Clerkhill to Raeburnside

We started early today as rain is forecast for the afternoon. The starting point was Eskdalemuir Kirk and here are Peter & John inspecting a memorial to a former minister. 

The first part of the walk we followed the Clerkhills Burn and as we reached Windshield Rig we saw a huge number of Deer on the hillside next to the forest. They appeared to be one Stag and a huge following of his females. There are about 10 or 12 in this photo but there were a good few more lower down in the valley.

Here you can see the Stag surrounded by his females. I have never seen as many Deer together in our area before. 

It is 4 years since I last walked this route and since then a new fence has been put up so this diverted us from the route we intended to take and we had to climb up to the ridge and then follow the fence until we reached the summit Wisp Hill. I am not a lover of Barbed Wire Fences and the people who put them up should place stiles at certain points to allow walkers better access. 

We dropped back down to Raeburnside which is a very remote place to live with a very bad road leading to it.  

This is the White Esk as we approach the village of Eskdalemuir 

Eskdalemuir Kirk

Our route today. we finished our walk before the rain and then headed to The Eskdalemuir Hub for lunch where we were the only customers. This will be John's last walk for 3 weeks as he soon heads of to USA for an Eastern Seaboard Cruise to celebrate his 70th Birthday.