Bridge over bubbling waters
2 days ago , by Richard Lutz
Richard Lutz walks beneath The Range of the Awful Hand
I’ve been told there was an old Scottish hiker who didn’t use map nor compass. He didn’t use iPhone nor GPS. I was also told, and take it as read, the old boy navigated by the clouds.
Now, there’s a tall tale. No doubt, our ancient roaming friend also got lost a lot in the twisted mystery of Scottish hills, veiled glens and remote mountains.
He wouldn’t have been much use then as I walked under a clear sky to The Waters of Minnoch somewhere between Ayrshire’s Glen Trool and an endless roll of rumbled terrain.
Today, no cloud to aid navigation. Just clear spring air. The cerulean sky above, beds of wood anenome below:
Also, primroses on the forest floor:
We travel past and over three rivers, The Cree to The Waters of Minnoch to the Waters of Trool. The sun radiates through the canopy of trees. There’s hazel and oak and birch waking up and, it seems, more hazel.
We follow a part of the 200 mile Southern Upland Way and then take a detour on a sudden offshoot, off the long distance path. Up and over a knarled knuckle of crumbly rock and we are met by The Old Bridge of Minnoch.
There is no path, no road, no route on or off it, east nor west of it, up nor down of it. It’s ancient. Its roots in history are unknown.
It has a slightly squint arch and its cobbled approaches gracefully curve as if unknown builders had a drink or two too much.
Or else they were master craftsmen, geniuses, allowing its odd shape to fit into the curving contours of the riverbanks.
Local sources (ahh..good old local sources) call it The Roman Bridge. Unlikely. Others say it was called The Romany Bridge, used by gypsies and traveling families.
More down to earth historians call it a classic pack horse bridge used in late medieval times to carry supplies across waters in rough terrain. The best historic estimates say it is, at best, up to five hundred years old. Maybe.
We search for linking pathways on both sides of The Waters of Minnoch, a river rising from the shoulders of The Shalloch on Minnoch, a peak that forms the little finger of the gloriously named Range of the Awful Hand.
The old bridge lies isolated, a spiderweb of connecting routes obviously erased by the power of time.
Before we leave though, an archive shot, a winter scene from years ago of kayakers battling on the rumpled currents of The Waters of Minnoch. This from photographer Tony Page:
I guess I’ll return to the old bridge with all its questions. Maybe I’ll bring JB who’s flying in from Texas this summer. As a high school athlete, he possessed a mean curveball as a pitcher. But maybe he won’t be allowed out of the US. Maybe there’ll be new restrictions. After all, I understand Trump hates curveballs. And that’s from local sources. So it has to be true.
Photos: Geograph- Billy McCrorie/Tony Page
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Will Travel
Thanks for introducing me to the word ‘cerulean’. From now on I shall drop it into conversations as much as possible.
Robin McC
Cool
Mary Hill
A good read
Femi O
I like- “Up and over a knarled knuckle of crumbly rock and we are met by The Old Bridge of Minnoch”.
TLL
Might be one of the best names ever for mountains.
Angela
What a glorious-sounding walk. Feeling very envious even though I know I’m not really up to even medium length walks these days. But I did do a small part of the “George” walk along the Mawddach estuary in Wales the other week
James T Boroughs
Alliterative colour
William the younger
Love those mysterious landmarks of lost history. Off for a hike on the western fringes of America, (before it’s auctioned off to a Russian Oligarch.)
Bert Clarkson
Take me there
Surita Khan
😊
Jeff Baloutine : Austin
We don’t have anything like the Range of the Awful Hand in Texas, in form or name. Would love to see it in person,
Donna Leece
Lovely pictures
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