Southern Upland Way: St Mary’s Loch

Monday 29th May 2023

After a night at the Over Phawhope Bothy I set off along the upper Ettrick Valley for a long walk along the road. Despite the tedium, I had a very relaxing walk with hardly any changes in the gradient while the sun shone brightly overhead and the only traffic was a timber truck. After an hour and a half I came to a sign that proclaimed that I was finally turning off the road and up grassy slopes away from the cranesbill geraniums that were decorating the roadside at that point and up into the hills north of the Ettrick Valley. After an initial steep climb through the first field, a gentle ascent beside the Scabcleuch Burn took me up and over the pass across the eastern slopes of Peniestone Knowe. At the end of the ridge, Pikestone Rig, I descended steeply to the ruin of Riskinhope Hope where I stopped for lunch in this tranquil and isolated place before climbing again, beside Kye Sike and around Earl’s Hill. On reaching a forestry track I followed it out of the plantation and down the hill towards St Mary’s Loch where there were stunning views and across its neighbour, the Loch of the Lowes, which arguably has better surroundings as the Ettrick and Moffat Hills extend all the way down to the shores of the loch, though the northern shore was marred by a felled conifer plantation.

After the restricted views while climbing over the hills it was great to enjoy the surroundings beside the western end of St Mary’s Loch, so to prolong my stay I decided to get something to eat and drink in the Glen Café. The car park nearby was packed, with many people venturing out onto the loch on paddle boards or kayaks, and with some were just sitting out in the sun. I was happy for some shelter from the sun so I stayed inside the café and enjoyed a lovely cup of tea, something to eat and a rest. Eventually I set off past the tourists and through Tibbie Shiels Campsite to St Mary’s Loch where I found a wonderful footpath lined with tormentil and bugle which took me beside the loch and through delightful March Wood before entering denser woodland. Eventually the lovely path joined a tedious forestry track and this took me to the eastern end of the loch where I crossed the Yarrow Water and climbed past farmland into the Manor Hills. While the views at this end of St Mary’s Loch did not seem as dramatic as those at the other end, they still provided me with enjoyable walking across grassy hills with views down the Douglas Burn, which was decorated with gorse.

The path led me into the narrow dell of the Hawkshaw Cleuch, which was richly filled with trees, but short lived and soon I was back out onto a grassy hillside and slowly descending to the Douglas Burn. After crossing the river and passing some houses I entered Craig Douglas Forest, a conifer plantation, and began to climb up the hill while thinking about where I was going to stop for the night. A forestry track didn’t provide me with anywhere to stop as the ground was too stony so I continued to climb and eventually emerged from the plantation. Before me was a broad, open, grassy hillside with many sheep and nowhere to camp, so eventually I decided to turn around and put up my tent just into Craig Douglas Forest, beside the wall. This was a curious day as evidenced by this relatively short blog entry. When reflecting on the walk at the end of the day, I described it as perfunctory as there was little to interest me as I simply covered the miles, though the highlight was clearly St Mary’s Loch, which was a very popular area particularly beside the café. Other than the walk around St Mary’s Loch, the rest of the day was dull as I started to count down the days to the end of the walk.