On the homeward leg of the British Lawnmower Museum Scotland England road trip, we took a detour for a pee break, visit to the Lead mining museum and lunch to the highest village in Scotland – Wanlockhead.

Getting there…

Is easy…just turn first left of the M74 after the giant phallic forest!

The road

Cutting off from the M74, take the B797. The drive alone is worth the trip and I found out while writing the road is known as The Menock Pass . Enjoy rolling hills covered in purple heather, curly horned sheep and pretty valleys but its a narrow winding road and not one I could formula one it in my wee green car. By the time I got to Leadhills, my teeth were floating!! 

We passed the signs for The Leadhills and Wanlockhead Railway which I remember riding on about 30 years ago (am I really that old?). It’s run by volunteers and open at weekends – a good stop for wee ones!

The tiny village of Wanlockhead is a cluster of old miners’ cottages nestled in a valley and reminds me of opening credits of Emmerdale or Postman Pat. So pretty and peaceful.

Museum shop and Café

I dived out of the car and stumbled into the loo. Much relieved and before heading underground, we had lunch at the museum café. Not all museums come with genuinely good cake. This one does. Take notes, rest of Scotland! The home baking here is excellent – the lemon drizzle was fresh and zesty and my best pal had the home-made lentil soup. This is as far from a motorway service station pitstop as you can be!

18th-Century Lead Mine underground tour

Davy our guide led us through the village to an innocuous shed, handed us hard hats and opened the heavy metal door to the mine entrance. With a hard hat snugly in place I followed our guide into a dark, narrow tunnel carved into the hillside.

This isn’t a theme-park replica. It’s a real mine, first opened in the 1700s, dank, claustrophobic, quiet as a tomb. When Davy switched off his torch we were in total and complete pitch black.

For hundreds of years miners scooped and blasted out seams of galena (lead sulphide) and also silver and gold. Part of the Scottish crown jewels were made with silver and gold from the Leadhills-Wanlockhead mines.

Up the Hill to Lowther Hill Radar Station

If you fancy stretching your legs after your underground adventure (or working off that lemon drizzle cake), head up to Lowther Hill, which towers above the village.

If in any doubt as to which hill I mean – it’s the one with the weird golf-ball at the summit. It’s actually part of the UK’s radar network, monitoring UK airspace. You can’t go inside, but you can walk right up to to the fence.

Scotland’s highest pub : The Wanlockhead Inn

Far from “just a quick pee stop,” cake, mines tour, radar domes, and the promise of Scotland’s highest pint…what more could you ask for? Next time, I’m coming back to visit the pub and plan to stay in one of their glamping pods so I can ditch the car and have a few pints and enjoy some live music in the Wanlockhead Inn. 🙂

• Wanlockhead / Leadhills
• Museum of Lead Mining
• Things to do in Dumfries and Galloway
• Underground mine tour Scotland
• Lowther Hill radar station
• Wanlockhead Inn highest pub in Scotland
• Industrial history Scotland
• Unusual museums in Scotland
• Day trips from Moffat or Sanquhar