White Coomb

Loch Skeen or Loch Skene is a loch in Dumfries and Galloway in the south of Scotland. It is located about 10 miles to the north-east of Moffat and feeds the 60-metre (200 ft) high Grey Mare's Tail waterfall. The area around Loch Skeen is popular with hikers, and the Daily Telegraph included Loch Skeen in a list of Britain's finest one-day and half-day walks. It is the highest loch in the Southern Uplands at approximately 510m.

Grey Mare's Tail is a 60-metre (200 ft) hanging valley waterfall near to Moffat in southern Scotland. The fall is produced by the Tail Burn flowing from Loch Skeen cascading into the Moffat Water in the lower valley below. The surrounding area forms the Grey Mare's Tail Nature Reserve, owned by the National Trust for Scotland. The footpath from the valley floor up to Loch Skeen is one of the more popular walks in the area. Parking is also provided. Grey Mare's Tail Nature Reserve is situated along the Moffat Water Valley in the heart of the Southern Uplands. This National Trust for Scotland property extends over 922 hectares and is characterised by a dramatic waterfall (the 5th highest in the UK), an upland loch Loch Skeen and White Coomb which rises to 821m and is one of the highest hills in Southern Scotland. The post-glacial landscape is an open mosaic of heather and rough grazing that includes 8 habitats of European importance and many plant species of international, national and regional significance. The reserve is botanically diverse, containing the richest assemblage of rare upland plants in Southern Scotland. Recognised as a Special Area of Conservation, Grey Mare's Tail Nature Reserve is popular with hill walkers, botanists and wildlife enthusiasts. There is also historical evidence of Iron Age settlers and the Covenanters who sought sanctuary here in the 17th century. Notable animal species: peregrine falcon, ring ouzel, raven, vendace and wild goats. Rare plants: many, including oblong woodsia, montane willows, and alpine saw-wort.

Bodesbeck Law is a hill in the Ettrick Hills range, part of the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It is the primary west-south-western terminus of the ridge that runs parallel to the A708 road along the Dumfries and Galloway-Scottish Borders border, occasionally titled the "Bodesbeck Ridge".

The Southern Uplands (Scottish Gaelic: Na Monaidhean a Deas) are the southernmost and least populous of mainland Scotland's three major geographic areas (the others being the Central Lowlands and the Highlands). The term is used both to describe the geographical region and to collectively denote the various ranges of hills and mountains within this region. An overwhelmingly rural and agricultural region, the Southern Uplands are partly forested and contain many areas of open moorland - the hill names in the area are congruent with these characteristics.

Dob's Linn is a small steep valley in Dumfries and Galloway, just north of the A708 road between Moffat and Selkirk, in Scotland. It is part of the Grey Mare's Tail Nature Reserve which is owned by the National Trust for Scotland. According to tradition, Dob's Linn is named for a covenanter, Halbert Dobson, who took refuge there from Government troops during The Killing Time in the late 17th century.Dob's Linn is important in geology as the location of the Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) which marks the boundary between the Ordovician and Silurian periods, and marks the base of the Llandovery epoch, on the geologic time scale. Dob's Linn was ratified as the GSSP by the International Union of Geological Sciences in 1984.The boundary is defined as the first appearance of graptolites Parakidograptus acuminatus and Akidograptus ascensu 1.6 m above the base of the Birkhill Shale Formation. The shale section also contains chitinozoa and conodonts, but neither are well preserved. Dob's Linn has been criticized for the difficulty in relating its graptolite biostratigraphic sequence with shallow water sequences elsewhere, although the stratotype also appears to correspond with a carbon-13 isotope excursion in the latest Ordovician which can be identified worldwide.The area was first studied by Charles Lapworth in the late 19th century. His work established fossil graptolites as a method of understanding stratigraphic sequences. A more recent description of the area, enumerating the zones established by Lapworth, is given in the British Regional Geology Monograph. Before Lapworth's work, it was thought that the Silurian rocks of the Southern Uplands formed a single sequence, that would have to be about 6000m in thickness. By his identification of particular graptolite species in different zones of the Dob's Linn exposure, Lapworth was able to demonstrate that the Uplands consist of a much thinner layer, consistent with Silurian deposits elsewhere, that had been repeatedly folded and faulted, with multiple repetitions of the same strata, often upside down. The understanding that sequences of sedimentary rocks could be inverted played an important part in the later resolution of the Highlands Controversy in which Lapworth was also involved.

Andrewhinney Hill is a hill in the Ettrick Hills range, part of the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It is the highest summit of a ridge that runs parallel to the A708 road on its southern side, with the Grey Mare's Tail in the Moffat Hills directly opposite. The northwestern slopes are designated as part of the 'Moffat Hills' SSSI and SAC.

The Moffat Hills are a range of hills in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. They form a roughly triangular shape with a west facing side, a north facing side, and a south-east facing side. It is 17 kilometres from east to west across this triangle and some 16 kilometres north to south. The highest point is White Coomb at 821 m (2694 ft). The town of Moffat lies just south of the Moffat hills and along with Tweedsmuir, at the northern extremity, is the only centre of population around these hills. In some older maps, the northern part of the Moffat Hills is called the Tweedsmuir Hills, but can also be known by the title Manor Hills.

Talla Water is a river in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, near Tweedsmuir. It feeds the Talla Reservoir, and is a tributary of the River Tweed. Above the reservoir are a series of waterfalls known as the Talla Linns.The Talla Railway was constructed to facilitate the building work, especially the Tweed Viaduct.

Megget Reservoir is an impounding reservoir in the Megget valley in Ettrick Forest, in the Scottish Borders. The 259 hectares (640 acres) reservoir is held back by the largest earth dam in Scotland. The reservoir collects water from the Tweedsmuir Hills, which is then conveyed 28 miles (45 km) via underground pipelines and tunnels to Edinburgh. The pipelines are routed through the Manor Valley and the Meldon Hills, to Gladhouse Reservoir and Glencorse Reservoir in the Pentland Hills. These two reservoirs store the water until such times as it is required. Excess water which overflows from the reservoir is returned to the Megget Water, and hence into St. Mary's Loch.

Hart Fell is a hill in the Moffat Hills range, part of the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It lies north of the town of Moffat on the border with the Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway. A broad, rolling hill, it is visible from the M74 motorway in the west, parts of Dumfries and ranges to the east. Hart Fell is gently sloping on three sides of the hill, however the east ridge is steep and craggy and features a deep corrie known as Blackhope. The normal route is from the southern ridge, passing over Swatte Fell and can be extended to include a full loop of Blackhope, finishing on Saddle Yoke, known as the Hart Fell Horseshoe.

Broad Law is a hill in the Manor Hills range, part of the Southern Uplands of Scotland. The second-highest point in the Southern Uplands and the highest point in the Scottish Borders, it has an elevation of 840 metres, a prominence of 653 metres (and thus is a "major") and an isolation of 81 kilometres. It is only 3 m (10 ft) lower than its parent, Merrick. Like many of its neighbours it is smooth, rounded and grassy, although the surrounding glens have very steep sides — country somewhat akin to the Cheviots or the Howgill Fells. The hill is most easily climbed from the Megget Stane to the south, beginning at an elevation of 452 m (1,483 ft), but is also frequently climbed from the villages near its base, or as part of a long, 50 km (30 mi) trek across the local area between the towns of Peebles and Moffat. On the summit is the highest VOR beacon in the UK, and also a radio tower. The summit of Broad Law is also the highest point (county top) of the historic county of Peeblesshire. It is also sometimes (erroneously) given as the county top of Selkirkshire. This is because in 1891, the area of Megget (a detached part of Lyne parish in Peeblesshire) was transferred to Yarrow parish in Selkirkshire. The administrative "county" boundary of Peeblesshire and Selkirkshire thus temporarily crossed Broad Law summit between 1891 and 1974. However, the historic county boundary remained several kilometres to the east, where Dun Rig is the county top of Selkirkshire.

Croft Head is a hill in the Ettrick Hills range, part of the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It offers unobstructed views to the Solway Firth, the fells and mountains of Cumbria and the Pennines to the south and east. To the north, the major Moffat Hills are close by and to the west, Queensberry, the Lowthers and many of the Galloway Hills can be seen. Its summit is easily reached from Moffat by taking the Southern Upland Way path east from the Moffat water bridge near Craigbeck. A quite dramatic ridge loop is possible by climbing north on the forestry fire road shortly after Craigbeck Hope cottage via Gateshaw Rig to Croft Head's summit and descending via Cat Shoulder to the junction of the SUW and the Selcoth burn pass.