Grey Mare's Tail and White Coomb

Trip Start May 01, 2007
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Trip End Ongoing


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Saturday, March 15, 2008

I had been in my Glasgow Young Walkers club since August 2007, and had been meaning to lead group of walkers on semi-difficult walk for a while. The walk at Grey Mare's Tail and White Coomb was my first as leader. Although not 'leading' in the traditional sense, I was responsible for choosing a walk, gathering maps and information, and organising transport (amongst a few other meager tasks).

The weather was pretty lousy come the Saturday of my walk, however I had a good turnout of 11 people. The walk was near the town of Moffat in Scotland's southern uplands. The Grey Mare's Tail is one of Scotland's largest and White Coomb the second highest corbett in the southern uplands.

It was a challenging but fun walk with all sorts of unexpected
challenges along the way 01 - Grey Mare's Tail Waterfall
01 - Grey Mare's Tail Waterfall
 . Crossing two challenging streams (eventually!), and then trudging up through
snow and through thick fog for well over an hour gave us a tough start to the day. The whole of White Coomb and the surrounding tops were covered in fog, so we missed some great views. However it was a good experience as there was thick snow underfoot and very poor visibility, given the mountain a surreal feel to it. Lucky for us, an old stone dyke (or wall) lead us in the right direction for most of the walk.

Once we descended below the fog on the west side, the views around Loch Skeen were great. The terrain was a little boggy in areas, but everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, and glad we made out of the snow and fog in one piece!

It was a great walk for me, I enjoyed it as individual, but also found the leadership role challenging but good. It was satisfying to know that most enjoyed the walk most of all I guess. It was especially good going to the pub at Moffat immediately after the walk, and then for a second pub session at Cottiers back in Glasgow that night. It was a superb day and good night too. I'm glad I chose southern Scotland for a hike for something different and it proved to me that there is a lot to offer in this gorgeous area. The hills surrounding Moffat are beautiful and defintely some of my favourites.
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Comments

will
will on May 17, 2008 at 10:42AM

Grey mare's tail
Looks like a nice spot.

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