Blown away by Lethnot gusts
SO then, this year has seen the wettest June on record.
Round here we've escaped the excesses they've suffered in England but we have had weather that has been at once unpredictable and localised.
An outing Bill and I did to the Knowe of Crippley in Glen Mark on June 22 bore witness to this. The Knowe is a hill we've walked past dozens of times, beside the Mt. Keen route, without ever having diverted to go up there. It lies to the left of the path known as The Ladder, beyond the Queen's Well and over a couple of burns.
It was a delightful summer morning as we set off; sun shining and the bell heather bordering the path in early bloom. After a bit of stravaigin' and startling (and being startled by) a couple of grouse that took wing from under our feet, we were soon on the summit rocks.
Peak
A modest peak, at perhaps 650 ft, it's odd how very familiar territory can look like strange country when viewed from a different angle. Up here and to the west you look down into the gorge through which the Water of Mark rushes and tumbles.
Grey clouds appeared overhead, a breeze arose and we donned sweaters. Returning we heard the distant rumble of thunder ahead and the sky turned black. We were back at the vehicle not a moment too soon; thunder, forked lightning and monsoon rain had the roads awash and flooding before we'd travelled five miles.
Curiously though before we were out of the glen the storm abated as quickly as it had started. The roads were bone dry and we were into warm summer sunshine again. They'd had nothing in Brechin.
The weather continued unsettled when the Monday Walkers were out in Lethnot a few days later. It was chillier on this day and we were deeved by intermittent squalls. A particularly savage gust of wind felled me at one point, fortunately into a cushion of soft moss.
Memorial
Our group took a route from Nathro towards the Lodge. Beside the track you pass a memorial to Peter Grant (or Dubrach) "the King's Oldest enemy 1714-1824." This staunch Jacobite, who was a tailor to trade, fought at Culloden in 1745 where he was captured by the redcoats and transported to Carlisle Castle where he was imprisoned. After escaping he was eventually pardoned and awarded a pension by King William IV. He ended his days at nearby Braco.
We had a coffee stop at the Lodge; a building that appears to be in intermittent use. Pellets under the porch beams suggest that owls roost in this lonely spot. We pressed on up Laidlwinley but turned shortly after crossing the burn. We finished our six mile trek somewhat damp but, again, in warm sunshine.
Back to Glenesk the following week we completed a ten miler that few of us had done in its entirety and, yet again, in unreliable weather.
While it was ideal for most of the time, showers did come on and out came the waterproofs, only for them to be removed a couple of minutes later when it faired up.
Starting from Dalhestnie we followed the line of the Northie. Fishermen were out on the south bank and we were buzzed by oyster catchers from time to time; presumably for having strayed too near the family home. We followed a south-westerly course towards the Clash of Wirren along paths not marked on the map.
New Kit
The climbing was gradual. Several of our walkers have now got themselves a new-fangled pocket gadget known as GPS (Global Positioning System).
This piece of kit told us exactly where we were and informed us that we had taken our refreshment stop at a height of 1318 ft precisely. I shouldn't have been too surprised if it also revealed the contents of our lunch boxes. The marvels of modern technology.
The Clash, which we had now joined, was a track used both for transporting illicit whisky and by ministers of the kirk visiting their charges. It joins Glenesk to Lethnot. Up here you pass the remains of a very small stone-built hut, labelled on some maps as Chapman Holm, which suggests that it was used by pedlars who also travelled this route in times long gone.
We dropped down in the Buskhead direction and completed our journey along the Keenie road to the cries of a curlew. (All three walks OS Landranger Sheet 44).
Spare a thought for the lady from Gloucestershire I heard about on the wireless this week. She was awarded second prize in a village cake-baking competition but, and here's the rub, her's was the sole entry.
It appears that her sponge was deemed by the judges not to merit the winner's riband. A case of damning with faint praise perhaps?
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Weather for Brechin
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 1 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 25 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 3 C to 4 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: South west
