Leckie

 

Leckie estate top left below Gargunnock hills

Birthday Photo

Bridge over troubled waters

Snowdrops and wild garlic

After over 30 walks up Lime Craig this year and accompanying me on sorties to local micro hills, Aileen decided that her birthday walk on a cold and windy day should be less aerobic and not involve any climbing. The view to the Gargunnock hills from the house reminded us that the Leckie estate is a place of interest when it is not the shooting season for pheasants, partridge or grouse. It had belonged to the Younger family (Brewing and the former Secretary of State for Scotland) for many years but has since been sold twice in the last five years. 

The estate comprises a curious hotchpotch of landscapes with the bedrock of red sandstone carved by fast flowing burns, old estate plantations of massive and damaged deciduous trees, new ugly coniferous forests, and the remnants of old mills, sawmills and bridges lost in the vegetation but acting as reminders of the grandeur of Victorian estates. The undergrowth of the older plantations is lush with a carpet of snowdrops, wild garlic and patches of daffodils. An area of rhododendrons has been cleared over the winter and adds to the desolation.

We did a long loop around the tracks and paths. Gregor had been running there earlier in the week and felt that he was being chased by an animal at one point, presumably a deer but who knows what lurks in estates like this that are hoaching with game birds. We walked back via Watson House, now divided into flats, and along the beech avenue back to Gargunnock. The next stop was the Woodhouse for a cake to celebrate the birthday. There were none available so for the second year running I made a Victoria Sponge, successfully, although the strawberry and cream filling would have been annihilated on bake off for taste and presentation. 

Tomorrow I will be back to climb Lime Craig for the 44th time this year, its views are the best value in the vicinity from a mere 300 metre ascent.

Lime Craig