Euchan Glen Escapade

A short walk along an enchanted glen. 

Date of walk - 25.3.15
Start Location  - Blackaddie Bridge, Sanquhar  NS 775 097.  We parked in the small car park at the Sanquhar side of the bridge.  There are notice boards here which give information and some history on the Covenanters.   The leaflet we used  says you can start and finish the walk at the Tollbooth in Sanquhar, this gives a round mileage of about 4 miles. 
On this walk we crossed the bridge and turned left along the tarred road for about half a mile until we came to the bridge, there is a small metal gate beside a cottage this is the start of the walk.  This should be signposted as core path 112.  
We feel we covered around 3 miles as we probably added some on exploring.
Surface - the first half mile is on tarred road, the walk through the glen is on mostly reasonable dirt paths.  If you do the round trip the last mile or so is back on tarred road.
What we saw - A restored well, we were assured the water is safe to drink and has a slightly astringent taste, we did not partake though.  The location of Kemp's Castle, the remains of houses and of an old mill waterfalls, bathing pools and a lot of wildflowers.  
Susan's Rating - I really enjoyed this walk, it was like entering a fairy glen, you certainly could "feel" the sense of history somehow.  


WARNING 
Although the path starts off very level and close to the water as you progress further up the glen becomes more gorge like and the path becomes narrower, and rises slightly with one or two very short uphill bits,underfoot the path also becomes more uneven and rooty as you get further up.  There are steep drops on the water side of the path, with no safety rails or fences, so take extra care with your feet along here and keep a close eye on dogs and children.

Blackaddie Bridge above,  the car parking area is just before the bridge on the Sanquhar side. Also above is an example of one of the information boards, this one is for The Southern Upland Way Path which passes through Sanquhar.

The recently restored Well. Note the use of Sanquhar Bricks.

I think this may be the " Esplanade " at the location of Kemp's Castle.  http://www.visitscotland.com/info/towns-villages/sanquhar-p23941

 The walk to the top was very straightforward we just kept to the path until we reached the tarmac road.  At this point we turned back and went back the way we had come as we didn't wish to be on road any more than we had to.  The core path people have been carrying out a lot of work recently on the various paths in the region,  they have sorted paths were possible, erected new bridges, put in steps and generally made the paths as accessible as possible.

Near the top before we turned around.  You can see an example of  the work being done by the core paths group.

Kona on her way back down the glen, think she's enjoying a sniff at the soon to flower wild garlic.

Note also on the above photo the use of Sanquhar bricks to line the paths. 
Here are some useful links.
 http://www.visitscotland.com/info/towns-villages/sanquhar-p239241

http://www.all-the-airts.com/

Update - We have now done this walk a few times and I am really looking forward to a winter visit to see the contrasts.