Our first special walk of the New Year took us to the Scottish Border Country, where we walked a 7.5mile route from Hoddom Castle to Annan, walking along the banks of the River Annan on the Annandale Way
We set off from East Kilbride by coach to travel to Ecclefechen, here we had our morning coffee stop at the Ecclefechan Hotel. The proprietors made us very welcome, on entering the hotel the first thing we saw was a fantastic open log fire, what a welcome, we had great service plus second helpings of scones, coffee and tea for those who wanted seconds.
After our stop we travelled to the entrance of Hoddom Castle where our walk would start. The Castle was built as an L-plan Tower House about 1565 for Sir John Maxwell of Terregles .
We started by walking on the Annandale Way along by the bank of the River Annan to the metal bridge, crossing the bridge we were able to see the Leaping Salmon Pole. The information board told us that although there are few physical obstacles, the salmon struggle past rapids and leap waterfalls to reach the gravel beds in the higher reaches of the Annan’s tributaries, the Salmon Pole shows how high salmon have been known to leap in order to reach their spawning grounds. Crossing the bridge again we headed up through the wood towards Hoddom Castle, walking past the castle and through the caravan park we headed for Repentance Hill.
Climbing Repentance Hill we reached Repentance Tower and St Kentigern’s Graveyard at the top of the hill, unfortunately because of the rain and mist we were unable to see the great views from the top of the hill. After a short stop to allow people to view the area we headed downhill towards Hoddom Mains and the road. This stretch of the walk was very muddy and took some time to negotiate. On reaching the road we headed back to our starting point, crossed the old stone bridge to take up the Annandale Way heading towards the town of Annan.
We continued walking on the Way along by the river, because of the rain the paths were quite muddy today. The river was very quiet with only one fisherman spotted as we walked along.
On reaching Annan we headed to the Queensberry Hotel where our group were having a meal before travelling home. Queensberry Hotel good food and fantastic service.
Hope you all enjoyed the walk, mud and all, and that there was no fighting about who was going to clean the boots.
THANKS FOR YOUR COMPANY TODAY.