Dad's Army
Handley Page Hampden L4063 on Wyndy Gyle.
(Distance
covered = 8.75 mile/Ascent =+515m)
Another one I visited in the 1990's with Sharni our Golden Retreiver as company. The photos were taken on my old Canon AV1 using 35mm film and because this was way before the time of computers and internet I didn't take many, if any, photos of the route there as I didn't know I would need them for my website!
If I had of known then that I would be making
a website over 20 years into the future I would have definately taken some photographs of
the strange incident that occured as I was making my way up a ridge called
'The Street', which runs from Hindside Know onto Swineside Law on the way to Wyndy Gyle.
I had parked in the
Upper Coquetdale Valley, it was in England
,so it was a Valley not a Glen. As I made my way up the hill on a beautiful sunny morning I had a strange feeling that I was being followed.
This feeling continued for quite a distance so when I came across a deep
peat hag I had a sit down for a moment out of sight. After a minute or so,
Soldiers started to creep past me, dressed in full camouflage gear with
their faces blackened and carrying Rifles, as each one walked past I began
amusing myself by saying "Good Morning" and seeing which one jumped the
most, of course it never crossed my mind at the time that one might have had
such a start that he turned around and shot me!. It did transpire that I wasn't
in a live firing area so they would only have been carrying blanks anyway but I
didn't know that at the time. Later on a couple of Army Landrovers passed
me and I was given a little bit of abuse from the
Squaddies that I had startled earlier, who were getting a lift
back down the Hill.
Sharni beside a crater full of Hampden Wreckage.
The rest of the walk up to the Hampden wreck was pretty uneventfull, I was relieved not to find an enraged Lesbian at an area called 'Cross Dyke' and immediately after that was the English/Scottish Border fence and the Peninne Way.
Above and below:-Sharin with a small collection of wreckage lying in nearby reeds.
The Hampden crashsite is on Windy Rig, which is just on the Scottish side of the fence. There used to be some large sections remaining here but they were reportedly removed by Helicopter to an unknown location, possibly to the nearby Otterburn ranges to be used as target practice. Most of the wreckage shown in these photos has now also been removed by a Museum group, hopefully it won't end up gathering dust in a storeroom, dumped behind the toilets or scrapped, as is often the case.
above and below:- Pieces found in the crater, being aware that not all of the crew were recovered from this site I only moved a few pieces from the top to photograph.
From the crashsite I continued up onto the
top of Wyndy Gyle, over the top and back down a ridge on the eastern side
of the Hill, I avoided the areas just to the north called 'Blair's Hole'
and 'Randy's Gap' oh! and there was an 'Outer Cock Law' and a 'Butts Road'
as well, perhaps Finbarr Saunder's had once worked as a cartographer!
Going back this way also
meant I avoided any more encounters with Dad's Army.
