Loch of The Lowes & Riskinhope Hope circular

Todays wee hike was on the smaller side but still very pleasant.

We started in the car park beside the Loch of the Lowes (next to St Mary's Loch) and headed over the wee bridge towards the hill following the old drove road.

There's good tracks most of this walk although be prepared for a few boggy areas which can create quite the obstacle course- a great leg day workout hehe!

Continuing up the tracks we came to an old cattle grid and gate at Berrybush which led us slightly uphill to the right where we then followed the track again heading to the right.

Again, a bit boggy at time so gaitors would definitely be a wise choice (guess who had them in her rucksack but didn't use them! ). Anyhoo, continuing through the gate still following the tracks we came across the ruins at Riskinhope Hope- a bit disappointing if you like a ruined building like myself! Then made our way downhill to the little bridge.

We continued on up the hill from here and followed the tracks and markers along to where two markers sit only feet away.

Here, we cut off to the right to begin our descent along the edge Peat Hill. We kinda lost the track here after encountering a rather large bog and diverting from it. We soon found our way back to the path however to continue our return journey and were soon rewarded with views back over the loch. Came across the brightest little fungi here...

On reaching the bottom of the hill and heading across the field to the right, we made our way to the shores of the loch, this time at the opposite end from where we started. From here there are stunning views all the way down the water.

We headed right for the last leg of the journey, following along the edge of the loch. This proved a bit boggy at bits and one section in particular provided a wee mini challenge for my temperamental knee, however all went well and I managed to stay upright and more importantly, the knee behaved! We returned over another small bridge and crossed the field back to the road.

It was a lovely shorter hike, totalling about 10k and took us 2.5hours. Some of the views are stunning and all in all the tracks were great. We'll definitely be back....