very few other walkers or visitors about apart from three cross country skiers and a few low level sightseers in the villages. If you have never been here it's worth a visit. A good half day exploration on low level flat paths or a full day walk with the hills included. A tarmac service road leads to both summits from Wanlockhead so not much navigation required. 6 to 8 hours to see everything on a long hike taking in both high summits and both villages in a circular outing. OS LANDRANGER MAP SHEET 78. Nithsdale and Annandale.

Spring frog selection in local Glasgow ponds. I'm a daddy again to thousands!!!

Froggie went a courting....

More frogs.

Watching me, watching you, ah ha! An Abba moment.

War memorial. Wanlockhead.

A video this week produced by two friends (Brian and Martina) that used to be in our old mountaineering club for many years but have since moved up to the Inverness postal district, beside the coast, and have taken up sea kayaking. A cracking and colourful compilation of their travels around their local district. The Skye segment is the amazing Loch Bracadale and its islands, which gets a full chapter to itself on a much earlier visit decades ago in my comedy/ adventure novel set in Glasgow, Scotland and the greater ranges in Europe.....Autohighography.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Autohighography-Summits-Sinners-Bob-Law-ebook/dp/B00JNAIGAO/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1490015650&sr=1-1&keywords=Autohighography.+Bob+Law.