Area: Moffat Hills, Southern Uplands
My original plan had been to combine the cross-country champs with a few mountains in the Arrochar Alps. However, Kate agreed to join me for the long weekend so it seemed inefficient to head north this morning, despite perfect November weather - hard frost, crystal clear initially. Instead, we headed south from Govan and branched off at the time-honoured halt of Moffat. Despite numerous visits over the years, I'd never actually done Hart Fell. So Kate dropped me off at Capplegill (a four house hamlet) and after some deliberation I found the 'route', a tiny path up the very steep hillside adjacent to steep Hang Gill (all the names in these parts have much in common with northern England). A sustained and very steep climb led to an easing but then horrible tussocks and bog slowed progress again, all quite tiring after yesterday's race, at which I had obviously put in a big effort! Finally, at the plateau of Swarte Fell, everything improves dramatically. Superb views down to the deep Blackhope valley, very steep on this side (crags even). On the other side rises Saddle Yoke, with mist curling over its summit and that of White Coomb beyond. At the head of the valley Hart Fell looked quite distant and I wasn't sure if I would make it in the time I had (90 minutes!) while Kate went shopping in Moffat. I ran across the plateau, sticking to the edge where I could, then comes an easy climb over Falcon Craig (it is spelled like that). From here, Blackhope gives way to a shallower upper cwm (Cold Grain) below a broad col (the intriguingly named 'Hass o' the Red Roads'). From the col a final steep climb leads to the true Hart Fell 'summit', a vague highpoint clearly above the trig to the north. Hart Fell is a giant whaleback essentially, but I had nice views of the Lowther Hills and Solway Firth. The sun came out and the views improved further as I hobbled through the tussocks on untravelled and pathless terrain down Cold Grain (the upper cwm) to the top of Blackhope. This was all rather splendid, excellent scenery, surprisingly wild for these hills, even mildly dramatic in places with craggy hillsides and plummeting rivulets. It would have been nice to complete the Blackhope horseshoe (which looked excellent) but I didn't have time so made a beeline for the track that I had spied from above. On gaining this, good running led all the way back to Capplegill and I made up for lost time (although it still took 1.45 for the 12k/760m route so I was slightly late).
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