Tuesday 28 June 2022

A Midsummer Munro

I never thought I would be using a headtorch on a hill on midsummer's day!

But that's what happens when you climb that hill for sunset.

Ben Lomond from Beinn Chabhair:

The walk started with an early finish from work. Lorry and tractor filled roads brought me to Inverarnan, and a rendezvous with the friends who had organised this. At 17:30 in the evening the heat and humidity were remarkable for Scotland, and we made a slow start.


The summit remained in cloud, and I took the shot below, thinking it would be the last we would see of any view!


That assumption seemed right when we got to the top. The mist wasn't thick, but views were obscured. Still, it had been nice enough - it would be a very different evening in the rain.

Then something magical happened as we waited...


Ben Vorlich and Stuc a'Chroin appeared, climbed last solstice. Ben Lomond reappeared.


It was the first brocken spectre for one of our group:


And the second Munro (of hopefully many) for this one:


Before we knew it it was 21:30, and time to head down - it would be sunset around 22:10! We were slow descending, torches out at 23:30, finally down for half past midnight. The day held a sting in its tail - Bein Glas farm had locked its gate! It's a big no entry affair over a deep river. There was another bridge a mile to the north, with a mile of unpleasant road walking back with a black dog. Being locked in works if you have a small family and were worried about them wandering off. But I like to climb hills both late and early, so staying somewhere like Bein Glas farm wouldn't work in summer if I planned some hills!

Friday 24 June 2022

Lowland Hills and Highland Hills: the Highlands

Three summer evenings, three hills, three geological divisions of Scotland.

Across the Firth of Clyde from Tom na h-Airidh:
 

Twenty-five years ago I searched for the best viewpoint of the Firth of Clyde, visiting various points like The Saddle on the Ardgoil Peninsula, Lyle Hill above Gourock, Dunrod and Hill of Stake.  

A strong argument can be made for Haylie Brae above Largs, but my favourite was Tom na h-Airidh, an obscure but glorious spot above Helensburgh, defended by bogs and a disorietating conifer plantation.

Time to revisit!

In my last two posts I wrote about an atmospheric Friday sunset on Windlestraw Law in the Southern Uplands; and a windy, sun-flooded Saturady evening on Turnhouse Hill in the Central Belt. On the Sunday it would be a Highland hill. How would they compare?

Glen Fruin from the top:

Tom na h-Airidh is only just in the Highlands, the first hill after Ben Bouie on the Highland Boundary fault. It's the lowest hill of the three, yet I knew not to underestimate it thanks to the difficult approach. But things have changed since I last visited. In summer the bogs have largely dried out, and some of the conifers have been felled, making it easier to see where you are going. 

The other change is that today I was using the Strava app on my phone. I am an old school navigator who prefers a map and compass, but I've never been comfortable in forests. They can be so easy to get lost in! Strava shows you a map overlaid wih the ways others have gone. It feels like an unfair advantage, a window into the secret local routes, and I went a shorter and less boggy way than if I had relied on my own initiative. I would have missed at least one turning without Strava.

Coming out the trees:


As we approached the edge of the trees near the summit I prepared to get my dog on her lead. (One advantage of forest walks: no sheep.) But coming down from the top were three healthly, happy women and their three dogs. No sheep about, they said, so my own dog stayed off her lead.

The views from the top were as good as I remembered.

Tom na h-Araidh summit outlook:

 

But something had changed. In quarter of a century the trees have grown, obscuring the bottom of the view. One day this lot will be felled, and I fancy returning. 

View from near the top of Tom na h-Airidh, late 1990s:

We headed back down via some obvious mountain bike trails. It was heartening to see the local kids had turned this forest into their resource. Lower down, we met a couple of boys pushing their bikes up the hill. 

So how did these three hills compare?

The Highland hill had the best views. The Central Belt hill was the most convenient. And the Southern Upland hill had the most atmosphere.

 But there's one thing they all share: there isn't a corner of Scotland where you can't find a great short walk.

Wednesday 22 June 2022

Lowland Hills and Highland Hills: the Central Belt

Three summer evenings, three hills, three geological divisions of Scotland.

Sunset from Turnhouse Hill:

 

In my last post, I described a Friday evening trip up the Moorfoots in the Southern Uplands. Less than half an hour's drive from my house, but a world away in terms of atmosphere.

For Saturday evening I decided to go even closer to home: just quarter of an hour's drive gets me to the Pentlands.

There were sheep everywhere, so the dog had to stay on her lead, poor thing!


It was incredibly buffety on top, so we didn't hang around!


Last week I marshalled the Turnhouse Hill Race. It follows a line I've never taken, NE down from the top to the inner bend in the Glencorse Reservoir, before heading back to the standard path. I've looked at this deserted slope manys a time from the other side of the reservoir. But I've never been here, so naturally had to explore.

Heading towards the 'biscuit van':

It's a beautiful spot in late evening sunshine, easy to reach on a decent path. These Lowland hills are a well-trod lung for the people of Edinburgh and Midlothian, increasingly familiar to me, yet there are so many unmarked paths in the Pentlands I still haven't been on.


What a great place to have fifteen minutes from your doorstep!

Monday 20 June 2022

Lowland Hills and Highland Hills: the Southern Uplands

Three summer evenings, three hills, three geological divisions of Scotland.

Homeward bound:

Everyone knows Scotland is split in two: the Highlands and the Lowlands. The geological fault line runs between Helensburgh and Stonehaven. Everything north and west is the Highlands: south and east, the Lowlands. 

But the Lowlands also have two faces. To the south and east of the Lowland boundary line, the deserted sheep country of the Southern Uplands: north and west the Central Belt, all firths, farmland, coalfields and cities, where the vast majority of the population live. 

There are hills in the Southern Uplands, proper hills, but they are lower and less glamorous than the Highland hills. They are tight and steep and a mystery to most Scots, who live in the Central Belt and turn their eyes north to the Highlands whenever they want a proper walk.

Bowbeat Hill from Windlestraw Law:

All this is a preamble to Windlestraw Law, which I had previously disparaged as the high point of the most boring hills in Scotland. Yet of the three evening hills it was the wildest, and easily the least visited. Only half an hour from my house in the Central Belt and completely deserted, at least by recreational walkers.

Yet it is home to golden eagles and merlins and mountain hares, as the shepherd told me. He came over on his quad bike on account of the sheer novelty of seeing a hillwalker. He recommended a local fellow who trains tracker dogs, and while we were on the subject, asked if I would continue keeping my own dog on the lead on behalf of the sheep and ground nesting birds? One day, I tell myself, my dog will be so well trained she won't need a lead. Until then, happy to oblige.


Peat and heather and grouse butts form the top of Windlestraw Law, a little pool of peaty water shivering in the wind at the summit trig point. A wonderful sense of space and freedom. I waited at the top hoping to see eagles but the dog was getting bored, so we came down as the sun set.

Arthur's Seat from Windlestraw Law:

Hooray for summer evenings, still light after ten o'clock at night! What would next evening's walk in the Central Belt bring I wonder?