Monday 27 January 2020

Traprain Law - Treasure

Right in the heart of East Lothian, rising steeply from the rolling farmland around it, is a fascinating lump of volcanic rock called Traprain Law. Like so many of these isolated, small hills, it held great significance for ancient people and has a colourful history. It’s believed that it was occupied as far back as the Bronze Age in 1500BC and it’s known that bronze tools were made here. According to an ancient transcript, King Loth ruled from Traprain Law in 528 and gave his name to the region we know today as Lothian. Around the time of the Roman invasion into Scotland in 80AD, a tribe called the Votadini centred their kingdom around Traprain Law and traded with the Romans until they eventually withdrew south. Nearly 2,000 years later in 1919, archaeologists discovered a hidden treasure of Roman silver on the Law. Weighing in at 24kg, it was the largest hoard ever found of late Roman “hack silver”, meaning that it had been cut up into small pieces. 


My friend Graham and I recently headed out by bike to explore Traprain Law. Our own treasure was a beautiful winter’s day for our trip. We started out by cycling along the Longniddry to Haddington railway path. This is one of my favourite places to cycle. It’s wrapped up in dense hedgerows as it cuts a line across the countryside so that the rest of the world seems far away. Birds flit around the bushes and in autumn it’s a blaze of red from the hawthorn berries. This morning the low winter sun struggled to clear the hedgerows so that the verges were frosted silver and the trees backlit with white gold.


As we cycled over the pretty arches of Nungate Bridge in Haddington, the scene before us was quite beautiful. The old church hugged a bend in the river above which hung a delicate veil of mist. Everything sparkled in a thick layer of frost. Traprain Law had been in our sights as we approached Haddington but as we cycled out the other side of town, it seemed now to mysteriously disappear. A strange trick of the landscape that had me check the map. Eventually it popped up again in front of us and a stiff pull had us at the bottom of the Law’s footpath. We chained up the bikes and started to climb the steep, northern slopes.


The Law is only 221m high so it wasn’t long before we were striding across the flat summit. What a place to be on that clear, crisp day. To the south the Lammermuirs quickly crowded the view while to the west, the Pentland Hills stretched to the horizon. Looking east the land quickly gave way to the blue waters of the North Sea and we could even see the squat shape of the Isle of May. But mostly the eye was drawn north across the Firth of Forth to Fife, dominated by the twin peaks of the Lomond Hills. How marvellous to think that 2,000 years ago King Loth would have stood here and looked across the water to the same view. The hills are so timeless and appear so permanent in our own short lives.

We picnicked behind a boulder, out of the chill wind, then walked down to our bikes to cycle back the way we had come. When we pulled in again to Haddington, the sun had mustered a hint of warmth that had chased away the frost and the mist. We sat outside with coffee and watched the river meander slowly under the bridge, carrying mallards and goosanders downstream as if on an underwater conveyer belt.


By the time we were cycling back along the old railway path, the sun was already low again, bringing back the morning chill and cross-hatching our trail with beams of gold.

Fact File
Start/finish: Longniddry train station
Public transport: Took the folding bikes on the North Berwick train, getting off at Longniddry.
My route: Exited right out of the station and immediately followed signs for NCN76 under the railway. The section to Haddington is traffic free though the surface is soft in places so best for trail/mountain bikes. Continued to follow the NCN signs through Haddington and out the other side. Just over 4km after the outskirts of Haddington, the road splits - the cycle route goes left, but stay right up the hill towards Traprain Law. We used the first access point at the top of the road where an obvious path climbs to the top of the hill. Back the same way.
Info: Waterside Bar beside Nungate Bridge is a nice place to sit by the river with a hot drink.


Saturday 18 January 2020

Roslin Glen - Gunpowder, season and grot

The name Roslin is probably known to most people because of the famous Rosslyn Chapel but tucked away behind the chapel is a wonderful wooded glen. Combining a walk here with another loop towards Bilston created a great, figure-of-eight walk with Roslin at the centre and lots of interesting sights on the way round. My friend Graham and I headed there for a walk during the festive season.

Once off the bus we headed towards the chapel but turned off just before to head down into the glen by an old lane alongside the cemetery. Mosses and lichens covered the walls and the jaunty-angled gravestones, adding splashes of colour to the plain winter palette. Soon we were in the glen itself, a steep-sided, wooded dip cut out over the millenia by the waters of the River North Esk. Our path meandered upriver, initially high above the water but latterly dropping to be right beside it.


Walking signs had been promising us old gunpowder mills and sure enough, the ruins eventually appeared through the trees. The mills operated between 1803 and 1954, providing gunpowder for military and mining purposes. Incredibly, the company that operated the mills became ICI, the global chemicals giant. The ruins were a real treat because we could still see the building that had housed the waterwheel and the lade that had diverted water from the river to power it. Despite the explosive history of the mills, the ruins were now a peaceful place being gradually reclaimed by nature.


Beyond the mills we joined the old railway line that once ran between Edinburgh and Peebles and has now been repurposed as a walking and cycling route. It took us back in the direction of Roslin. With a bit of zig-zagging we found ourselves back in Roslin Glen where the path passed by Roslin Castle. The castle occupies a high, rocky promontory in the glen which has been the site of a fortification since the early 14th century. We walked across the old arched bridge which gives access to the castle and were amazed to find that not only is a large part of it still habitable but that somebody was even at home!


We returned to the village green for a picnic lunch. It’s always nice being in different places during the festive season to enjoy the variety of Christmas lights and decorations. Roslin Inn, an old coaching inn overlooking the green, is the village’s centrepiece and was adorned with luxurious festive wreaths. 


After lunch, we headed out towards Bilston, passing the memorial to the Battle of Roslin in 1303. It commemorates a Scottish victory in the First War of Scottish Independence. Beyond here the views opened up to the Pentland Hills to the north as we found ourselves on another section of the old railway line. The impressive Bilston Viaduct took our route high above the cut of Bilston Glen before we turned off north. Here we walked through disused railway sidings which had grown up with dense birch over the years. It was a beautiful place and a little bit of wildness tucked away behind the city’s outlying towns.


We looped back to Roslin by passing to the north of Dryden Tower, built as a folly by the owner of Dryden House. It’s a shame we couldn’t go up because the views would have been superb on the crisp, clear day we were there. While the tower still stands tall and handsome, there is nothing left of the house which fell into ruin and was then obliterated by Bilston Colliery. Our walking route here had linked together rural paths and farm tracks that took us across fields and through woods. It was very pleasant but it was also very muddy with that squelchy, claggy mud that clings in great lumps to your boots. So, despite our best efforts to remove the mud with long grass and twigs, by the time we were walking back into Roslin, we were both pretty grotty. We skipped a visit to the tearoom in the interests of not trailing all the mud in!



On the journey home on the bus, I mused on what a fascinating little walk it had been and would definitely recommend it. But if you should do it in winter then ... remember, remember the filth of December ... and take wellies.

Fact File
More photos on Flickr: click HERE
Start/finish: Roslin
Public transport: Lothian Buses no 37 from Edinburgh city centre
My route: Off the bus walked towards the chapel but immediately after the car park on the right, a lane heads downhill to the right. Followed this path until we came to a road, turned left and picked a path again which led onto the mills. At the mills crossed the bridge over the river and over a rise joined the old railway line. Turned left and followed it to the old Rosslyn Castle station. Took a footpath to the left which emerged onto a quiet back road. Turned right then left at the next junction which leads to a path back into the glen. It passed the castle and emerged back at the chapel. For the Bilston loop, we headed east along Manse Road in front of the inn, turned left after the viaduct and then followed footpath signs back to Roslin.

Thursday 2 January 2020

Perthshire - Obney overnighter

When I got home from a wee trip in the Obney Hills and posted pictures on Facebook, several people commented that they had no idea where the Obney Hills were. And to be honest, if I’d not been staring at them on my Ordnance Survey map for a few weeks, I wouldn’t have known either. A cluster of small but well-defined little hills, they occupy the land to the west of Birnam Hill in Perthshire. On the map their tops of tight contours looked appealing as did an inviting path that cut right though the middle of their rocky outcrops. So, the rucksack was packed and a train ticket to Dunkeld booked.

On a freezing, winter afternoon, I set out from the train station up Birnam Hill. With a heavy winter pack and having climbed it several times before, I’d not planned to walk over Birnam Hill. But a line closure had delayed my train, leaving only three hours of light in the December day. So up and over the hill was the quickest route. It worked out well. The wooded slopes had a smattering of snow illuminated by golden beams from the low afternoon sun. Also, late in the day, I had the whole place to myself.


Once over the top, I left the path and picked my way down the hill through rugged woods and crags. It felt secretive here, as if nobody else had ever walked this way, and the thin covering of snow under the trees was untouched, save for a few animal tracks. This steep-sided descent levelled out at a small bealach before the land crumpled up again to become the Obney Hills. With a bit of hunting around, I found a small stream for water and a slate mound that provided a pitch for the tent. It didn’t hold the tent pegs very tightly though and I hoped the wind wouldn’t get up later. It didn’t and it was a beautiful, calm evening with a golden moon and a scatter of stars.


It was still calm next morning as I unzipped the tent to a couple of inches of fresh snow. I didn’t linger long in my sleeping bag but set off up Craig Obney. It was hard work in deep heather with a covering of snow but my efforts were rewarded as the sun cleared the surrounding hills. The landscape was transformed in the peachy, morning light which picked out the snow-covered tops of the bigger Perthshire hills. Down below, the fields lay under the finest veil of mist. 



I soaked it all in then continued up on a mix of pathless terrain, vague track and finally a firm little path that took me to the top of the hill. The sun had disappeared behind cloud again so the landscape was now monochrome. Piling in from the west was another weather front and no sooner had I taken a couple of snaps at the top, than it was upon me. Big, fluffy flakes of snow engulfed the place and the cloud dropped below the tops of even these small hills. 


I descended to pick up the footpath in Glenn Garr, the place that had looked so inviting on the map. I wasn’t disappointed. The glen that day was a winter wonderland and my own private Narnia. The bare birch trees looked so beautiful dressed in snow as the path, clearly an ancient route, meandered through the winter woods. At one point it was a shelf cut into the steep hillside and looked down on snow-covered pastures where two roe deer bounded across the fields. 


I walked a while south, not with any intent other than to enjoy the place, before turning north again for my onward route. Gradually, I left the winter woods behind as the path entered a patchwork of fields, the snow-covered ground dissected by the black lines of stock walls. It was all so cold and bleak which I love. Crossing a main road pulled me briefly out of my magical, winter world and here were also the first people I’d seen since leaving the station the day before. But the magic quickly returned as I picked up a series of woodland paths by the roaring, peaty waters of the aptly named Rumbling Bridge. 


The trail meandered down through the gorge of the Hermitage, at times clear and earthy where the snow hadn’t penetrated the pine trees but where there were bare, deciduous trees, these and the path were again plastered with snow. My route returned to civilisation at the pretty cottages of Inver. In the half dark afternoon, brightly coloured Christmas lights twinkled where people had hung them along fences or wrapped them around trees. The cosiness and colour were a contrast to the monochrome bleakness of the hills I’d just left.

Fact File
More photos on Flickr - click HERE
Start/finish: Dunkeld and Birnam train station
Public transport: Edinburgh/Glasgow trains to Inverness
My route: Out of the station, turned left at the bottom of the steps. Just after cottages the path up Birnam Hill leaves to the left. Descended a little way on the far side then left the path to descend south. There’s a bealach between Birnam Hill and the Obney Hills which only just worked as a decent camp spot. Next day continued southwest to top of Craig Obney. No path initially then bits of a track and then a good path on the final steep section. Descended northwest to pick up the path through Glen Garr. After a walk through the glen, walked north – track comes out on A822 and immediately opposite is a path through the trees to Rumbling Bridge. So no need to walk on the road. Crossed the bridge then turned right to follow paths through the Hermitage and onto Inver and Dunkeld.