Harestanes - Monteith circular

About trip

There are some potential issues with this walk :  (the following assumes walking the route anti-clockwise)

This route avoids the ‘Coffin Road’ which goes between the road and Ancrum old church around Broad Law, and also avoids Down Law (where Baron’s Folly is) both due to the presence of cattle.  As of last week there were no cattle in either of these areas. If you want to go over Down Law past the folly, instead of taking the road to the left at the T junction, take the right turn then take the field track on the right just beyond the lochen.  Through the second field gate you then head up and pass behind the trees where you find Baron’s Folly. Then continue to the corner of the small woodland.  Don’t go through the gate but climb over a wooden slated section in the wall and keeping the field wall on your left, head straight along to a walker’s gate which comes out directly on Dere Street. If you go through the gate, then you will have to go all the way down the field to a gate in the corner and back up the other side of the wood to the top of the next field and another walker’s gate in the wall directly on to Dere Street.  We used to be able to go through the woodland but this has been barb wired as they raise poults in the woodland.

This route also avoids the path marked on the map along the top of Ancrum Moor between Lilliard’s Edge and the A68. The reason for this is two-fold as there are lots of big holes in the path – rabbits or badgers – and it comes out at a blind spot on the A68 for crossing the road, traffic is usually doing 60 along this stretch.

A recent recce of the route identified problems with field gates between Monteith Mausoleum and the back road.  They are both double steel gates with the lift up and over locking mechanism.  The hinge on one of the mechanisms is bent and rusty making it very difficult to open and close.  The second is extremely tight due to the two gates not aligning properly.  I did manage to open and close both but not without some considerable difficulty.  The farmer actively discourages walkers, so I don’t expect either gate to be fixed any time soon.  He also likes to tie the gates together, which I had to cut and tie with tine that I carry for just such a situation. As an alternative route, so long as there are no cattle in the field, it is possible to go through the field next to the SSSI area and take the track that comes out next to the cottages.  This must be avoided if there are any cattle as it is a nursery field.