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

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The land is home to grey mists, black peat and a herd of shaggy mountain goats, as well as the Murder Hole at the end of Loch Neldricken. There could have been an even more murderous hole in the middle of Mullwarchar, where it was planned to deposit nuclear waste hoping protesters wouldn’t even be able to pronounce it. The Devil’s Bowling Green, with balls as big as sheep, is a ‘green’ that’s actually granite. And there’s a special secret – high, wild Loch Enoch has an island, and that island itself contains a very small loch.

As the clouds descend onto the peaty holes and the rock slabs, in no time at all you’re a lost walker. A lost walker within a (misty) mystery, wrapped within a secret, inside 30km of lochans and bog...

Continue up the road beyond the lower car park for 10 metres, then take a small informal path through woods on its right. After 150 metres this arrives at Bruce’s Stone, perched high above Loch Trool.

Keep ahead towards the loch head to find a small descending path where the peat is eroded down to bare rock. It joins a track descending from the car park to cross a bridge over Buchan Burn, then pass Buchan house. After 250 metres take a field gate on the left, with a signboard for Loch Valley, for the start of a rough path.