Grey Mare's Tail and White Combe

Saturday 25th May 2024

My Scotland holiday this year saw a lot of changes during the planning, which began while I was walking across the Southern Uplands last year from Portpatrick on the west coast of Scotland all the way across the country to Cockburnspath on the east coast. This took me through an area I'd never walked in before and in fact is an area that is ignored by most people as they rush north towards the Highlands. I was particularly impressed with the area around the town of Moffat so I was soon making plans to return with my car, initially at Easter and then I realised it would be even better if I spent a few days in Moffat on my way to the Highlands at the end of May. However, as my plans for the Highlands of Scotland developed they took over the holiday with a long distance trail that I couldn’t do while taking my car, so the Southern Uplands was dropped from the plan. But then at Easter this year I had a bad experience while camping in Dartmoor that led me to rethink my plans for this year and the Southern Uplands was back on the schedule as I reverted to my original plan for this holiday and I was more than happy about that.

First thing in the morning I drove up the M6 motorway past the Howgill Fells where I had been just a few weeks earlier and at the next impressive range of mountains I turned off to pass through the town of Moffat and up the road that passes below the mountains that look down on Moffat Dale. At the National Trust for Scotland car park I stopped at the foot of Grey Mare's Tail, which is a common name for a waterfall in Scotland with two passed by on the West Highland Way, one in Glen Falloch and another above Kinlochleven, but the one in Moffat Dale is the tallest and most famous. After a frustratingly long time getting myself ready I finally set off along the path that soon brought me over the Tail Burn where I had a restricted view of Grey Mare's Tail in the distance. The path continued by climbing steeply up the northern bank where I was afforded with better views of the waterfall before reaching the stream above the falls. The cloudless skies that had accompanied me during my drive north were now long gone but occasional breaks in the clouds enabled me to take some pictures of my surroundings while a brisk wind coming off the hills kept me cool.

Loch Skeen appeared suddenly after a turn in the Tail Burn revealing a tremendous scene of the lake surrounded by mountains that had drawn many people up the path past the falls to survey this wondrous scene. The manufactured path continued briefly beside the loch before fading with several narrow paths heading up into the heather, one of which I eagerly took to climb above Loch Skeen, but the path soon disappeared to leave me floundering in the heather. On a shallow rise I came across a clear path heading north that followed the top of a ridge called the Causey and provided me with a good route across the peat except when it descended into the morass in the col between Watch Knowe and Loch Craig. The route I had downloaded on the OS Map app included diversions to all the tops in the area, including Watch Knowe, but with no path there and almost a reversal of my steps back it was soon clear to me that this was a waste of effort and distracted my attention from the awesome views across Loch Skeen and towards White Combe.

A fence came alongside me on the low ridge but left me to find my own way across the peat bogs that blocked my way in the col and was still there on the other side when I rejoined it to continue heading uphill veering right around Loch Craig before the gradient steepened. Above Loch Craig I found an elegant cairn, but it was so windy at that point I turned around and headed north across the fence to reach the actual highest point on Lochcraig Head, just over eight hundred metres above sea level, although no cairn marked the spot. Lochcraig Head is not classed as a Corbett because the col to White Combe is not deep enough, but it is deep enough to be a wearisome descent and reascent as I crossed the grassy slopes over the saddle and back up the other side to Firthybrig Head. From this point I had a relaxing stroll in mixed sunshine with little change in the gradient on firm grass past the imperceptible rise of Donald's Cleuch Head and up to Firthhope Rig. The route I had downloaded from the OS Map app would have had me branching off to bag Mid Craig and Great Hill but I had learnt my lesson by this point and kept to the top of the ridge which provided me with a relaxing walk.

Just before I reached the top of Firthhope Rig I turned left at a fence junction to cross a broad saddle and up to the top of White Combe, the highest point in the Moffat Hills. The flat top restricted my views so I wandered around to get a better look at the surrounding hills and across Moffat Dale, but it was so windy I soon made my way back to the summit cairn and from there I made my way down beside a broken wall over Rough Crags and back to the Tail Burn. After a tricky crossing I was back on the tourist-filled path to the car park where a glorious descent in sunny weather enabled me to better appreciate the waterfalls than in the morning during my ascent when it had been cloudy. It was great to climb a mountain again and especially to have the opportunity to do so on the first day of my holiday in Scotland which is usually taken up with travelling up there. It is a shame I downloaded the wrong route onto the OS Map app as the route I actually did matched the one in the Cicerone guide. The weather was mixed with variable sunshine and strong winds but it was great compared with the rest of the holiday and made for a good walk.