Sphagnum
Vickers Viking G-AIVE on Irish Law,
De Havilland
Devon VP969 and
Vickers Wellington R1164 on Box Law.
(Distance covered = 6.1
mile/Ascent =+423m)
There's a bit of speculation about why so many crashes occurred in the hills of the Clyde Muirsheil Park, perhaps it's the Burmuda Triangle of Scotland. A Highland Dancing Championships in Glasgow gave me the opportuity to visit three of them.
In truth the reason for all the crashes was
simply because of the Hills proximity to Renfrew Airfield, which is
known as Glasgow Airport nowadays.
After dropping the girls at Clevedon
High School where the competition was being held I nipped through the Clyde
Tunnel then along the A737 through Lochwinnoch and Kilbirnie before parking
beside the A760 at Blairpark. The walk started off by having to go through
a farmyard, of sorts, something I usually avoid doing, but as there was a huge
sign pointing the way through the yard to the footpath, I followed it.
Once through the yard there was a good farm track to follow uphill for the first
mile or so.
Irish Law from the Farm track up from Blairpark.
I had to leave the farm track after about 1 mile to head cross country to Irish Law, there was a feint quad track which made its way down through a boggy area to the burn but once over the burn I just picked the best looking terrain to follow up the other side towards Irish Law. The Viking lay on the other side of Irish Law so I didn't go right to the top but instead contoured around when I was about 3/4's of the way up. The Viking wreckage can be found in the depression between Irsh Law and Little Irish Law and the first parts I came across were the two prop assemblies lying some distance from the rest of the wreckage.
above and next 3 photos:-The first pieces of the Viking I found were the remains of the two props, the prop blades having been hacksawed off by the Magpies!
A couple of hundred yards further on from the Prop blades can be found the main bulk of the wreckage, it wasn't hard to spot, and consists of both engine nacelles and both Hercules engines, one of the Hercules is still attached to the engine bearers and nacelle. A sort distance away and slightly downhill is the remains of the tail and scattered around are other parts and panels.
Above and next 28 photos:-Remains of the Vickers Viking.
Above and below:-Remains of the tail
above and below:-2nd Hercules Engine
The Hill in the background is Little Irish Law.
The area where the nacelles are is where the Viking burnt out, the remains of the tail can be seen in the background.
This tyre has got better tread than the ones on my car!
Signs of the Viking's Wellington ancestry!
From the Viking crashsite another wrecked Aircraft can clearly be seen across the valley on another Hill. I had only intended visiting the Viking on this day as it was one of my earlier expeditions after I resumed my Hillwalking activities, so I was still a little overweight and unfit, but as I could see it I thought I might as well go and have a closer look.
The DH Devon lying on Box Law, like the Viking it is easy to locate!
To reach the Devon I first had to cross a very boggy area that lies between Box Law and Irish Law, in the middle of which lies a delightfully named burn, Gogo Water. If you follow the Gogo Water downstream you will come to Gogo Lodge, where perhaps there might be some Gogo Dancers!, well you never know!
above and next 14 photos:-Wreckage consists of the almost complete wings, the tail and both engines.
As well as the Devon there was another crash on Bow Law, it was a Vickers Wellington and it can't have been more than 200yrds from where I now was, so it would have been daft not to go and check that one out as well. This one was a little harder to find as it consists of only small pieces and lies in a scar.
above and next 7 photos:-Shattered remains of the Wellington on Box Law.
To locate the remains of the Wellington I first looked for a small pond which it lies right next to, this was easy to find, but as I approached I was paying more attention to looking for Aircraft wreckage than where I was walking, so I walked onto what looked like someones front lawn, but in fact it was a large area of spaggy moss, into which I promptly sunk right up to my knees. Spaggy Moss is what I call Peat Moss or to give it it's proper name 'Sphagnum Moss'
