Area: Southern Uplands, Scotland
A magical early morning outing after parking up at Grey Mare's Tail last night. I decided just to get a few hours sleep in the van and start whenever I woke up, as I had to be back home by late morning. It was a really atmospheric place to spend the night and I woke with the first glimmers of light around 4am, very cold again, a light frost, although not as uncomfortable as last night. I made a coffee by the light of my headtorch, then set off in lots of layers up the well-travelled path up the right-hand side of the steep valley containing the Grey Mare's Tail, which wasn't at its best after all the dry weather. As a result, however, I could cross the stream almost immediately above the waterfall and then ploughed up the open hill towards White Coomb. This is the highest point in this part of the Southern Uplands, and the path does get steep at times after the vague top of Tarnberry. But I got to the summit cairn (light frost) in 45 minutes, just as the sun rose at around 5am, an absolutely spectacular moment. With no need to conserve energy, and a need to get home fairly quickly, this was always intended to be a running circuit, so I was delighted to find perfect terrain, tracks and paths leading over the minor bumps like Firthhope Rig all the way round. The sun gradually rose, casting stunning orange light over every nook and crease in the landscape. Needless to say, I was completely alone. I realised that descending to tranquil Loch Skeen would involve bog trotting, and I'd had enough of that, so I contoured trackless terrain to Mid Craig, a sharper summit which I calculated would have a proper path down to the Loch. It did, and the waters edge was wonderful in the morning light. Then came a comfortable trot down the standard path dropping past the waterfall back to the van. Only 90 minutes, but a memorable run in memorable early morning conditions, and the perfect coda to the trip. An easy drive back via breakfast at Annandale, home well before midday.
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