Markinch Circular - 04/02/2020

Today's walk was a bonus as I had been due to have lunch with a friend and it had been called off at the last minute, which gave me most of a day free. I love the sort of day when I have absolutely no time constraints and can walk for as long as I like without worrying about getting back for anything. Those are my favourite days, but I don't mind having things to look forward to either. Today I was visiting dad in the afternoon, which meant I had until about 3 pm free.

I chose somewhere vaguely on route to Perth with lots of 'blank' squares (unvisited ones). That's how I happened upon Markinch. Why else?!

I parked at Balbirnie Park and my first task was to buy batteries for my GPS as they were low. Once that was done I could relax into my walk. I passed the railway station, which made a good subject for my first square.

Markinch Railway Station. NO2901

Entering Markinch from the east. NO2901

I was glad to see a pavement heading eastwards along my route as this turned out to be a busier road than I'd expected. I dipped into St Drostan's  cemetery for some respite from the traffic, which also happened to be in the next gridsquare.

St Drostan's Cemetery, Markinch. NO3001

There is a nice old sign on the gate here.

The public are requested not to . . . . notice at St Drostan's Cemetery, Markinch. NO3001

For future reference it is possible to walk parallel to the road through the cemetery, which makes for a less stressful walk. As it was, I returned to the road, glad of the pavement and continued to Ballfield where the road turns sharply to the right and I headed straight on.

The Mires. NO3101.

So far I had seen two benchmarks and was feeling quite chuffed about that, but in case you're thinking this sounds a nice walk so far, I'll show you where I was walking.

Road east from Markinch. NO3101

At Bellfield, I stopped to speak to a lady who was visiting the farm there. We merely passed the time of day.

Track at Bellfield. NO3201

Pink-footed Geese at Bellfield. NO3301

Originally, I was going to head north to Treaton, but a footpath sign pointed towards Balcurvie and I thought, "Why not?" I would gain two extra gridsquares by doing so, so it was a no-brainer really. I love these spontaneous moments. It's one of the benefits of walking alone; no need to turn to your companion and wonder whether they're thinking the same thing or, whether, if you asked, they'd agree simply to please you, but secretly wishing you'd not asked. Yes, there are some benefits to walking alone.

I paused at a rock at Markinch burn to have a cup of tea, then it was onwards and slightly upwards to Newton Hall, where, unsure whether I could roam through the grounds or not, I stuck to the obvious footpath.

Tea spot by Markinch Burn. NO3301

Cottages at Newton Hall. NO3302

I emerged at Castleheggie and the only problem with having extended my walk eastwards was that it meant I had further to walk along another busy road, perhaps by another half mile or so. It seemed to take ages to reach the point where I would have reached the road via my original route.

Footpath to Treaton. NO3202

Then I had another half mile or so to walk before reaching where I was going to turn off to Dalginch.

Dalginch. NO3102

This was by far the nicest part of the walk today. There were extensive views south across the flatland of the mires. But I wanted to head north to the trigpoint. It had looked easy on the map; there was a footpath. A man was walking with his dog ahead of me and he turned and came back towards me so I asked him if it were possible to get back onto the main road from where I was. He confirmed it was, for which I read it would lead past the trigpoint, but I was wrong. I also missed a benchmark here as I felt too embarrassed to take a photograph of it whilst talking to him and equally embarrassed to return to do it once we'd parted company.

View south from Dalginch. NO3102

After exploring possibilities for accessing the trigpoint, which I could see round the ruined farm of Dalginch, I gave up It would have involved climbing a barbed wire fence and a wall and navigating my way round various pieces of farm machinery. Disappointed, I continued westwards, where I soon discovered some compensations for my disappointment - a bench with a fine view and an information board.

Bench at Dalginch. NO3002

Information Board at Dalginch. NO3002

I didn't sit here, though it would have made a fine lunch spot, but I did read he information board, which gives a little history of this area, which was known in medieval times as Braes Loan. I applaud these efforts to encourage people to get out and find out more about their local landscape. The Brae Loan Trail is a 2.5 mile circular historical walk from Markinch, of which I was covering part today.

This was my favourite spot of the walk today and I would definitely include this in another walk, perhaps simply doing the Braes Loan Trail. But I particularly liked it because I found a gem of a benchmark here. My GPS beeped as I approached it and I pulled back brambles and last year's bracken to reveal a deftly cut benchmark in the old wall.

Benchmark in Dalginch Wall. NO3002

 And that was after seeing this little community of cladonia cup lichen.

Cladonia lichen at Dalginch. NO3002

When I got to the T-junction, I looked at the time. Should I see if I could approach the trig from this direction? Yeah, why not? I nipped over a difficult fence and walked easily up to the trigpoint. What a sinch!

Dalginch trigpoint, looking northwest towards East and West Lomond. NO3102

I had no sooner returned to the fork in the road than I saw two ladies scrutinising a map. They looked lost. They seemed glad to see me, as I was them. They asked if I knew where the Fife Pilgrim Way went from here. I admitted that I didn't, but that I'd seen signs for it a while ago and pointed in the general direction, trying hard to remember exactly where it was I'd seen the signs. I showed them where I'd walked on my map, adding that my map was now 15 years old and the Fife Pilgrim Way was not marked on it. We (hopefully) worked out which way they needed to go and I recommended a stop at the lovely bench I had just passed. They were doing the whole walk in a few consecutive days, so I hope they completed it successfully and my directions were not totally wrong!

I looked in vain for the boundary stone marked on the map and realised I'd managed to take the wrong turn. Anxious to avoid walking on private property I had ended up in a field which missed the boundary stone (if it was still there). I managed to get back on to the path and continued westwards back to Markinch. The walk here was lovely, through woodland at Cuinin Hill.

Cuinin Hill. NO3002

I walked for a few steps with an old man and his dog, who told me where I could get an excellent photograph of East Lomond. I took the photograph to humour him, but later deleted it as it was not very good. It is a beautiful walk here though, but I excused myself on the grounds of having an appointment to keep later on and bade this slow walker a good afternoon.

I went underneath the railway at Markinch just after a train had passed. There was another information board about the Brae Loan Trail.

Train and Railway bridge at Markinch.NO3002

I decided to have my picnic lunch at the church and sat here on a bench in the glorious sunshine enjoying my sandwiches and remembering a previous visit here with mum and dad several years before on the Covenanting trail. General Sir Alexander Leslie is buried in the church here. He was a Covenanter and soldier in Holland, Sweden and Scotland. He was lord general in command of Covenanters in the Battles of Newburn and Marston Moor and died at nearby Balgonie Castle on 4th April 1661.

St Drostan's Church, Markinch. NO2901. (taken 11/10/2011)

After lunch I passed another historical site, the Stob Cross, with an explanatory plaque nearby.

Stob Cross, Markinch. NO2902

Stob Cross information. NO2902

A little further on I turned left back into Balbirnie Park where the Snowdrops were abundant and delightful.

Snowdrops in Balbirnie Park, Markinch. NO2902

I had less than a mile to walk, but still had two gridsquares to bag, so I walked round in circles in an attempt to get into both squares before walking back to the car.

Junction in Balbirnie Park. NO2802

Balbirnie Park west. NO2801

Car Park, Balbirnie Park, Markinch. NO2901

Number of new gridsquares: 11
Number of miles walked: 8.8
Number of trigpoints: 1
Number of benchmarks:7
Number of benchmarks missed due to embarrassment: 2
Walk worth repeating: No, but the Braes Loan Trail is worth doing.
Highlights: benchmark at Dalginch, Dalginch bench and Braes Loan Trail, Stob Cross, Markinch Church and Snowdrops in Balbirnie Park.

Glenduckie Hill and Norman's Law - 23/02/2019

Oh these wonderful days of being free to wander at will. Days now restricted, so cherished all the more. Today's walk was going to be a combination of two hills and would be in the company of my brother, Tim.

We parked at a small lay-by by the village of Glenduckie; the weather was overcast, but dry, so we knew we would not get exceedingly good Mr Kipling type views from the mighty summits, but that just means returning, and it is a walk worth returning to.

The tiny hamlet of Glenduckie nestles below Glenduckie Hill.

Glenduckie and Glenduckie Hill - NO2818

We followed the path to the west of the hill fort and gradually ascended to the summit, all 200 or so metres of it. There is a bench here and, on this occasion, two empty glasses and a candle. Why people think it is acceptable to leave litter like this is baffling to me. Do they think toasting a departed loved one sanctions such behaviour? I'm not sure.

Glenduckie Hill Summit - NO2819

From here we followed the path through woodland and losing our way slightly. We should more or less have circumnavigated the massif, but ended up traversing its summit plateau. It made no difference to my square count anyway. We came down to almost where we'd started from in Glenduckie, but then headed eastwards towards Glascairn.

A barn made a good subject for this gridsquare's photograph, although the footpath was lined with cheery snowdrops and Lesser Celandine. How welcome these bright little flowers are after the dull winter.

Barn near Glascairn. NO2919

Footpath at Glascairn - NO2919

Snowdrops and Lesser Celandine at Glascairn. NO2919

The hamlet of Glascairn consists of two or three cottages.

Glascairn Cottages. NO2919

Glenduckie Hill from Glascairn. NO2919

We continued eastwards into the next gridsquare, which I decided to leave until our descent back through the same gridsquare. At some point we scared a Woodcock from its slumber and it flew up soundlessly from just under our feet, giving us a bit of a scare.

And so we meandered onto the summit of Norman's Law at its mighty height of 285 metres. It is a marilyn, "a hill of any height with a drop of 150 metres (nearly 500 ft) or more on all sides". This means it is relatively high in comparison with its surroundings. There were certainly excellent views all round from the summit, north to the Tay and south to the distinctive landmark of Hopetoun Monument (although we didn't know what it was at the time) There is a toposcope here with directions and mileage to distinctive landmarks viewed from here. I always like studying these things and trying to make out the various lumps and bumps visible.

Norman's Law summit - NO 3020

Again we followed our noses searching for the path on the east side of the hill which would lead us southwards to Denmuirhill. It felt good to be making our own tracks again, to be wandering at will, rather than having to stick to the restrictive footpaths south of the border. It made for harder walking though - all good exercise of course!

At Denmuirhill we came across a strange structure - a stone wall with a line of iron pulleys. We later discovered this was an erstwhile WWI rifle range.

Pulleys and remains of WWI rifle range at Denmuirhill. NO3019

Norman's Law from the south. NO3019.

We walked to the west of Whirly Kipps hill and pondered on its unusual and rather attractive name. Apparently whirly means 'puny' or shrunken and 'kips' means projecting points of a hill, so it is not a very complimentary name. There is another hill of the same name to the north of Norman's Law. A ruin reminded us once more of times past; perhaps this was something to do with the rifle range. I can't think it was a dwelling place contemporary with the rifle range as that would be just too dangerous!

Ruin at Denmuirhill with Norman's Law in the background. NO3019.

We walked past the farm at Denmuir, with some buildings in a ruinous state.

Denmuir farm. NO3018

Between Denmuir and Ayton we passed a carpet of Snowdrops and Lesser Celandine, which was truly spectacular.

Snowdrops and Lesser Celandine near Ayton. NO3018.

The Snowdrop

Lord Alfred Tennyson

Many, many welcomes,

February fair-maid,

Ever as of old time,

Solitary firstling,

Coming in the cold time,

Prophet of the gay time,

Prophet of the May time,

Prophet of the roses,

Many, many welcomes,

February fair-maid!

Another unusual feature attracted our attention at Ayton, a type of water wheel in the garden.

Water wheel at Ayton. NO3018.

I only had one gridsquare left and there was nothing of particular note within it, so I snapped boring shot 

of the road as we walked back uphill to rejoin our route at Glascairn.

Road at Broomhill. NO2918.

                       

We now retraced our steps back to the car, our route resembling a mirror image of the map of Britain with a ball and chain!

Number of miles walked: 7.5
Number of new gridsquares: 7
Number of hills climbed: 2
Walk worth repeating: yes