Walking in Leadhills & Wanlockhead

Another Wednesday so another walk and this week the four of us headed to Leadhills and Wanlockhead which are the highest villages in Scotland with Wanlockhead claiming it is the highest in Great Britain at 1531ft. As usual Bowman the dog lead the way and having just been clipped for the summer he was in great form and loved every minute of his 5 mile walk. I forgot to take my camera last Wednesday but we had an excellent 11 mile walk at Kielder. 

The village of Wanlockhead which has a population of 158. There is a superb Museum of Lead Mining called Hidden Treasures in the village and also linked to the museum is the Miners Library formed in 1756 and it is the second oldest Subscription Library in Europe with the oldest being in the adjoining village of Leadhills. For further information please look at the website http://www.leadminingmuseum.co.uk/library.shtml

The return walk from Wanlockhead was much easier than the outward walk where at one point we reached almost 2000ft. We headed back along the old railway line which for part of the way is now a narrow guage railway and at 1498ft above sea level is the highest adhesion railway in Britain. The railway is open at weekend during the summer and is a very pleasant journey for about a mile along the valley between the two villages.

The only reason for showing these daffodils is to illustrate the difference in climate in Leadhills as these Daffodils are just coming into bloom while most of them in Langholm and elswhere are now finished or just about at the end of their bloom.