Today I decided to try to find Grey Mare’s Tail waterfall, and nearby Jaw Reservoir. I had read that this one had a walking trail that would take me right passed it, so I hunted for, and found it, on the All Trails App. First instructions were for a small car park nearby, so I happily headed over to that. Frustration hit right at the start however, when I pulled up to a height barrier preventing me from parking there. I carefully turned round and drove up and down the narrow road for a bit until I found a spot on a verge just big enough for one or two vehicles. Although not the best start, I felt very lucky to have found that at least, or I suspect I would have had to abandon this walk, since I didn’t think there was anywhere else to park. The walk from here looked easy, simply following a small road, but then I missed my turn off to the right and ended up walking all the way along until I hit a private house. Just laughing at my poor luck today, I turned round and retraced my steps until I found the correct route, and from here it was easier to follow.
The walk to the Jaw Reservoir was not hard, it was a bit boggy in places and I did indeed pass the waterfall. It looked like getting down to the base of it might be a bit tricky though, since the sides looked very steep, and were largely covered in huge thick ferns. I briefly tried one open grassy bit of the hill, but gave up thinking I might retry on my return journey. Looking downstream, I thought I could see a possible route to try. River loved it though and bounded on ahead, confused when I couldn’t follow. It’s easy if you have 4 legs, obviously!
For now, I continued on up to the reservoir and when I got there, the water was very still with a light mist over the trees, giving a beautiful vibe to an area that might otherwise be just a bit flat and boring. I snapped a few photos before I took a gentle walk along the edge for a while, simply soaking up the incredible peace here.
A beautiful and calm Jaw Reservoir
With the exception of one man tidying his fishing rod away, some distance ahead, noone else was here, so this peace was very much just for me to enjoy. I ambled along the stony edge of the water until River got all caught up in some fishing wire. As I was untangling her, the fisherman came past explaining to me that it was probably lost here after the line or weight had broken. He went on to say that the water was the lowest he had seen in 30 years, and he genuinely seemed amazed at this level at the moment. As I looked closer, I could see a lot of broken bits of fishing line and where the water level might normally sit. I understood then, just why he was astounded at this – the grass line (which I assume sat just above the regular fill line) was actually quite a few feet higher than where I stood. It was hard to imagine so much extra water here, and how much it might change what I was seeing today. We chatted a while as I worked to untangle the line, and once River was freed, he went on his way. I found myself just walking the rest of the circuit around the reservoir without taking any further photographs, and only once I got back to my starting point, did I encounter anyone else.
On the way back down, I tried again to get to the bottom of the Grey Mares Tail, this time attempting the route that I had spotted earlier. Despite a huge battle through thick ferns, that had me feeling a little unnerved about what might be hiding in there (I’ve clearly been watching too many jungle movies!) this route proved to be no good after all. It stopped by a wall above the river, and had no way to get down from there. Disappointed, I retraced my steps back and then attempted a third route, a little closer to the falls. This nearly ended in disaster when River lost her footing and rolled down what evidently revealed itself to be the steep edges of a gorge! I stopped breathing for a second as she tumbled, but then her fall was broken by a tight mass of ferns and nettles. Though shocked, she was clearly unhurt, thankfully. I paused for a second to breathe again. She remained still in her shallow hammock of plants, and although I could see fear in her eyes, she trusted me totally as I then attempted to guide her back up the steep sides. As soon as she had gotten close enough, I grabbed her by the collar and gave a quick sharp hoik up the last unclimbable portion. Apologising profusely for nearly choking her, I hugged her hard and she licked me frantically as we perched where we were for a moment, not moving another step. I quickly took a handful of photos from there, which weren’t particularly good ones, and we left as soon as we could, retracing our steps back out, so as to avoid any further accidents. We were both a bit shaken but these falls, and the pictures, were not worth loosing my dog over!! I abandoned any other thoughts of further attempts at photographing this one… I think its my least favourite waterfall ever.
This was as close as we got to this without getting into any further danger
We carried on walking down feeling a huge relief to be back on an established and safe route, and River walked with a happy wag to her tail. Feeling a little fed up with this today, I looked at the map again and noticed that there appeared to be another set of falls that I hadn’t spotted before, and that noone had written about. They even had a name – Lady Linn Falls. I debated about whether to bother, assuming that noone had written about them because they were a bit pants, but since these looked to be close to the road and in the woods I was currently walking past, I decided to make the detour. I had been so disappointed at the Grey Mare’s Tail falls, that a chance for a second one seemed promising.
I was so very glad I did! These were really pretty, and the walk in the woods very pleasant!! River loved it, and as I worked I spotted her rolling in mud, paddling in the stream and back in the mud again until she was largely just a muddy ball. It was lovely seeing her unfazed about her fall earlier and so happy. I took photos from the top of the falls (see header), the front, and then down a step of boulders that revealed a secondary part to the fall. This spot was really gorgeous with some early autuminal leaf fall on a lush green moss covered rock. I couldn’t understand why this wasn’t mentioned anywhere.. it was WAYYY prettier than the Grey Mare’s Tail ones, and dead easy to get to!! The colours around me were stunning, and it all got helped with the occasional dash of sunlight on the scene as the sun popped out to play intermittently. Now this felt a little more like it, and I had an absolute ball here.
Dappled sunlight over the Lady Linn Falls
Once I was finished, I washed River down in the water until she was clean again, and thought that on our way back to Dumbarton, I might try and find a dog brush so I could detangle her once she was dry again. I had forgotten to bring one, although I had brought everything else for her.
I got back to camper, drove to Dumbarton, where I found a pet store without any trouble, picked up a nice brish, and some special dog treats. Then I parked up back at my spot from the last two nights, to a nice sunny evening. I took River over to the castle and we sat in the warm sun where she was able to fully dry off. She loved the hands on attention as I gave her a thorough brush through, and complete inch by inch tick check. Going through those ferns earlier, I felt sure she would have picked up at least one of these hitchhikers, but I found nothing on her at all. Clearly the spray I used intermittently on her, WAS doing its job, and the smell of the geranium oil and vinegar mix was not to their taste!
After an hour just chilling in the park, I took her back to camper, and decided to come back to quickly photograph the castle while there was nice light on it. Of course, as soon as I got back with the camera, the last bit of sunlight actually shining on the castle went, but it still looked nicer than it had so far in my trip, so I took a proper shot of it anyway.
Dumbarton Castle looking a little nicer with blue sky instead of grey!
I felt it was time to leave this place, although I felt very comfortable and safe being here. West Dumbartonshire had been completed for now, with The Dumpling, Jaw Reservoir, Dumbarton castle, and the two waterfalls, but before I thought of heading off, I looked to the left, and realised how I would very much like to photograph the castle from that side. Again, I hoped for high tide, so I looked at the timings. The next one would be in the middle of the night, but the one after was at 2pm tomorrow. Armed with these details I decided to stop another night and take the morning to scout the best position to shoot, before coming back to photograph it proper. Then I could head off to my next county on this trip. I wasn’t altogether sure where to go next either, but I had my list, and the best I could tell myself was that it would be the first of the counties south of the Clyde.
I woke up in my lovely forest parking spot quite refreshed, but I really struggled to get myself motivated. I had no idea why. I think maybe yesterday had been a bit of a blow, even though I had managed some recovery in the end.
I eventually got myself together, and made my way to the first location in my next county, West Dumbartonshire. Here I found myself at the northernmost location on my list, The Dumpling, a perfectly positioned hill that overlooked the southern end of Loch Lamond. Parking was easy, and the walk, although steep in parts, wasn’t long, and before I realised it, I was standing on top of the hill looking out at the view that was… well, very disappointing. I have seen some cracking shots from here, but today, even though the sun was shining, most of the loch was lost to a very heavy haze. I had a small lunch with me, so I waited some time, just chilling to see if it would lift, and though it did a little, after nearly two hours I gave up. I hoped I might be able to recover whatever shots I had managed to get, in the editing stage, but I dont think they are too great. I pretty much only saved one of them – sort of – its definately not of a quality I am happy with. Strangely, my eyes could see more than my camera at the time, which actually quite curious.
View of Loch Lamond from from The Dumpling
On way down my footing slipped on the very dry and dusty ground, and I instictively reached out to grab something to break my fall. Without looking, my hand found a thick, very thorny bramble, and as I went down it tore through my flesh. I startled (and worried) River as I landed, yelping in pain. My hand instantly poured with blood and I had to stop to pull out a bunch of thorns and try to supress the bleeding, before I could continue any further. This really dragged me down on top of a whole bunch of things I was already feeling. I gingerly continued down until I got back to the van, managed to clean and dress my hand properly, and made myself a calming cup of tea. I sat for some time, contemplating what to do next. I was now out of milk, and still needed anti histermine for my very itchy face, so went to find a local shop. Unfortunately, they only sold the expensive branded stuff (I won’t pay for a name if I can help it) and no skimmed milk, so I changed my plans a little and went to find a supermarket at Dumbarton instead, aiming to get some fuel at the same time.
Now I was here, I hoped to try Dumbarton Castle – only to find it closed due to covid restrictions. This just felt so sad on top of everything else. Feeling a little sorry for myself, I settled for a wander instead, with River, my mobile phone, and no weight on my back. I took a snap of the castle from the front and then explored all around the castle rock to as far as I could walk. The last of the blue sky quickly left, turning more and more cloudy until it gradually started raining. I returned without exploring much further, loosing motivation completely for tonight, had some dinner, and just stayed put.
Mobile photo of the front and lower levels of Dumbarton Castle
I did find this castle to be an interesting location to be sitting next to however! It struck me as being a very unusual looking hill, and you could see it from quite a distance as you drove in. It was very steeply sided, while there was no other hill close by, and the town of Dumbarton was laying all around the base of it. Curiosity grabbed me as I settled for the evening and I found myself looking up its history, both geological and human. Turns out it was formed by a volcano some 350 million years ago. A lava flow basically hardened in the middle of the volcano, plugging the vent, and after years of weathering, ice erosion and ground movement, the outer, softer layers of rock gradually wore themselves away, leaving just this ‘plug’ of hardened basalt rock. From Iron age times, it has been used by people as a spot for a fortification, being particularly suited to seeing enemies well before they are near, and being fairly impenetrable once they had arrived. It also housed prisioners (like William Wallace) and served to hide monarchy as they waitied to flee. (Mary Queen of Scots hid here before fleeing to France) Quite a spot I think!
6 September
It rained all night and quite late into the morning. Eventually it stopped at 11ish, so I took River for a walk just to get her moving and to go to the loo if she needed it. She didn’t want to come out initially, but I made her anyway and she eventually loved it when we got going. I left the camera in the van not thinking I would see much in this miserable weather, hoping simply for an exploratory walk upstream. I had my mobile for any reference shots if I needed it. As it goes, I did end up spotting an interesting view that I hoped would work at high tide – if the water stilled long enough. (see header) I went back to the van, had lunch, and decided to leave again at around 1-ish ready for high tide at 2. River chose to stay, so I headed out alone for the picture I aimed to get. The tide was now fully in, but the water didn’t really still completely as I had hoped. I did manage to get a shot that showed the volcanic dome well though. Now I knew the history, it seemed all the more interesting to me and I really found it fascinating to try and visualise a much bigger volcano in this area.
Dumbarton Rock
I tried a couple of other shots of some rotted pier legs (I assumed that was what they were) but the shots didn’t really work here. It gradually started raining again and I didn’t really want to leave River alone for too long so I made my way back to Fred and chilled out for a while.
When the rain stopped, it was much later, but I decided to go out again, this time back to the front of the castle. The light wasn’t great but I hoped that when the tide was fully out I could possibly try a bit of bird spotting as there seem to be quite a few wading birds here. Unfortunately I struggled to photograph or identify any birds, because the tide had already gone so far out, they were impossible to see clearly, even with my 400mm lens! The castle was grey and dull with a heavy black cloud over it, so any pictures there were a bust too.
As I stood aimlessly looking downstream, I noticed some sun rays were trying to break through the dark cloud. They looked really pretty as they danced across the scene at the end of the river. Initially they were quite a distance away, but then I realised the cloud was actually very slowly making its way up towards my position. I watched and hoped they would come up this far for a while, before I realised I should be photographing them!! I hurridly got the camera out, focused, and snapped a few shots, fearful the beams would fade one last time. They never did come right up to me, but just as a nice one was streaking through, I heard geese behind me. I didn’t dare turn round but kept my eye on the beam as the light strengthened. As soon as they started to dim, I thought, I would press the shutter regardless – but at the same time I prayed that the birds would get into the shot. Please hang on, please hang on, please hang on!!! I held my breath as I prayed, and then, there they were – 4 birds were flying through my frame! I pressed the shutter. Hoping and praying I had a decent shot as the screen went black, I gasped when I saw what I had captured. Those geese couldn’t have been in a more perfect position!!
What a fortunate shot!
The beam was just on the turn, so the timing couldn’t possibly be any better either. The shot looked great and I was over the moon! The hole in the cloud closed shortly after this, and in no time it got to a point that there was no light at all and so close to sunset that the cloud effectively presented a prematurely dark and grim night. Nonetheless…it was a happy end to the day!
My Adventures
