A 60-metre ribbon of water tumbling down the Moffat hills, with wild goats on the crags and a hidden loch in the valley above
The Grey Mare’s Tail is a tall, thin waterfall, about 60 metres high, spilling down a steep hillside in the Moffat hills of the Southern Uplands. The burn drops out of a hanging valley, a side valley left stranded high up when the ice-age glacier in the main valley below cut its floor much deeper. A herd of wild goats often grazes the crags around the fall, and above it, out of sight from the road, sits Loch Skeen in the bowl of the hanging valley. The National Trust for Scotland looks after the whole site.
A path climbs steeply beside the water from the car park on the road below, and it is worth the effort for the close-up view and, if you keep going, the loch at the top. But this is a place to be careful: the grassy slopes beside the fall are steep and slippery, people have died here after leaving the path, so keep to it and keep a close hold on children.
The falls are between Moffat and St Mary’s Loch, easy to reach by car on the A708. The Southern Upland Way crosses the hills nearby, White Coomb rises above the loch for those wanting a bigger walk, and the town of Moffat down the road has the shops and cafés.
