A walk around
Colden
Monday 21st May
2012
I didn't take as many photographs as usual on
Monday's walk. It was a fairly tiring walk around a substantial hill called
Colden to the west of the Injebreck Dam. The first part of the walk - along a
track and then a footpath - from the Brandywell Road towards Slieau Ruy was not
very photogenic. When we reached the southwest side of Colden, we turned off
and headed along old roads (which have almost disappeared under heather and bog)
and sheep paths around the hill.
Half way through the walk, we stopped to
examine an old quarry on the side of the hill. The ruined building in this
photo contained the remains of a chimney breast and must have been used by the
workers to rest and thaw out after working on the chilly hillside.
Unlike recent outings, Monday was anything
but chilly. It was the first walk of the year when I needed a sunhat instead of
a polar fleece cap. We stopped on the terrace in front of the old building and
enjoyed a short tea break with a view, while Danny rolled around on
the bilberries and celebrated being chosen as "the walking dog of the
day".
From the quarry, we picked our way
across the side of the hill and down the boggy hillside, through clumps of
heather, towards the footpath which runs from the top of Colden Plantation and
joins the forestry track from the Brandywell Road - between Colden and Slieau
Maggle. Tim took this
photo.
The footpath is known as Governor Loch's Road
- although "Road" is no longer an accurate description. It is half barely
visible path and half bog. "It was built during the 19th century as both a job creation scheme at a
time of depression and also as a scenic tourist route. Although the initial
1km. section at the Brandywell end is well maintained, just beyond here after
the parish boundary it has been allowed (for some reason?) to become boggy
through lack of drainage work - in fact a short section has washed away down the
hillside." On the way back along one of the drier sections of Governor
Loch's Road we looked down into the top of the Injebreck valley and saw the old
stunted beeches known as "the Old Men of Injebreck" growing above the road down
from Brandywell.
They used to be bent over like old men as you can
see in this photo (taken some years ago) which I pinched from the internet . . .
.
. . . . but the conifers across the road grew so
tall that they protected them from the wind and the beeches put on a lot of top
growth. Now the conifers have gone and it will be interesting to see how
the beeches cope with another change in conditions.
Governor Loch's Road eventually joined up with
the track from the Brandywell Road and our route back to the cars.
