Soggy Socks
Lockheed Hudson AE489 on Glenouther Moor.
(Distance covered =
1.2 mile/Ascent =+43 m)
Almost every week for the past 5 years I've been taking my Daughter for a dance class at Newton Mearns, near Glasgow. Usually I just sit in another rooms and watch the telly but on this occasion I went to visit a crashsite I'd heard about that was less than 5 mile away.
I only had an hour and a half before I had to be back to pick my Daughter and wife up, but that wouldn't be a problem as the crashsite was only about a third of a mile from the nearest road and just over half a mile from the nearest parking spot.
Blueberry Esmerelda Muffin II parked beside the B769 near Low Blacklow Farm
About 50 yards from where I parked there was a gate into the field I needed to cross, I ignored it as I intended walking about half a mile down the road to where, in the next field there was another gate and also a bridge to cross a burn that ran parallel with the road. I abandoned that plan when I realised there was also a herd of Brown Cows in that field. Remembering some of my previous encounters with brown cows I instead hopped over the barbed wire fence and walked up the side of the first field. The burn as it turned out did not require a bridge to get across.
Should of just gone through that gate; I did on the way back!
Bogs like this are no problem for my mkIII hiking boots, but today I was wearing my old mkII Hiking boots, and they leak.
At the top of the field thare was another barbed wire fence to negotiate, this one was higher than the previous one and I was wearing my good clothes as we were going to a function after Heather's dance class. Ripped pants would not have scored me any brownie points with the wife so I walked along the fence looking for an easier place to cross.
This field was devoid of Cows so I walked around the bog
to keep my feet dry and to avoid getting muddy.
Because of my detour to find a safer crossing place I found a piece of the Hudson lying beside the fence about a hundred yards east of the start of the firebreak where the crashsite is located. As an added bonus it lay beside a telegraph pole sized fencepost that I was able to climb across without ripping my pants.
Above and below-Piece of Lockheed Hudson AE489 lying beside a fence some distance from the crashsite.
After finding this piece I decided to go directly from here through the woods to the crashsite instead of walking up the firebreak, just in case there was any more bits scattered, not a good idea considering I was trying to keep clean.
Luckily the trees wern't very dense otherwise I would have ended up a lot hackier than I did!
Above and below:-The crashsite has been fenced off leaving a large oval clearing in the woods containing some sizable chunks of Hudson and a large muddy hole where a Museum Group dug up one of the engines and some other parts. Its possible the other engine is still buried in the bog here.
Above and below:-Control pulleys from the engine nacelle, at the
crashsite above and on a more intact Hudson below. Thanks to Stuart
Whittaker again for identifying that!
I found an almost identical part to this at the crashsite of a C60 Lodesatar on Beinn Nuis***.
For more wreckage photos click here!
Exiting the woods, this time utilising the firebreak.
Going back I took a diagonal line straight over to the first gate I passed on the way, much easier.
This appears to be a nice flat field but there's a deep gully containing a
burn about halfway across.
Almost back to the road, just that deep gully to cross.
This one; completely hidden from view from above,
the same phenomenon can be encountered in the mountains when approaching
vertical cliffs from above, but with much deadlier consequences for the
unwary!
This page was almost titled 'What are the odds II'* as the following day I received an email from one of my 'website buddies' as Heather calls them, in fact it was Stuart Whittaker who helps me a lot in identifying parts found at the crashsites. He was in Scotland on a visit from Sweden and had been intending to check out the two crashsites above Loch Lomond** but didnt have time so instead he went to the Hudson Crashsite on Glenouther Moor just 24 hours after I was there.
Can I count that as a waterfall?
As I wasn't expecting to get dirty or sweaty walking just over 1 mile across a grassy field I didn't take a change of clothes, but I hadn't bargained for my leaky mkII Hiking boots and as my feet had sunk into the bog whilst I was taking photos at the crashsite my socks were soaking wet. I hung them out the car window to dry while I drove back to Newton Mearns but unfortunately 5 mile wasn't quite far enough so after a bit of an ear bashing from the wife I went to the function wearing soggy socks and ever so slightly dirty pants.
