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This thread is to honour the majesty of the Clubbiedean Big Puddle.
Status on Sunday 8th December 2024: resplendently spanned the full width of the path. Stepping stones just visible but only the bold dared to use them.
Colour was brown green with a slight sheen. Turbid.
All glory to the Big Puddle!
@medium Dave - see my ride report in Puddle Etiquette but I did swither about a new thread as The Big Puddle does deserve its own thread. I mean other puddles are available but they aint The Big Puddle
Saturday 14th. The Big Puddle was less big, but still quite deep. Stepping stones quite usable.
A filthy and delighted Labrador was making full use of the Big Puddle variously as refreshment, spa treatment and cologne.
A less-than-delighted owner was attempting to retrieve the dog from the embrace of the Big Puddle.
My spies inform me that the Big Puddle is passable but only just.
Stepping stones are visible but slippery. Treacherous! The Big Puddle shall claim the unwary as its due.
The Big Puddle is still passable - the stepping stones are visible plus there is a bonus narrow muddy strip by the wall that you can place a foot on. Depth - still unknown, colour - Satan's toilet bowl.
The Big Puddle was passable via stepping stones today (I may have ridden over one of them...), and the approaches are quite dry.
However the track from Easter Kinleith Farm is uniformly covered with a substantial film of liquid mud* in many places, and this may have been disappointing to the walkers I passed, who I suspect had come dry-shod from Clubbiedean. One of them had suede boots on, and there was no way that was going to end well if they had carried on.
*this is 'mud' in the same sense as in the 'Mud on Road' sign, which we all know is a euphemism for what, in my Mendip caving days was known as 'cowsh'.
Cows will do that.
Sacrilege to say it but there is a bigger puddle no one gets through at top of kirk brae on the Ranges Road .
It is the Bigger Puddle.
Well the Big Puddle was ...big yesterday. Wall to wall.
I got there after a lot of hike-a-biking round the reservoirs through deepish snow (it was picturesque, but hard work). Luckily the track to the Big Puddle was less snowy.
That shows true devotion to the Big Puddle @Greenroofer
@gembo: Sacrilege to say it but there is a bigger puddle no one gets through at top of kirk brae on the Ranges Road
Kirkgate?
IME the track from Torphin to Easter Kinleith Farm is always a bit of a trial once you're beyond the disused quarry, even when it's not covered in "mud". The section that goes across the flank of Warklaw Hill always feels steeper than it looks - probably not helped by the awkward cross slope - and the downhill section towards the farm always seems to have obstructions or poor surface of some kind on it. I tend to avoid that route as I just don't find it enjoyable. My usual preference when on the bike is to cut across from Torphin to Woodhall Mains, then take the Blinkbonny path and Blinkbonny Road to Kirkgate.
Aye @Stubbsie, once atop the brae of Kirkgate, bear right then immediately left and you are on the Ranges Road. A muckle puddle awaits and then a decent road to run but not cycle goes up to the first gate on the maidens Cleuch.
Your other route on Torphin Hill has a clear dlieniation twixt the paths maintained by Zara Philips and those old Primrose neglected before he shuffled off. Or whichever landowner. The quarry is a great quarry and the descents on Zara’s. Paths are mighty steep with wee hurdles that would send you through the air. Once onto Zara’s. Stable road you can take the ashy path round the back and go through Blinkbonny. The residents run a lovely Illumination down on the WoL. Path btw. From Blinkbonny yes back to Kirkgate.
The Big Puddle was passable easily on the left and not too bad even on the right [heading east]
But today is National Fckwit Stand in Middle of Path on YOur Phone Day.
We went up to West Kip shoulder to show Trev the North West Passage to Listonshiels but it was too muddy beyond the gate indicating the connection to Listonshiels. Would be a bog though someone walking the Spine did come from that direction then go up West Kip.
We descended from the shoulder then went down Beech Ave and round Thriepmuir and Harlaw and Clubbiedean and down to the WoL Path then home. Blowy out but quite a bit was Tailwind.
@gembo - where's the mysterious Northwest Passage head off from the Red Road?
I was up and over to Nine Mile Burn yesterday. Damp under wheel especially on the return trip where I dropped down to Loganlea and over Maidens.
@ the shoulder there is a sign saying Ninemileburn via braid Hill. This is the route you take but almost immediately u head a bit North West whereas that path goes South West. Starts not too bad then you descend to a valley where there is a big barn then some shenanigans with a. Sort of log bridge then muddy then you hit the Carlops footpath whe you should turn right back up to Borestane/Listonshiels.
Been trying to decipher these directions for the last half hour. Are you following the line over Green Law and Spittal Hill? Looks a bit agricultural.
I can see a path running more east towards Cock Rigg, but looking at the Stava heatmap only a few cyclists have ventured down it and they all turned back.
Further north, I've used the 'yellow brick road' to get from Wester Bavelaw across to the Borestane Path. Have also used a 'path' (not a path) about 1Km north, running back east from Listonsheils - won't be using that again.
@Urchaidh the route is parallel to the yellow brick road but about a mile to the south and better as at the start it has been improved I think to extract trees it does then get sketchy agreed but we cycled it - me Tam and the unmentionable who showed off somewhat. But this was height of summer So instead of taking Braid Law route to Ninemileburn once over the style you veer right almost immediately It is very obvious to start with. I recommend doing it in the height of summer when dry. We did it one evening. In June. GREENLAW is POSSIBLY a MARKER but maybe too far south. You descend to the Gutterford Burn Valley where there is a big Shed. To get over said burn involves the log bridges.
In an aside in case you are interested if instead you are going up the chunkier Listonshiels Route, near the top ignore the farmer’s sign and take the much better track down the west side of the henshaw? burn to Carlops MUCh better cycling as is farmers’s Landrover track. It does then meet the Borestane path about half way to Carlops and again there is a sign directing walkers coming up to not use the nice cycling path.
Big Puddle surprisingly small today. All the stones on the left were exposed. Different tyre tracks in the mud showed all the different route options people had recently chosen to cross it. There were several.
@greenroofer, see upthread maybe include me on left by the exposed stones and tam and Trev on right though water was a bit higher yesterday. Weirdly all the reservoirs on our route were high - Bavelaw marsh [ok not a reservoir], Thriepmuir, and Harlaw. Though Clubbiedean dean was normal and then Torduff was low.
The Big Puddle is somewhat smaller than usual but looking very fine, still and serenely reflecting the sun.
It was at 75% depth and width last Sunday afternoon. Had been some rain overnight so path round from Poet’s Glen was muddy. At Bonaly we tried the path I thought was on Googl but just led to Pylon and house with huge supply of wood. There is more access from a different bit of Bonaly slightly further east at the next bridge. From where you can get up the Militry Road to Allermuir and even Capelaw Hill Fort. I think.
Full width today. Rideable on the south side through water, walkable on north with a bit of a stepping stone chasse.
Great photo of The Big Puddle, if anyone is not familiar with it, the bike in the photo is east of the puddle on its way to The Clubbiedean Cafe at the Reservoir. The stepping stones are where Urchaidh said - on the North side of the puddle.
I was there today too. I can confirm this is an accurate picture. I tend to ride over the stepping stones.
I've been pondering what it would take to drain it and whether it would be worth a shot...
Not as easy as digging a channel as the wall to the North is in the way.
How big a bit of pipe do we reckon would be needed and how would you get it under the wall?
Drain the big puddle?
DEATH TO THE BLASPHEMER!
I wonder who owns it. The farmer who gave me a bollocking twenty odd years ago for pushing my bike across a field of grass and thistles [Bob Barr] is the tenant. But Might be Roseberry. The upkeep of the land is fine but in stark contrast to the neighbour [Philips] which is landmark trust regal. Zara would be out there draining the big puddle for us if it was her. The current Roseberry too busy running his auction house. Sadly the names of his children not on wiki anymore, they were somewhat fruity. That generation of toffs dont go in for Arthur or Walter any more. But Dickie Scott’s grandchildren are called Dido, Willoughby [a boy] and Hesper
The distaff side of the extended family [Douglas] who used to Own Drumlanrig [until that line died out [cycling museum now closed]]. Had other relatives also called Douglas who favoured . Sholto of course. It being the name of the very mad Douglas who sold the Dumfries estate}. Think also Oscar Wilde Etc. Anyway if down at Drumlanrig do check out the crazy Douglas Mausolem of mad rococo. White marble at the back of the very modest Kirk. If doing that check out the Wald Path which James IV used to get to Whithorn and which was improved by The Romans way before. Durisdeer for a hamlet of ten houses punches way above its weight.
@Greenroofer always the Third Way with you. Nice.
Sadly, my attempt to have the puddle listed on Google Maps as a tourist attraction has failed. Am assuming it's an automated moderation system, just need to figure how to get it past the bot.
@urchaidh THat is so good I wish it was true
It being the name of the very mad Douglas who sold the Dumfries estate}. Think also Oscar Wilde Etc.
That particular Douglas was a keen cyclist. You can see him with his cycle here:-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Douglas,_9th_Marquess_of_Queensberry
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