Donald raid in the Borders

Hill: Broad Law (840m), Cramalt Craig (831m), Talla Cleugh Head (691m).
Type: Corbett/Donald

After my recent northern exploits it was time to head south and add some more Donalds. I had intended to complete the Donalds this year but Covid stuffed that so more likely to be early next year.
A beautiful early morning drive showed these rolling hills at their best, what a morning, highly motivated for this walk.
I had several options for today's route but would not finally decide until Broad Law had been climbed. One consideration was that if I did complete my original circuit there is the 5km tarmac walk in a valley on a hot day, not the best finish.

Meggat stone, head up right side of fence

The weather was glorious as we set off from the Meggat Stone, a boundary marker sitting on the watershed of Peeblesshire and Selkirkshire. Please note parking limited to maximum 3 cars.
there are no navigation issues on this walk, even on a bad weather day, as there is a fence to follow all the way.

Cairn Hill cairn in view

The walk begins with an initial steep pull, boggy at times but not as bad as feared, up to the joint cairns, Shepherds cairn, just below Cairn hill. 

Shepherds cairn

The nearby shepherds cairn sits behind a deer fence but there is another large cairn on the hill.
Just off the track is the spur to the Donald, Talla Cleugh Head, an option for the descent.

Middle section (Porridge) and heading towards the aerial 

The steepest section Broad Law is over, now it is an easy gradient, 2km, all the way to the top, excellent walking in this weather. The middle section is known as Porridge cairn, there must be a story there. An aerial top peaks up on the horizon, another helpful guide. An on/off ATV track helps the walking. Broad Law is the second highest hill in the Southern Uplands and counts as both a Corbett and a Donald.

Broad Law cairn & aviation structure

The horrible huge aviation control building is the dominant feature as you crest the top. This is used by air traffic control for planes flying into Edinburgh.
however, there are superb views all round.
At a right angle the cairn can be seen on Cramalt Craig, our next stop. 

Follow another fence to Cramalt Craig

We headed towards another aerial before making a very steep descent. After that it was an easier gradient ascending to the cairn at Cramalt Craig. This used to be a Corbett until remeasured. The aforementioned descent was 146m and needed to be 150m for Corbett status. So for 4m it is now an ordinary Donald, albeit the 3rd highest of that category and just 9m lower than Broad Law. Again a fence and the ATV track make it easy navigation.

View from Cramalt cairn looking at the Culter Hills

Time for a spot of food and take in the spectacular views. All the Manor hills, Broughton and Culter hills close by. In the far distance two prominent small peaks stand out, the Eildons at Melrose. At times the purple heather covered moors were so vibrant.
My original plan was to go on to Dollar Law but for various reasons, not least the prospect of that road walk on a very hot day, so we retraced our steps. This time the ascent back to Broad Law is up the steeper gradient and it was noticeably harder work, a couple of short breather stops.

The spur of Talla Cleugh Head

On the descent from Broad Law the back up plan came into action and I decided to tick off Talla Cleugh Head. It is an outlying spur of Broad Law but it just has the required descent and reascent to make it a Donald in its own right and not just a Donald top.
This time it is a very big deer fence to follow (never saw any of them today). We walked on the right/east side of the fence where it was quite boggy and lots of peat hags but ok to cross. Nevertheless, in a short time the top was reached. There is no cairn or trig marker here but we went through the fence gate and came across a small pile of embedded wood, the top? Gps indicated it was indeed the highest point.

Talla reservoir

The views from here, looking down to Talla reservoir, confirmed you were a significant height up and if you climbed it from down there you would have no doubt about its Donald category. The hills from the Games Hope Burn looked imposing but there are 3 Donalds to be tagged so I will be doing them soon.
Reversed our route but went the other side of the fence, a better track and much drier.
Back to the shepherds cairn and an enjoyable descent to the cars with views looking down the Meggat reservoir.
A lovely day for a change made this good walk even better. Got a lot on over the next couple of months but I will make time for more of these Border hills.

Wildlife: Buzzard; Raven; Meadow Pipit; Song Thrush; Scotch Argus butterfly.
Ascent: 882m
Distance: 16.1km
Time: 5.17