TOP 10 SECRET WALKS

Cascades, coves and caves: Pat Kinsella shares his favourite hikes to hidden corners of coast and countryside

- By Pat Kinsella

Grey Mare's Tail & Loch Skeen, Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland

One of Britain's tallest falls is a bewitching plume of white water plunging nearly 60 metres into a voluptuous valley in the magnificent Moffat Hills, in Scotland's southern uplands.

As impressive as this multi-tiered cascade is, the most sensational secret is revealed to those who venture beyond the viewing spot and scale the trail beside the rushing water. This enticing path climbs to Loch Skeen, a serene hanging lake hidden in the hills and guarded by a series of picturesque peaks mirrored in the mysterious waters. Here, ospreys hunt prey including the UK's rarest freshwater fish, vendace, while big-horned billy goats and funereally feathered ravens roam the rocks.

The out-and-back route begins by crossing a bridge spanning the rowdy linn at the bottom of the falls, then passes the enigmatic Giant's Grave - not in fact a burial site but an Iron Age earthwork where archaeologists think rituals may once have been performed.

Orford Ness, Suffolk

Few places are as cloaked in mystery as this shingle spit on the Suffolk coast. Almost cut off from the mainland by the rivers Ore and Alde, it was used as a military testing site from 1913 until the 1980s. Since the National Trust took ownership in 1993, the Ness has become an internationally important coastal nature reserve.

Even today, access is limited and only by ferry; areas remain off-limits because of potential risk from unexploded ordnance. Myriad ground-nesting birds, a colony of grey seals and Chinese water deer have moved in. Walking trails pass through rare vegetated shingle to an abandoned laboratory, passing the Black Beacon and Radar Receiver/NAAFI Building, revealing the desolate beauty and intriguing end-of-the-world ambience of the Ness.