Report on L owther Hills Sunday 16th May 2004 Thanks to Michael Buchanan for an enjoyable walk and a very good day out on Sunday, 16th May in the Lowther Hills.  Seven of us (Michael, Lydia, Audrey, Anne, Irene, Maureen and myself) met at 10.30am in Sanquhar for what Michael politely referred to as a 'lady's break' and then carried on to Durisdeer - a lovely little hamlet surrounding an old church and graveyard.

We set off from there at around 11am (after Irene had thoroughly explored the graveyard) and made our way along an old roman road and up a couple of fairly energetic slopes to the top of the first hill - Well Hill (around 600+metres) where first there got the best of
the flat rocks to sit on and have our lunch. By this time the sun had broken through and it was really pleasant - nice view and good chat.

Setting off again from there at around 1 o'clock we dropped down a couple of hundred feet and then back up again to the top of Black Hill, even better views here and now time to start the return journey. This was quite a sharp descent to cross a little burn and complete the circle back on the roman
road and back to the cars.

Next on the agenda was the pub - the Crown in Sanquhar where we sat in the beer garden - it was really warm by this time and we were forced to have 2 rounds of drinks which went down a treat. Michael introduced us to a walking companion he had met on a previous outing to the area (Hughie) who told us about the area's walking festival which is on the weekend of the 29th and 30th of May and which Michael will bring info about to the AGM on Thursday if anyone's interested in taking part.

All in all a great day out and a lovely walking area - thanks again to Michael.