Ten days and nine nights, with four nights in four different hotels. Never before so many hotel visits! I'm weakening. Kirkstyle Hotel, Biggar; the Philipburn Hotel, Selkirk; Buccleuch Arms Hotel, Moffat and, Westmorland Hotel, Tebay.
21 Donald summits visited and two full days exploring Selkirk for the first time. Next day, the full Borders Railway and the tram to Newhaven and the Granton Harbour E breakwater. Their tram is more comfortable and, leather seats on this year's new extension - unlike our own deceptive-looking 'sponge' which gives you a rude awakening as one's bum hits the hard plastic seat beneath a thin layer of cotton that is the non-existent 'sponge'!
Cold weather worsened by constant N or E winds but not a drop of rain. One night of very hard frost inside the car windows. Waterproofs needed for warmth, only.
One accident when I tripped and hit my left knee coming down a stony track from the bothy alongside Games Hope Burn. My right leg was weak and uncomfortable at times and that slowed me, along with general old age. I went with my right leg not quite right but not serious enough to see a doctor.
HIGHLIGHT
Carrifran Gans must be the steepest major hill in Scotland where the one direct path to the summit starts from a road. The hill is above Moffat Water, at a height of 757 m for the cairn from the cattle grid on the road at 192 m. You climb 565 m in 2 Kms of horizontal distance. Therefore, 28% average steepness from road to cairn, with slopes of 60-80%. On the descent, it was the nearest thing I've got to via ferrata, with my hanging on to the barbed wire free but, metal fence, on my left.
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