A Walk from The Beef Tub to Moffat

John was staying in Moffat for a week so he could regularly visit his mum in the home in Moffat so he fixed up a walk from The Devil's Beef Tub to Moffat and the advantage of this was it was all downhill. We like downhill. There were 7 walkers plus Sandria who was shaking off the effects of a virus but joined us after for a meal and had prepared excellent Bacon Rolls and Coffee when we arrived. 

Although the walk was nearly all downhill we started with a short climb from the Edinburgh road

It was a bit gloomy and very cold

Looking out onto the Devil's Beef Tub

John with the 2 ladies in the party Elizabeth and Anne. At the start of the walk in Moffat John was interviewed for C4 News and he featured in the 7.00pm News tonight. 

Tom with his famous Tea Cosy Hats

This beautiful Sheep was very interested in us going past its field

The route was the Annandale Way but it was a long time before we hit the river Annan

The last half mile of the walk into Moffat beside the river Annan. A most enjoyable walk in excellent company followed by a nice meal back in Moffat.

A Bleak Day in Wanlockhead

John was staying in Moffat this week in a holiday cottage so he can visit his mum in her Care Home on a daily basis. We picked him up in Moffat and headed off to Leadhills for our walk to Wanlockhead and back. Our intention was to walk along the railway line for the first half of the walk and then go along part of the Southern Upland Way and an old trail back to Leadhills. Unfortunately the weather was pretty bad with low cloud and high winds so we decided to just come back more or less the same way we had gone to avoid going into the hills. This is the start of the walk at Leadhills Station.

The line out of the station 

This small station near Wanlockhead is as far as the narrow gauge line goes. It hopefully will eventually get as far as Wanlockhead. This station is the highest in Britain at almost 1500ft. 

This was Wanlockhead in the mist

This is the old Bowling Green which looks as if it has not been played on for a few years.

As we walked into Wanlockhead we noticed what we thought was razor wire round all the street lights, but on closer inspection we realised that they were Christmas Lights 

At the Visitor Centred we noticed these tubs and our guess was that they are used to assist people when they pan for gold next to the burn that runs beside the Centre. 

This small glen next to the Visitor Centre has been developed as a lovely walkway. 

Looking down the glen from the top looking towards the Visitor Centre 

On our way home we noticed this brand new Power Sub Station which has recently been built to handle the Electricity from the many Wind Turbines in the area. We headed back to Moffat for a nice lunch in the Balmoral and dropped John back at his holiday cottage

A Get Together in Moffat

This was not really a Birthday Walk, although John has recently had a birthday so it was a get together for him and also to say goodbye to Niall & Elspeth as they will be heading back to Australia soon. It seems no time since they arrived in April and what a summer they have had. Moffat was the ideal destination as it is just under an hour's journey for everybody including Peter and Elizabeth who now live near Carlisle. Gaye joined us as well but she did not walk but enjoyed the shops in Moffat.  

Peter and Ken almost always bring up the rear as they are in deep conversation, mostly about politics during the walk and Ken finds it difficult to talk and walk at the same time. Peter has no problem talking and walking at the same time, but being a gentleman he keeps the same pace as Ken.

A large field above Moffat. we crossed to the other side of the valley and climbed higher for a bit but not to the top of the hill on the right. 

Starting to climb to about 1000ft. Tom bringing up the rear. 

Almost there 

This is the Moffat Well on a burn called Birnock Water. This is the reason Moffat became a Spa Town. In 1769 a local Physician Dr. Hunter improved the access road to this well and was then able to charge visitors who came to take the waters. In 1878 a Hydropathic Hotel (Hydro) was built in Moffat. It had 175 bedrooms but unfortunately it was destroyed by fire in 1921. Sorry for the poor photo but it was very dark and its a good job you cannot smell the photo as the stink of sulphur was very strong. 

The view over Moffat on the last leg of our walk. We walked 5.5 miles and then enjoyed a lovely light lunch in Brodie's

This is the map of our route which was slightly longer than shown as my lines on the map were a bit too straight.