Tynron Toddle.

Tynron Toddle

Walk date - 13th July

Location - Tynron, Dumfriesshire
Start and end grid ref NX8092
Total distance - 3.36 miles (my garmin).
Surface - mixed we encountered dirt track, tarmac and grass.
What did we see - a very scenic little hamlet (well worth a visit) some lovely quaint houses, a waterfall (see blog) country church and war memorial.
Susan's rating - nice easy walking, there is a slight uphill at the start but apart from that nothing strenuous.


On Sunday morning we (the dog walk Sunday crew) met at Tynron Village Hall car park to head off on a nice little toddle in Tynron.  It was absolutely lovely to see one of our friends who hasn't been walking with us for a while because of an injured foot.  It was great to see his wee dog Meg too, Kona was well pleased. 

We followed the signs past the church and then the graveyard up the little hill until we reached the memorial bench for Choo Campbell.  Tess as always likes a little sit and a pose on any available surface,  Ssh there may be treats involved.

 At Choo's bench the route splits in two, we followed the waymarkers, can't miss them really, well you can and I have in the past which led me on another adventure, but that's the joy of adventuring.  I was running head down, puffing and panting and found instead of leveling out as I expected I just was keeping going upwards.  Never mind that walk is for another day.  On with this one.

After about probably half a mile or so we arrived at a fork in the road.  Today we took the left hand fork which heads back down to the tarmac road.  The right hand fork will take you on to the slopes of Tynron Doon.  Well worth a walk for the views from the top.  

 The fork led us back down to the road.  Another day I will do this (and extend it) in reverse, but for today we headed back down towards Tynron Village on the road, perhaps about 5 minutes walking and turned left down the lane here at the big house gates.  Kirkland House.

 We kept on the tarmac road past some really nice scenery and houses with the most beautiful gardens until we arrived at this little gate.  Seductive to say the least.  I just had to see what lay behind.  It was a track, sadly a bit overgrown and very boggy after the recent rain, so we abandoned that and toddled back up to the road.

 However the roar of a nearby waterfall proved too much for Arthur, Robert and myself, we just had to go and see it.  The picture shows the top of the waterfall but unfortunately the summer growth made it difficult to snap any more than this A great groove has been cut through the rock and the edges drop straight down to what looked like a boiling witches cauldron of dark water.  I could of been in grave danger of falling in if I had tried today because of the undergrowth and the slippy wetness of everything.  Oh and I didn't take Kona anywhere near at all, that would of been a recipe for disaster. So great care must be taken, this is wild countryside no signs, no safety rails, approach with caution.  I will be going back sometime soon but not on my own, I will take someone with me.
After viewing the waterfall we made our way out onto the open hillside.  There is a 5 bar gate to the cottage and beside that another smaller gate with a waymrker sign similar to the one pictured below. , Follow markers and respect the privacy of anyone in the cottage.  After a short walk of perhaps 10 to 15 mins we came to this gate, our turning point for today.   There is the promise here of further interesting walking, I've had the map out, always a dangerous sign, and know where I can extend for future walks or runs.  However for today we turned and re-traced our steps back to the village

Tynron.

Me playing with my settings again.  Picking out the red doors etc.,

 We didn't wait for tea today, we were way too early but Linda and I did stop in at Penpont Tearoom and got ourselves a take away feast.  I had a chicken wrap with sweet chilli sauce and salad, Linda had a BLT and we both had Mars bar cake and coffee.  Very yummy and reasonably priced too. We ate this at the metal bridge in Keir with a simply wonderful view of the Lowther hills in front of us. 

There are many options for walks from Tynron, some I have done and some I have yet to explore, but if you want a nice short introduction this one is good, combine it with a tea even better.

Link to Tynron pages. 
http://www.moniaive.org.uk/tynron