04/05/2013 - Lovely hillfort just off the A9, north of Avielochan. Parking is not easy here so we stopped at the Laggantygown Cemetery carpark next to Loch Vaa. A track just south of here leads back to the A9 and the start of the path to the hillfort. Quite steep sided hill with a nice wall at the entrance. Wooded now and lovely in the sunshine.
22/03/2013 - Classed as an unfinished hillfort but there is still a bit to see. Ramparts are quite easy to follow and the view is very good. Easiest access is from the minor road at Upper Marchbank through a couple of fields.
22/03/2013 - Visited this cairn on the way to Knock Hill hillfort. We left the Annandale Way just west of the cairn and a quick cross of the Dog Burn brought us to the field with the cairn situated pretty much in the middle of it. I had looked at Google Earth before we went and it looked quite impressive. There certainly are a lot of stones but according to Canmore most of them are field clearance. The original cairn seems to be the turf-covered mound but I quite like the look of some of the exposed stones as well.
22/03/2013 - As cairns go this is not the most exciting to visit. Just down the road from Beattock Hill hillfort, the heavily robbed cairn sits on a small knoll with little still showing. Probably of more interest is its name. Witch's Wate is the spot just north of the Crooked Road where travellers would arm themselves with a rowan tree “rung” and two pieces of red thread as protection against witches lying in wait there.
21/03/2013 - Iron Age bank and ditch beside the Tail Burn, marked on the OS map as the Giant's Grave. According to the noticeboard and Canmore there seems to be various theories as to the use of this site. Believed to be for defence but some now think it could have been a site for pagan pilgrimage, due to its view of the impressive Grey Mare's Tail waterfall. This is a must visit just for the scenery alone. From the top of the bank the view down the glacial shaped valley of the Moffat Water is quite beautiful. The Grey Mare's Tail is one of the nicest waterfalls I've seen. It's quite easy to imagine this place as one of pilgrimage.
Grey Mare's Tail and the Giant's Grave gets a mention in Walter Scott's poem, Marmion (published in 1808)
"Where deep deep down, and far within
Toils with the rocks the roaring linn;
Then issuing forth one foamy wave,
And wheeling round the giant's grave
White as the snowy charger's tail
Drives down the pass of Moffatdale."
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