The Duchess's Drive Walk at Bowhill

It was only Tom, John, and myself today as the rest of the gang were otherwise engaged. The weather was not as good as it has been over Easter but it was dry and almost warm except on the top of the hills. John arrived from Edinburgh and Tom and I arrived at Bowhill at almost the same time. The Duchess's Drive is a 7 mile walk round Newark Hill. It follows the route of a Victorian Carriage Drive and is therefore an easy track underfoot and a gradual climb to almost 1600ft. 

The route up the hill is a gradual climb and therefore fairly easy for old men 

This stone seat is carved with the letters BQ which stand for The Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry, owner of the estate. Its a nice place to stop for a short rest.

We soon leave the forest and head onto open hillside with this photo taken looking back to the way we had come.

As we got higher the visibility was not as good. These are stone Grouse shooting buts on the side of the road looking over the moor. The last time we walked this route over 4 years ago there were loads of Grouse about but today we only saw one bird.

Tom has a practice shoot

Gaining height with plenty of Heather. We saw no Raptors unlike the Langholm Moor where there is always a good few Raptors at this time of the year. This of course is still a working Grouse Moor unlike Langholm which has not been shot for over 20 years. 

Plenty of good Heather

On our way down the other side of Newark Hill we stopped for a snack and just as we set of on our walk again we had a RAF Hercules Cargo plane fly past below us. 

The Hercules flying below us and just as Tom had stopped for a pee. There is no privacy these days.  

On the last leg of the walk we pass Newark Tower, built in 1423. In the Covenanter's Wars, 100 prisoners were slaughtered in the courtyard  

The Tower is all closed up now and I am delighted to see the it is the nesting place each year for a family of Barn Owls 

There are some lovely cottages in the grounds of Bowhill Estate 

Bowhill House

Our walk took just over 3 hours and we had completed 7.25 miles and climbed over 1300 ft.