Musselburgh Walk

 On Wednesday 28th a group of seven Biggar Ramblers completed an interesting walk of seven miles around the seaside town of Musselburgh. Having parked by the River Esk, near the centre of the town, we started by following the river upstream past old mill buildings and out into the countryside. Leaving the river path we walked up into the conservation village of Inveresk, where we visited the National Trust Garden at Inveresk Lodge and the old cemetery at St Michael’s Church with great views along the Firth of Forth to Edinburgh. We left Inveresk, rejoined the river path and walked back to Musselburgh town, where we lunched in parkland alongside the widening river and historic bridges over it. After lunch we followed the river to the estuary and walked along a seawall on land reclaimed from the sea, then inland through a well landscaped country park before returning to the town by Musselburgh Race Course, the oldest in Scotland. An interesting walk around an attractive historic town.

Turkey Hill Walk

 Biggar Ramblers headed up Turkey Hill and back down via Girdle Burn valley on 24th June. Starting from Snaip Bridge they followed the track that climbs steadily to Coulter mast. There’s been a lot of logging in this area over the last winter which means a ‘new’ valley is in now sight where some rather puny indigenous trees might have a chance to grow more strongly. The stretch of trees past the mast is also reduced, opening out to the fields where the track heads off more steeply up to the ridge. From this point there are good views over to Tinto, the Clyde, and the north-west. After a coffee break, the walkers continued along the ridge to the Turkey Hill Cairn (489m), through rough terrain for the final part of the ascent. From this height there are even better 360-degree views: extensive and definitely worth the effort!
The group returned down the track into the valley, finding the way severely eroded in one place and very overgrown in others! After a relaxing lunch, they continued their descent along the valley side to join the Birthwood road, where there’s a short walk back to the cars. The walking conditions were ideal, with a breeze, some cloud, some sun and a wee bit rain, affording a pleasant atmosphere for this midsummer walk! www.biggarramblers.org

Walk along St Abb’s Head Cliffs

 A group of nine from Biggar ramblers enjoyed the mid-June sunshine on a spectacularly scenic walk along the cliffs at St Abb’s .
We started and finished our ramble at Coldingham Bay, a secluded beach with excellent amenities.
St Abb's Head is one of Britain's more accessible seabird colonies (since it is based on the mainland) and is home to internationally important numbers of guillemots and nationally important numbers of kittiwakes and razorbills.
After a hot day marvelling at the nesting seabirds we all had a picnic lunch on the beach and took either a paddle or a swim in the bracing but beautiful sea.
If you want to know more about our walks you can find the current program and contact details on our website; www.biggarramblers.org.uk.

Raggengill Hill via Crawford Castle

 “Seven members of Biggar Ramblers undertook an 8 mile walk of two halves on Wednesday 7th June, starting from the village of Abington. In glorious sunshine, they crossed bridges over both the river Clyde and the west coast railway line and started the gentle ascent alongside the Raggengill Burn, rounding the back of Raggengill Hill before facing a panoramic hilltop view of wind farms to the east on the tops of Hawkwood Hill, Rome Hill and Mossy Dod. At this point the opportunity was taken for a well-earned coffee stop on a grassy bank looking up the Camps Water valley.
Traversing several fields with lots of sheep and their lambs, we managed to rescue a couple of lambs trapped behind fencing and reunite them with their respective mothers. Crossing Camps Water at Normangill the group headed west alongside the Camps reservoir road. High on the banks above the water the ramblers took their lunch whilst watching the antics of the Oyster Catchers and Wagtails on the plain.
Once in Crawford we walked past the ruins of the old castle and took in some of its history. Following the main railway line for the final couple of miles, we recrossed both the railway and Clyde River and returned to our start point four and a half hours after this delightful walk in the sunshine had begun.”

Broughtonknowe Wood Walk

 A group of nine Biggar Ramblers met for a short three mile walk round Broughtonknowe Wood. As it was a lovely sunny dry and warm day, they could take their time learning about the history of the wood and the wildlife in it. The wood was a sheep farm which was bought 30 years ago and planted with coniferous and deciduous trees. The conifers have been felled with care to form open spaces which allow light in so that an understorey can develop. Over the 30 years roe deer, badgers, grey squirrels and foxes have come to occupy the woodland. More recently red squirrels have been seen. There is an abundance of bird life which could be heard on the walk. In the spring every year there is an invasion of frogs and toads and the resulting swarms of tadpoles could be seen in one of the three ponds. The walk finished by visiting an old quarry at the far end of the wood. It is occupied in summer by Peter and his yurt where he runs courses making chairs out of the ash trees from the woodland using traditional methods. www.biggarramblers.org