The Moffat Mountain Marathon is an approximately 50km circular route around the hills north of Moffat. The route includes ascents of two Corbetts, ten Donalds and three Donald Deweys. I first became aware of it after a few runs in the area and wondering if there was a Southern Scotland “round” similar to the Ramsays, Bob Graham, Paddy Buckley etc. The route is a Long Distance Walkers Association Challenge and is something I had been planning on doing before Covid-19 came along and changed all of our running plans for the year!
To fit my run in around other commitments I started from the Moffat Ram at 2:40am, just as some light started to appear in the sky. The first section as far as Hart Fell was familiar thanks to an earlier recce and it was straightforward ticking off the required grid references at Gallow Hill, Archbank, Moffat Well (a short detour to a sulphuric smelling spring in a stone shelter) and onto the open hillside towards Greygill Head. My training has been all over the place since lockdown began and I wasn’t sure how I would feel on the climbs but as the gradient steepened I felt good and ran most of the way, only walking through the thicker clumps of heather. From Greygill Head I followed the undulating, boggy trail by the fence line before starting the gradual climb up Swatte Fell. The last time I did this climb it was covered in some lingering spring snow which made for extremely slow progress; thankfully this time the path was clear and reasonably dry and I managed a good pace. The cloud base was at around 630m and unless it lifted I knew I would be spending the majority of the first leg with no views and more challenging navigation than I would have liked. I didn’t have a detailed schedule but knew from previous runs that I’d like to get to the Hart Fell summit inside the two hour mark – this time I got there within 1 hour and 40 minutes and I was happy with this speedier than expected start.
The next few lumps and bumps of hills went by quickly. The cloud base didn’t lift but the route mostly followed various fence lines making navigation fairly straightforward; the only exception being the crossing of Rotten Bottom – a flat, boggy area above Raven Craig at the head of the Carrifran Burn. Thankfully the cloud lifted long enough for me to catch sight of Games Castle – a distinct, rocky outcrop named for its fortress-like appearance – which I could aim for across the bog.
More fence following from Games Castle brought me to Firthhope Rig, where I was careful to remember the out-and-back leg to White Coombe. Still shrouded in morning cloud I was denied the expansive views from the second Corbett summit of the day. I retraced my steps to Firthhope Rig before heading north via Donald’s Cleuch Head and Firthybrig Head, a couple of indistinct tops with only a wee bit of up and down between them. As I turned north east towards Lochcraig Head the cloud lifted just long enough for me to catch a glimpse of Loch Skeen and the morning light illuminating the hillsides towards the Ettrick Valley and around St Marys Loch.
As I climbed towards the summit of Lochcraig Head I ate, drank and checked my schedule – I had aimed to be at the summit at around 6:40am but I was happy to see I was a good 50 minutes ahead of this and still feeling fresh. I hit the top and turned left, following yet another fence line along a broad ridge, descending towards the Megget Stone. I made a questionable navigation choice here, cutting off the ridge early instead of following it all the way down, hoping the trail I was on would continue all the way to the road. It didn’t, which led to a fair bit of bog hopping and slow trudging to the Megget Stone and finally to the paved road which would lead me to the halfway point at Talla Linfoots.
At Talla I had a five minute stop to eat some iced ginger cake and psyche myself up for the next big climb – a steep, grassy slog straight up Garelet Hill. As I started the climb I was pleased to see plentiful evidence of the work of The Borders Forest Trust, who manage a substantial portion of land in the area and have been rewilding the hillsides with native tree species since 1996. I have participated in tree planting work with them at nearby Gameshope and look forward to seeing these hills covered trees and wildlife in the future (you can check out their work here https://bordersforesttrust.org/).
The climb was steep but not too arduous as I enjoyed the views of the surrounding hills. I followed a decent trod close to the crags on the north of the hill which led me to the weather-beaten trig at the summit. From Garelet Hill the route passed the tops of Lairds Cleuch Rig, Erie Hill, Capilus Hill and Brawns Dod on boggy but easy to follow tracks and trods before dropping sharply to Fruid Reservoir. After skirting the south east side of the reservoir, taking time and care not to bother any livestock, I began the last major climb of the route, following another good track and then a wee trod which took me most of the way to the top. From this summit, Ballaman Hill, I was back on familiar ground. Having recced this section before lockdown I was positive I could cover the remainder of the route with relative ease. I had taken about six hours to get to this point and with a good knowledge of the route ahead I felt confident of getting back to Moffat inside eight hours; all I had ahead of me were a few little bumps, a bit of bog and a good stretch of low level road and trail.
The next hill, “The Crown of Scotland”, is not as grand as its name suggests so I didn’t linger long before making a beeline for the large cairn on the Annandale Way where I stopped for a quick selfie before heading over Chalk Rig Edge and Great Hill. Great Hill marks the last summit on the route so I stopped here to put my running poles away, have something to eat and put on a motivational playlist to give me a boost of energy and enthusiasm for the last push to Moffat. The descent from Strait Step makes for excellent running, following a rocky ledge high above the Devils Beef Tub before dropping steeply through bracken and sheep fields to Corehead Farm.
The remainder of the route is mostly a gradual downhill (apart from one cruelly steep little climb from Ericstane Farm to the Annandale Way) on roads or well-maintained trails. I made good progress and hit the last little stretch into Moffat with seven hours and fifteen minutes on the clock. I couldn’t quite remember how long was left but thought it would be good to finish under seven hours and thirty minutes so I picked up the pace as much as I could. Turning off the trail into the carpark at the southern end of the town I had five minutes to get back to the ram, only a few hundred meters. I ran as fast as I could anyway – sprinting past the recently reopened sweet shops, cafes and bakeries and dodging the handful of people who were out on the high street. I tapped the fence around the ram statue seven hours, twenty five minutes and fifty three seconds after leaving – later confirmed by the route organiser as a new record for the Moffat Mountain Marathon, around two hours quicker than the previous fastest time.
I am really happy to have run this route in a good time, especially just now having juggled training around the challenges of a young family, home-schooling and working from home during lockdown. I’m sure there are plenty of fasties in the club who could run this quicker, especially with a bit of support and drier underfoot conditions. Under seven hours definitely seems like a reasonable target. Even if you’re not aiming for a fast time I’d highly recommend having a go at the Moffat Mountain Marathon – it’s a challenging, diverse, unique route in this often overlooked part of the country.
There is a shorter route devised by the same person – the Moffat Hills Challenge – covering some of the same ground. You can check it out here: https://ldwa.org.uk/ldp/members/show_path.php?path_name=Moffat+Hills+Challenge. And details of the full route are here: https://ldwa.org.uk/ldp/members/show_path.php?path_name=Moffat+Mountain+Marathon
If you are thinking of giving it a go let me know, I’m happy to offer support and advice!
Ross Christie