Totem poles at Stonehaugh
Type of Walk
Minor roads and woodlands.
Distance and Time
5.3 miles; up to 2 hours, with a couple of minor breaks.
Starting Location
NY789762 – as per Stonehaugh Walk.
Map of Route and Elevation Profile
Difficulty
Easy on the initial and final sections but very difficult within the mid-way forest section due to water-logging and overgrown tracks.
Walking the Route
Today’s walk started off at the same location as for our Stonehaugh walk last year. However, on this occasion we chose to walk in a westerly direction to start.
At first we followed a well marked forest path near to the Warks Burn. This is normally a gentle slow moving stream, but with all of the recent rain it looked more like a river.
When the official path turned north, we decided to keep going west through the forest. Here we could see evidence of the recent run of storms (Ciara, Dennis and Jorge). Large numbers of well-established trees had been blown over, forming several spans across the ‘burn’.
When we could no longer go any further west, we headed north-west and joined the minor road, turning left and heading towards Whygate. At Whygate we cross the river and then turned left onto a forest track. Out intention was to follow this track arriving back at our starting point. However, after scrambling over several boggy areas, avoiding fallen trees and with snow starting to fall, we decided to retrace our steps.
We kept to the same route on the way back, except that due to snow now starting to fall, we kept to the road.
Luckily the ground was still fairly ‘warm’ after the recent storm and so the snow did not take hold on the road. Before arriving back at our starting point we did notice that a large amount of deforestation was taking place. Don’t worry Greta, this is a sustainable forest and new trees will be planted to replace what has been felled.
We were certainly glad to be back at the car.
Our Ratings of the Walk (up to 5*)
- Scenery: 2*
- Historical interest: 1*
- Weather factor: 1½*
- Overall enjoyment: 1½*
Reference(s)
None.
Additional Information
- Walking the route: Neil and Paul
- Weather conditions on the day: Cool with overcast skies mixed with sunny intervals. Snow at times.
- Date of walk: 29th February 2020
Middle Aged Ramblings 