Hill: Lamberton Hill (Ayton Hill)
Date: Friday 24th November 2017
Company: Just myself
Distance: 2.4km, Ascent: 45m
Time: 40mins
Lamberton Hill is a hill in the loosest sense of the word. It is one of those Marilyns requiring almost zero effort that gets you asking yourself, "Why am I doing this!". Lamberton Hill is basically a five to ten minute walk to the top of a farm field.
Click here to see a map of the route undertaken
I parked my van at the track junction, walked a short distance along the road and then climbed over a gate to enter the field.
Parked at road junction:
Gate into field:
Once in the field, I followed a track leading towards the fort. The sun began to rise over the horizon as I made my way up the hill.
Sunrise during ascent:
Lamberton Hill (Ayton Hill) is just a few miles north of the Scotland/England border and Berwick Upon Tweed.
View during ascent:
The old fort walls are now covered in grass. I walked a short distance along the top of the wall before heading down into the dip and over the second wall. I then continued to the top of the field to reach the summit.
On the fort wall:
On reaching the summit I was treated to a pleasant sunrise. It was however bitterly cold!
Sunrise from summit of Lamberton Hill:
From the summit I decided to also head over to the trig point atop Ayton Hill. This would extend the overall walk from 20 minutes to 40 minutes.
Trig point of Ayton Hill:
Ayton Hill has quite an unusual feature near the summit - two old caravans.
Caravans near top of Ayton Hill:
From the caravans I made my way back across towards Lamberton hill, skirting the fort during the return.
View towards the Cheviot:
There are plenty cow pats in the Lamberton Hill field. Fortunately there were no cows during my ascent but I suspect much of the year you may have to avoid cattle to reach the summit.
On reaching the van, I programmed the starting point of Dirrington Great Law into my SatNav for my first ever visit to the Lammermuirs. On reaching the starting point, I parked beside a gate where there is room for one or two cars.
Hill: Dirrington Great Law
Date: Friday 24th November 2017
Company: Just myself
Distance: 5.4km, Ascent: 195m
Time: 1Hr 15mins
Dirrington Great Law definitely looked more hill-like than Lamberton Hill but the ascent required to reach the summit was still fairly minimal.
Click here to see a map of the route undertaken
I initially followed a good track as far as a small wood. Beyond the wood I followed an icy vehicle track, running parallel to a small dyke, towards the summit.
Ascent of Dirrington Great Law:
Looking back:
Ascending Dirrington Great Law:
The surrounding landscape is mostly farmland. The superb Eildon hills were fairly distinctive.
View towards the Eildon hills from Dirrington Great Law:
I followed the track until perpendicular with the summit and then followed another track to the top. I visited both cairns and the toppled trig point.
Toppled trig point on Dirrington Great Law:
At the summit of Dirrington Great Law:
I then returned to the car via the same route stopping on the way back to take a photo of Dirrington Great Law with some nice rushes in the foreground.
Looking back to Dirrington Great Law from start of walk:
I then drove to the starting point of my third hill of the day, Meikle Says Law. Meikle Says Law is the highest of the Lammermuir hills. The starting point is 401m i.e. higher than the summits of both Lamberton Hill and Dirrington Great Law. I was not particularly looking forward to an ascent of this one as there is a large windfarm located next to the summit.
Hill: Meikle Says Law
Date: Friday 24th November 2017
Company: Just myself
Distance: 9.7km, Ascent: 280m
Time: 2Hrs 15mins
Click here to see a map of the route undertaken
From the starting point, the initial walk heads downhill requiring a re-ascent of circa 50m before you actually start to gain height.
Following one of several tracks on Meikle Says Law:
To get onto the track leading towards the summit, I had to cross the Faseny Water. The crossing was however fairly deep so I backtracked a few hundred metres to make use of a bridge before heading back towards my intended track.
Looking back towards Faseny Cottage:
I followed the good track for perhaps a kilometre before continuing along an ATV track. At least the ground was hard and frozen which made for easy progress.
Ascending Meikle Says Law:
During the ascent I could see North Berwick Law and Bass Rock to the north-east.
Bass Rock (zoom):
As I progressed towards the summit, I checked my iPhone to see it die from the cold despite still saying 50% power. In cold weather iPhone batteries are very unreliable without a backup battery. I had left my backup battery in the car and this was my only map. To warm-up my phone I stuck it inside my glove and then down my pants
. After ten
minutes of being in my pants it was sufficiently warm to spring back to life
registering 45% remaining. The power lasted for another full hour thanks to
this warm-up.At the summit of Meikle Says Law:
During the walk back I spotted a Mountain Hare after it had already spotted me and was tearing of across the hill. It reminded me of the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland being late for a very important date.
Mountain Hare:
During the walk out the weather deteriorated becoming even colder. As a result, I decided to abandon ascending a fourth hill which I have left for a future visit to the area. As I also have one of the Pentland Marilyns remaining, I will combine that with my one remaining Lammermuir Hills Marilyn.
Deteriorating weather:
I passed snap traps during the walk back. These are in common frequent use in the Scottish Borders and in Aberdeenshire.
Typical trapping commonly found in Scottish Borders:
Despite these hills being fairly low, and requiring minimal effort, they were enjoyable as they are located in a part of Scotand I had not walked in previously.