The Grey Mare’s Tail waterfall plunges dramatically into the depths. A viewpoint also opens up a view into the green Moffat valley.
The road from Selkirk to Moffat is considered one of the finest driving and motorcycling routes in the south of Scotland. It’s no wonder, since alongside the scenic St Mary’s Loch and the surrounding Moffat Hills, Britain’s fifth-highest waterfall also plunges spectacularly down through the Moffat Dale. Its name: Grey Mare’s Tail.
This waterfall is fed by Loch Skeen, which sits at around 500 metres above sea level, nestled against the flank of White Coomb. That mountain reaches a height of 821 metres, making it one of the tallest in the southern Lowlands. A dramatic backdrop is thereby well and truly guaranteed.
It’s well worth pulling over here by the road. The National Trust for Scotland has set up a car park below the Grey Mare’s Tail. Parking your vehicle costs £3, and in return visitors get plenty of information about the surrounding countryside – the waterfall is part of a nature reserve where, among other things, peregrine falcons feel right at home.
To see the waterfall in its full glory, visitors can take a roughly ten-minute walk to the viewpoint below the falls. Alternatively, a well-maintained path climbs up to the right of the waterfall, paved at the start. This path brings you even closer to the falls and offers a better view from above.
The first ascent, incidentally, doesn’t just lead over an ordinary hill. There was in fact either a dwelling or a place of worship here dating back to the Iron Age – given its proximity to the waterfall, the latter seems the more likely explanation.
If you’re used to seeing mostly sheep in the Highlands, you’ll be pleased to find goats greeting walkers here instead.
They’re used to people, though, and stay relaxed as long as you don’t deliberately get too close.
The further up you go, the more spectacular the view becomes – not just of the waterfall, but also out over the Moffat Dale. From up here, you can make out the calm, green sweep of land that distinguishes the gentle hills of the southern Lowlands from the wilder Highland hills.
Depending on when you’ve had enough of the climb, you’ll soon get to enjoy an unobstructed view of the waterfall too.
In the bottom left of the image, incidentally, you can make out the second path, where someone happens to be standing right now. That path, though, ends there at a barrier, which is why the ascent on the right-hand side is the somewhat better option. It actually continues on all the way to Loch Skeen, though that makes for a more extended hike of around 3 hours. It’s supposedly very beautiful up there, though.
Eventually, it’s back down to the car park. Now with your back to the waterfall, you can devote your full attention to the view out over the Moffat Dale, and make out where the road and the River Moffat wind their way through the valley.
If you’re planning to explore the south of Scotland, the drive between Selkirk and Moffat, combined with a proper walk at the Grey Mare’s Tail, makes for a very worthwhile day trip. If you’d like to do the walk, you can take a look at a PDF with route directions.
Did you know: about the Grey Mare’s Tail
“Mare” is of course the English word for a female horse, so “Grey Mare’s Tail” simply means “the tail of the grey mare”. A long, trailing waterfall can certainly bring that image to mind. Amusingly, “grey mare” is also sometimes used to describe a wife who’s the dominant one in the relationship – in other words, the one who wears the trousers.
In the summer months, a small hut also stands in the car park, staffed by wildlife rangers who share information about the nature reserve. If they’re not around, there are at least detailed information boards to read.
The Grey Mare’s Tail is, incidentally, Britain’s fifth-highest waterfall, and it drew famous visitors even in the past. The poet Walter Scott, for instance, even fell off his horse here. Yet he still dedicated a passage of his long poem “Marmion” to the waterfall:
Where, deep deep down, and far within,
Toils with the rocks the roaring linn;
Then, issuing forth one foamy wave,
And wheeling round the Giant’s Grave,
White as the snowy charger’s tail,
Drives down the pass of Moffatdale.
The poet Robert Burns is also believed to have paid a visit to Grey Mare’s Tail.
Tip: the route along the A708 to Moffat
Between Selkirk and Moffat, the A708 runs through a long valley, with small points of interest cropping up again and again along the way. Shortly before reaching Grey Mare’s Tail, you’ll pass St Mary’s Loch, which offers a lovely view, framed by the surrounding hills.
The drive takes around an hour and covers a little over 50 kilometres. That said, you definitely shouldn’t expect that classic Highland feeling here – the hills and mountains are considerably gentler.
Personal note: the later the day…
In June, we visited Grey Mare’s Tail rather later in the day. The upside: we no longer had to pay the parking fee. The downside: it was already too late to walk all the way up to Loch Skeen. The weather that day also didn’t put us in much of a mood for it. So we walked a fair way up the path towards the loch, before turning back.
Getting there:
By sat nav: “DG10 9LP” is the nearest British postcode, which will get your sat nav to roughly the right area.
Without sat nav: whether coming from Selkirk or Moffat, you’ll need the A708. In Selkirk, St Mary’s Loch and Moffat are signposted; in Moffat, Selkirk is likewise signposted on the main road.