Читать книгу Walking in the Southern Uplands. 44 best hill days in southern Scotland онлайн

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A peaty path forms in the little pass and leads down just west of south, with a small stream on its left, to reach the reed-infested western corner of Loch Neldricken, known as the Murder Hole.

Like Doone valley on Exmoor, the Murder Hole is a fictional place that has made it onto modern maps. In The Raiders by SR Crockett, the evil Macaterick bandits murdered passing hill-walkers for our sandwich snacks then trampled our bodies into the bog. Old postcards show it as an oval enclosure quite separate from the main lake.

Once past the soggy hollow put to such grim use by the fictitious (but very vicious) Macaterick clan, the path bends southeast across a flank of Meaul to reach the corner of Loch Valley. It runs along the loch’s western end, then down beside its outflow, the Gairland Burn. The path here can become very soggy; an alternative path is to the left of the stream.

After 1km down the high hidden valley, the path contours out to the right – a ‘seat stone’ is alongside the stream here. The path, of peat puddles and tall rounded boulders, is tiring in descent. After passing behind a knoll there’s a view of Loch Trool ahead, and the path slants down through bracken to the track running through the woods beside the loch.