Elspeth and Emily recce Peel Fell section. 11th-12th April 2015

I'm really keen to reccie  all the southern part of the watershed for a number of reasons; it would be too soul destroying to get lost on the first day, the forestry has changed dramatically since the most recent OS map was produced and lastly, I don't want to be too shocked at the beginning of our adventure.Emily and I headed down to the borders to do some exploring. We planned on walking rather than running as Emily is still injured after a bad fall. The experiences we had over the weekend made me come up with a run-ability scale, 10 being knee deep bog or seriously large bouncy tussocks, impossible to run on, 5 being ankle deep bogs with dry sections and partly runnable and 1 being farm track, easily runnable.

I hadn't had a whole lot of time to choose a route carefully and as we were only taking 1 vehicle it was going to be out and back routes. We left later than planned on Saturday and didn't start walking until after 1. We parked near Rushy Rig and walked to the top of Peel Fell and back. This was really straight forward navigationally and the first 3 miles are on easy track. I had noted a junction on the map so as soon as we got to one I concluded we should turn off to the right.

The path was less defined than I had hoped so I took a bearing and was really confused when it showed I should be going 180 degrees in the opposite direction. I was so unwilling to go against my instinct but I had promised myself only a week ago that I must learn to trust the compass and it actually paid off! Less than 100 metres further on we found a much more distinct track! I'm finally learning from my experiences. The track seems to stop at Wheelrig Head on the map, the forestry has changed a lot here but there is still a clear track right to the edge of the forest, as it's marked on the map. It's not easy going though and disappears entirely by the top of the burns. It's easy to follow a bearing here to the summit but the path deteriorates to a 9 on the run-ability scale at points.

We had an easier time than we may in the summer as it's been very dry this last week and so there were crossing points through bog, I'm preparing myself for a really soggy time here! We posed for a photo by the cairn and unusually I thought to double check that we were where we had assumed. And guess what, we weren't! Who'd have thought there were 2 summits on this hill? The real summit was close by so we went there too. On Sunday we woke up having not had a great sleep due to the van being buffeted around by the wind and pelted with rain, snow and hail. It sounded foul outside and if the van contained a toilet we'd probably never have got started. However, nature forced us out and we braved the elements.

Today I was following a printed section of the map as we were crossing between 2 OS sheets and I didn't want to have to take both of them. The trouble with this is that although the original watershed is clearly marked, as well as our planned alternative, the marked lines obliterate a few key map symbols. It looked to me that we would be spending a lot of the day finding alternatives to crawling through forest. We picked up a path off the road, directly opposite the Rushy Rig track. This was a 6 on the run-ability scale although the snow at this point made the going a bit more precarious for us. We followed a fence line up hill. Despite having clear routes on the map to follow I wanted to see where the path would take us because the alternative would have been hellish tramping over recently felled forest. We actually found ourselves right at Wigg Knowe on the original watershed and were able to follow the fence South west, along the forest edge. The track has been used here but is very boggy and a 7 on the scale.
The forest to the south of the path here has been felled but old forest has been left from just beyond the trig point on Fanna Hill. Where the forest South of the path has a sharp corner heading South East the Northern part of the forest has been felled too. However there is still a fence to follow along this gentle ridge. I was unsure on how we were going to find a way through the forest onto the track at Laidlehope Head and so when I saw a line between new and old forestry (558018) I suggested we followed it down. It was still a 7 in terms of terrain but took us directly to the path.

My smugness didn't last long however as we arrived shortly after this at a junction which wasn't on my map. It was marked on the OS phone map so it was easy to clarify and after establishing that we should go right we headed round to the left. Emily did ask if I was sure of the direction but wasn't more detailed as to her confusion and it was a whole km later that I realised what I'd done. It was the simplest bit of navigation the whole weekend and I screwed up for no apparent reason! After we had retraced our steps the going was straight forward ( a 1 on the scale!) and there were no more events on the track.
On the return I was keen to try an alternative line through the trees so when we got to the junction of applied idiocy we followed a fence line East East South, (the suggested line on our route planning and I suspect it was obliterating a marked path). There was definitely evidence of a path, possibly elevating this route to a 6 on the scale and it was clear to follow along an old fence line. It is also clear to find from the top too as there is a junction in the fence and a gate into the next field. It was amazing to see the differences on the route throughout the day, we started in heavy snow which was lying thickly but by the way back we were in bright sunshine and the snow had largely gone. I can only hope we will have a long dry spell before a Stuart and I tackle this first day...