Across the invisible threshold
by Carey Davies from on (#KN85)
Carrifran valley, Scottish Borders There is a real sense here of what the glens, cwms and valleys of the British Isles would be like if they were let off the leash
The ground steepens into a glacier-gouged corrie, and walking into it feels like crossing an invisible threshold. A slope falls away below us, steep and unnervingly slick with rain, above which hundreds of small white butterflies flicker in a low cloud, charging the air with the same soft suspense that comes with falling snow. After this muted summer, it comes as a surprise to find so many butterflies here, gathering secretly in the upper reaches of the Carrifran valley.
We wade gingerly downwards into a corrie coated with life; a montane of blaeberry and bog myrtle, harebell and hogweed, tormentil, asphodel, wild grasses and huge marshmallows of moss, all growing in amounts that feel strangely luxuriant for the altitude.
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