Walk from highest village to a haunt of Burns

Published on Saturday 5 July 2008 11:19

WANLOCKHEAD is Scotland's highest village at 467m or 1531ft above sea level, and the highest point along the Southern Upland Way. Wanlockhead's industry grew around lead and gold. The Duke of Buccleuch built a smelting plant and workers' cottages around this in 1680.

Some of the purest gold (22.8 carats) has been found nearby and was used to make the Scottish crown. Lead mining declined in the 1950s and the history of this industry can be found in the lead mining museum.

Catch the Wanlockhead bus from the shelter on the post office side of the High Street. Bus times are available from the tourist information centre inside the world's oldest working post office.

Get off the bus at the stop opposite the museum of lead mining in Wanlockhead. It is well worth a visit before you set out along the Southern Upland Way.

The interesting industrial heritage sites along this route will be more rewarding with your newfound knowledge.

Cross the road and the burn below the museum and turn left along the Southern upland Way. Pass the Lochnell mine, the beam engine and the churchyard, and continue along the quiet road alongside Wanloch Water.

The beam engine and waterbucket pumps were introduced into Wanlockhead in 1745. The history of the beam engine is uncertain, but accounts of similar engines have been recorded at a Canonbie coal mine in the 1790s.

The Wanlockhead beam engine was built in the middle of the 19th century and is the only lasting example of a waterbucket pumping engine to be seen at a mine in the UK today.

At the waterworks the tarred road finishes. Continue along the track to the fingerpost, cross the footbridge and climb the stile to the open hill.

Follow the waymark post past the corrugated sheepfold on the track that zigzags uphill.

At the top, cross the fence at the stile and follow the causeway to another stile, followed by a series of burn crossings. Soon you will see a stone sheep shelter and a ruined steading.

Cross the stile and turn right along the track away from the ruin to descend towards the forest. Climb the stile by the fingerpost and turn left along the forest road. Cross the burn and pass by the layby before turning left off the forest road to reach another stile.

Walk uphill following waymarkers. Climb the stile to reach the downhill path following the fence line. After a long, straight section the fence turns left, but the Southern Upland Way markers and stile lead you to a track on the right of the plantation.

Join a Tarmac road after the farmhouse and turn left over the stile, just before the gate and cattle grid across the road.

Descend the slope to the footbridge and cross to the stile, followed by boardwalks. The route climbs to a replanted wood. Follow the waymarkers, stiles and kissing gates to reach the track running past the public water supply.

When the track turns right, take the path straight ahead to drop into Sanquhar, down the steep and wide Cow's Wynd Pass, under the railway to reach the High Street and turn right to the Tolbooth.

Sanquhar is the name of both a parish and the town that is at its heart. In the 1780s the legendary Scottish poet Robert Burns was a frequent visitor to Sanquhar. When he was renovating a farm in 1788 he often passed through on the way back to his wife, Jean, in Ayrshire. Afterwards he became a well-known face because of his excise duties.

Burns called the town Black Joan in his ballad Five Carlins, in which he represented the local burghs as characters. He would stay overnight at the Queensberry Arms in the High Street, making friends with the owner and calling it "the only tolerable inn in the place".

Sanquhar itself prospered through the late 1800s and early 1900s. William Adam, a famous Scottish architect, designed the tollbooth in the centre of town, which is the only surviving building of this type designed by him. It is presently used as the town museum, containing local artifacts and memorabilia.

The sport of curling runs in the blood of people from Sanquhar.

The town has the world's oldest curling society, formed in 1774, with 60 members. James Brown, who wrote an important history of the town, is also credited with writing the rules universally used for the sport. The witches of Crawick were known for casting hexes on other teams.

There were tournaments where the prize was a sack of grain. The victorious team would gather the food and distribute it to the poor and needy back in their home town.

Wanlockhead to Sanquhar

Distance: 7 miles

Time: 3 hours

Difficulty: Strenuous Southern Upland Way Walk

Location: Sanquhar on the A76 Dumfries to Glasgow road. Visit

www.visitscotland.com/walking

Compiled by Gillian Thompson