The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
A woodland for all weathers
Weddersbie Hill, Grange of Lindores, Fife
Iam usually one for an early start but sometimes, in our fickle Scottish climate, it pays to delay. Keen for a mid-week wander, my prospects did not look particularly promising when I pulled back the curtains on a wet and cloudy Wednesday morning. However, with the forecast suggesting improvement, I set out for Weddersbie Hill later in the day and, as I arrived at Abdie and Dunbog Parish Church, near the Fife hamlet of Grange of Lindores, the heavy clouds showed some signs of clearing.
Although conditions were still far from ideal, I pulled on my waterproofs and set off along a narrow lane running through farmland, linking the early 19th Century church with its ancient predecessor.
Sitting atop a grassy mound, old Abdie Church dates from the mid-13th Century but, in a poor state of repair, it was abandoned in 1827 and now lies in ruin. There are some captivating headstones in the churchyard and a stone bothy by the cemetery gates houses a 14th Century grave slab and two carved stones.
Just beyond the church, at the end of the lane, a path branches right, crossing a strip of land where sheep grazed before tracking a line of telegraph poles up through an arable field to Berryhill Farm.
Here I joined the road, following it south through a cluster of cottages, passing quaint Berry Choille Well, believed to date from 1735, and Golden Loch, an angling pool occupying the dip between Golden Hill and Woodmill Hill.
The track to Weddersbie Hill and Red Myre, another little loch, is signed from the road, the way weaving through crops before climbing to the edge of woodland where a wee path guided me on to the forest track.
Rising along the sheltered western edge of the plantation, below a brackencovered slope of tall pines, the way peaks before descending to a track intersection above Red Myre.
Turning west here, there was little evidence of any water, the secluded pond to my left now largely clogged with rushes and reeds.
On a more positive note, rays of sunshine were beginning to filter through the trees above me and, as I left the track descending to Lumquhat, rounding the corner to a view of West Lomond and then East Lomond, blue sky started to prevail.
The brighter weather brought out butterflies and, as I tramped the trail above the deep cleft of Weddersbie Den, colourful peacock, small tortoiseshell and red admiral fluttered by, settling on wildflowers bravely holding their ground amid the rough gorse and broom.
Curving away from the den, the Lomonds still very much in focus, the vista south broadens to encompass a vast swathe of the Howe of Fife, a patchwork of fields and forestry dotted with small towns and villages.
It is a view to savour for the track soon leaves the fringes of the forest, returning to Red Myre (something of a linchpin on this walk) where a loop around Weddersbie Hill awaited me.
While the track does not rise to the summit of the hill, it does enjoy a fair elevation, crossing felled ground initially, emerging from the evergreens once again higher up, passing above glistening Black Loch before rounding the hill’s northern flank and descending through Scots Pine to the now familiar Red Myre.
ROUTE
1. Follow surfaced track south-east to Abdie House.
2. Approaching Abdie House, go right through metal then wooden gate and ascend path below telegraph poles to road. Turn left and follow road south.
3. Turn right (signed Red Myre) and follow track through farmland, ascending to forest.
4. Branch left at waymarker post then immediately go right on forest track to Red Myre.
5. Turn right and follow track west. At next waymarked junction, go right, descending by edge of plantation.
6. At next waymarked junction, turn left along track running above Weddersbie Den.
7. At next junction, bear left, ascending track.
8. Turn left, ascending track to junction above Red Myre.
9. Turn right then go right again, the track looping up round Weddersbie Hill before descending to point 5. Turn right and retrace steps to Abdie and Dunbog Parish Church.