Friday 20th April 2018. An ascent of the hills encircling the Drumelzier and Scrape glens, Manor Hills, Borders, South Scotland. 20.1km, with 1140m of ascent. 7hrs 55mins.

The principle hills were Drumelzier Law 668m/95m, Middle Hill 717.2m/41.8m, Taberon Law 636.8m/28.4m, Grey Weather Law 712.1m/24.4m, Pykestone Hill 737m/133m, The Scrape 719m/42m and Scawd Law 505m/29m.

After a four hour drive up from home, I parked in a small car park just south of the houses in the hamlet of Drumelzier. A board in the car park gave information on a trail to view locations connected with the Dark Age pagan Celtic character Myrddin (Merlin) - see at http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/history/the_scottish_roots_of_merlin_the_welsh_wizard.shtml, but they were not on the route I was taking.

In Southern Britain it was the time of the 2018 April mini-heatwave. Up in the Scottish Borders the sun was shining on a fine spring day. In the glen there was no heatwave, but it was calm and balmy. However, when I reached the ridge, a strong south-westerly took the warm away. Gloves and additional layers were required.

After several hundred metres, I left the glen track to work my way up to the main ridge by following various sheep paths up Finglen Rig onto the minor summit of Logan Head. Now began a fine, if boggy, ridge walk in a loop round the north-east facing corrie and up to the cairn on my first significant summit of the day - Drumelzier Law. The term 'Law' is one often used in the names of hills in southern, central and north-east Scotland, but it is less frequently found south of the border. It is a Lowland Scots word for a rounded conical hill which forms a conspicuous feature in the landscape. Drumelzier Law fitted the term perfectly. Its shape made for fine views north-west as far as Glasgow, and north-east to Edinburgh, although the geological frontier that forms the Highland Boundary Fault was occluded in cloud.

I dropped south-east to a narrow bealach, then ascending steeply onto Glenstivon Dod, the northern spur of the uninspiringly called Middle Hill, my next objective. The summit was marked with a few decaying wooden posts thrust into the boggy plateau. The wind was fierce here, and it was with difficulty that I used my mono-pod for the customary summit photo.

Unfortunately Taberon Law, my next objective, involved an out-and-back of some three kilometres and some 140 metres of descent and ascent back to the starting point. On approaching the bealach, I nearly tripped on a wire snare that had been laid across the track. Concerned that it presented a hazard to humans and sheep, I tightened the noose and removed it from the vicinity of the track, and then continued on my way again. As I approached the summit of Taberon Law, I became aware that I was being watched by a gamekeeper with binoculars on an ATV. As I passed near him, he challenged me on whether I had been tampering with a snare. I explained what I had done, and the reason. He told me the snare had been placed there by a legally competent person and that I should have let it be. Although a supporter of environmental charities, I am not an animal rights activist and had no desire for a confrontation. I apologised, and told him I would replace the snare on the return leg of my route. He seemed satisfied with this. I noticed a dead hare in the rear of his ATV.

Leaving summit and gamekeeper, I retraced my steps. I put the snare back as I thought it had been and started to reascend Middle Hill. As I did so, I heard the engine of an ATV coming up behind me. I turned round, expecting to see the gamekeeper I had encountered on the summit of Taberon Law. It was not him, but an older man, most likely his boss. He was obviously in communication with his colleague. He too challenged me regarding the snare. I explained again why I had done what I had done. He was frostier than his colleague, but I maintained a non-confrontational approach. We parted respectfully in the end, with him wishing me an enjoyable walk. The incident did not mar my day, but it certainly gave me pause for thought as to what harm hares were doing to the grouse on these moorland tops, even if the snaring was legal (which I expect it was).

Departing the summit of Middle Hill for a second time, and the long-distance gaze of the gamekeepers, I passed over two minor tops, heading north now. I reached the summit of Pykestone Hill, the highest on my hike. This was no 'law'. The wide flat plateau obscured what would have been a splendid view. I did not linger long. By now the wind had veered north-west and it was even colder. I put another layer on hands and head. Bamboozled by all the talk of a heatwave down south, and the balmy weather in the glen below, I had donned shorts for my hike, leaving my walking trousers in the car. It was time to get moving faster in order to warm up.

I was soon on the unremarkable summit of my next hill, though its name was remarkable - The Scrape. I mused this was likely to be a corrupted version of some Celtic name - a common phenomenon with the hills in Southern Scotland. A swift descent north-west on mainly pathless moor, through deeper heather than I had so far encountered, brought me to a stone wall at the bealach and soon up to the large cairn on the shapely Scawd Law.
This was another hill worthy of that name, as the views, in evening light, were splendid.

Keeping beside the high wall, where the going was best, I continued north-west along the ridge over two tops of declining altitude. After the second, I turned south-west to descend on steep ground through pathless high heather back to the glen. I crossed the burn by a little plank bridge, the location of which I had fixed on my GPS as I had headed out. I reached the car soon after.

It was after nearly 8pm. I got home in the early hours of Saturday.