Moniaive and Bardennoch Hill Walk

Rob and I are just back from a beautiful (if rather taxing!) walk.

It is found on P88 of this book:-

The book claims that it is a 7.5km walk, but our sat nav tracker made it over 10km, so be warned that it will take more than the two hours stated.

Here are two photos Rob took, of the old School Master's House in Moniaive and a cockerell and young chick that we saw on our walk.

 

The walk takes you out of the picturesque village of Moniaive, up through woodland and over two hills (Bardennoch), back down, skirting some more forest, through farmland and back to a single track road which leads back to Moniaive. There are several steep slopes to negotiate (going up Bardennoch Hill and again when you reach the single track road), but some beautiful views of green fields, trees, hedgerows, streams and the occasional farm building or folly. (See photo collage below. Click for a larger image.)

 The weather was lovely - lots of sun early on, with some white clouds appearing to give some dappled shade later in the walk.

The Green Tea House was our lunch venue, where we ate:- lentil & tomato soup, followed by mango meringue (me) and goats' cheese quiche, potato wedges & salad, followed by pecan tart (Rob). We both had coffee and a cold drink. The bill came to £24.20. The coffee and other drinks were good; the food was quite nice, and the cafe is certainly more spacious than at its old location, with outdoor seating, too.

Our Neighbour's Beautiful Mercedes SLK

Here is a photo that our friend, Neil, took of his classic car: a Mercedes SLK.

Walk Near Kirtlebridge

Rob and I went on a three mile circular walk from our house, down towards the village of Kirtlebridge, back along the B7076 towards Kirkpatrick Flemming, turning off at the Robgill Bridge turning and back up to our house. The verges were alive with birds, especially young fledgelings, and packed with flowers. We try to allow as many wild flowers as possible to grow in our garden, so it is interesting to see what grows well locally.

Here are some of the plants we saw on our walk (including chive flowers in our garden!). (Click on any of the photos to see a larger version.)

Rob took this photo of the Burnswark Hillfort that we can see from our road. It is a late Iron Age fort, later used by the Romans in the 2nd Century.

This is Robgill Tower: (it's up for sale if you have a spare £2,250,000.00!).

A view of Kirtle Water taken from Robgill Bridge, with Robgill Tower in the background.