ADRC to Wanlockhead Hills June 2011

Remains of the old narrow gauge railway.

Entrance to one of the old mines.

Walkers enjoying their lunch

Wanlockhead Beam Engine.

Information on engine.

Today's walkers

As previously blogged today was ADRC outing to Wanlockhead. 17 walkers arrived in the village to thick mist and murky conditions. We all agreed that it will not last beyond midday and the sun would appear. Well read on.First of all we had to introduce the safety rules for walking in conditions such as today. Our walk leader insisted we all stay in sight of each  other and the back marker was to blow her whistle in the event of losing touch with the main group.Off we went first of all up Black Hill (550M) onto Stood Hill (587M) and to be perfectly honest due to the mist we could have been "stood" on any hill you could only see for a few yards. Undeterred we made our way down a very steep slope and prior to climbing up to Willowgram Hill (515M)we stopped for a coffee break . Serious climb and we were on the summit thanks to a fence which we all used as a navigation aide. From here it was a fairly wet boggy walk for 2 miles until we reached the Southern Upland Way and thanks to a GPS we did not make a wrong turning as at this point it was a little confusing which direction we should be heading. Once down to the forest this confirmed we were indeed on the right trail and  stopped for lunch at a ruined cottage. The rest of the SUW took us back to the old disused lead mines and then it was a hard road walk back to the start passing the famous Wanlockhead Beam Engine on the way. Built in the mid 19th century it is the only one of it's kind remaining in the UK.Back at the start several of the walkers made use of the excellent facillities provided for walkers and then adjourned to the tearoom for a welcome cuppa. Sorry for the lack of photographs but the conditions did not allow for anything worthwhile. Everybody said they enjoyed the walk as it was different than a lot of them had experienced and our walk leader who was so aplogetic for the poor day has promised to put the walk on again in next summers programme but was still trying to figure out when that would be. One footnote bearing in mind this is the month of June and we are in the week of the longest day as we were approching our starting point the street lights came on,they work on a  sensor system and  lit up  at 2.20PM.Now we think that is a record that would be hard to beat!