HUGH Montgomerie, twelfth Earl of Eglington, kicked about a bit during his 80-year span. He fought for king and country in the American War of Independence, became MP for Ayrshire, was inspector of Scottish military roads in 1789 and built Ardrossan harbour. He also built Eaglesham, in Renfrewshire, to house his cotton mill workers. Eaglesham is one of Scotland's most splendid villages, two long rows of neat, well-maintained houses, Mont-gomery (sic) Street and Polnoon Street, divided by the common; a wide triangle of emerald green parkland graced with magnificent deciduous trees.
To the south west of the village lies Eaglesham Moor. This is covenanting country, where, in 1685, two men were shot dead when an ''illegal'' outdoor service, a coventicle, was surprised by government troops. There is a memorial to the covenanters in Eaglesham churchyard, watched over by the famous eagle-weathervane which crowns the church spire. Another military leader landed on the moor in 1941; Hitler's deputy, Rudolph Hess, on his self-imposed, abortive, mission to negotiate peace between the UK and Germany. When Winston Churchill heard the news, he said: ''The maggot is in the apple.'' Convicted of war crimes at Nuremberg in 1946, ''Mad Rudi'' ended his days in Spandau Prison.
Still windmill-tilting on the moor today is the National Wind Turbine Centre test site at Myres Hill (333m); statuesque, slender columns, their elegant blades singing an endless, ethereal song above the harebell-bobbing heath. A deal of passion has been aroused over the siting of wind farms in Scotland, particularly recently in Strath Helmsdale where protestors argued that they would disfigure the landscape and damage the environment. I don't think so. Anyway, they can always be removed. They remind me of Cervantes hapless hero-knight, Don Quixote, and his servant Sancho. When I see a wind farm, I expect also to see the pair of them, lances trailing, riding the crest of the hill, endlessly searching for wrongs to right.
Search out this seven-mile walk on OS Map 64, Glasgow, Second Series, Scale 1:50,000. This is a walk for all seasons, winter or summer, ideal for all ages and stages of fitness. What it may lack in altitude it more than makes up for in charm. It is also easily accessible and perfect for a vigorous hike on a weekend afternoon. Leave Eaglesham via Strathaven Road, past the village school. After one mile, past Nether Enoch, hang a right towards Carrot (Gd Ref: 578481). As a northern Scot, I am unused to substantial farms, wildflower-rich hedgerows and magical, ancient woodlands. We don't get many of them in the wilds of Sutherland. Driving along the narrow, minor road to Carrot is sheer delight.
There is space to park at the beginning of the track leading to Myres Hill and the Wind Turbine test site. The first mile-and-a-half meanders through Whitelee Forest where the conifer edge is being ''softened'' by planting rowan and birch. As you ascend, the view north, back to the heart of what was once industrial Scotland, is awesome: Hamilton, Motherwell, Rutherglen, Glasgow and Paisley, a vast urban sprawl spiked by stacks of tower blocks, quartered by the winding waters of the River Clyde, curtained by the purple and russet mountains of the southern Highlands. In the forest, blue tit and finch flit amidst slender branches, alighting to eat with ''tiny-eyed caution''.
You hear the wind turbines long before you see them, suddenly, as the forest ends. They stand behind a chain-mail security fence at Gd Ref: 566465. Birl on from the windmills, bearing south-east for half-a-mile to the top of Crook Hill (329m) on the edge of the continuation of Whitelee Forest. Leave the track here and strike north east to climb to the top of Dumdruff Hill (364m) (Gd Ref: 584463). A further mile across the moor brings you the highest point of the trek, Corse Hill (376m) (Gd Ref: 597464), the birthplace of the White Cart River. Descend north west from Corse Hill for one mile to find the track which leads home to Carrot.
After such exertions, you will probably be ready for your ''tea''. Repair to Eaglesham and ''The Wishing Well'' (Tel: 01355 302774) on Montgomery Street, up the hill past the church. Open 10am to 4.30pm every day. Believe me, this is the finest little tea shop in Scotland, if not the world, bright, welcoming, and offering the home baking of your dreams. Just the place to end a happy day out on the moor.
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