Lost in Delvine: Witches, Woodlands and a Building That Refused to Be Found

# Lost in Delvine: Witches, Woodlands and a Building That Refused to Be Found

Today’s mission on the mighty eMTB sounded wonderfully straightforward: head for the Delvine Estate near Spittalfield, investigate a woodland path hinted at on a 100-year-old Ordnance Survey map, get it mapped properly on OpenStreetMap, and locate a mysterious building hidden beside a loch.

Simple. What could possibly go wrong?

First target: the lochside building. The plan was to deploy the drone and have a good look from above around what I believe is called Witches Loch. Although, to complicate matters immediately, Witches Loch might actually be another smaller pond nearby. The larger body of water itself could be natural, or perhaps an abandoned ornamental loch associated with the estate. I could find remarkably little definite information about it.

Drone airborne, investigation under way — and then a wee buggy appeared.

Its driver, who I think may have been the landowner, stopped for a very pleasant chat. He told me about planting trees on the estate back in the 1980s and, even better, gave me what seemed like perfectly clear directions to the hidden building. Apparently, it is still occasionally used.

Excellent. Local intelligence acquired. Mission practically complete.

Naturally, about two minutes after he drove away I realised I had another dozen questions I should have asked about Delvine Estate.

Oh well.

Onwards into the woods.

The old path suggested by the historic OS mapping was duly found, explored and recorded. It now exists on OpenStreetMap, which means one part of the mission was a definite success.

Then came the building.

Armed with my supposedly clear directions, I headed deeper into the trees. Somewhere along the way, “perfectly clear” became “absolutely no idea where I am going”. The track deteriorated, progress became increasingly questionable, and eventually I got properly stuck.

A tactical retreat was declared.

Looking at the GPS track afterwards confirmed that giving up had been an unusually wise decision. I was not heading somewhere clever.

So the mysterious lochside building remains mysterious.

For now.

We’ll be back.

Mission partially achieved. Old woodland path discovered. OSM improved. Conversation had. Fresh air inhaled. Cardio achieved. Life is good.

And, despite being only a short distance from the enormous Roman fortress at Inchtuthil, not a single ghostly legionary appeared from the trees.

Probably just as well.

PS. We're now convinced this body of water is not Witches Loch but just a man-made pond.