The Passback Blog

As part of my campaign to get out and do more hill walking I climbed Stronend in the Fintry Hills north of Glasgow.

The cairn and shelter at Stronend.

As far as I am aware the route I took is not documented in any guide books. I parked the car in the car park at the west end of Carron Valley Reservoir. Opposite the car park is a new track leading towards Todholes Farm, but mainly built to provide access to the new wind farm on Cringate Law, Ling Hill, and Hart Hill. I followed this track for about a kilometer until I reach a sheepfold on the left:

The sheepfold, Carron Valley Reservoir, and Meikle Bin

From here I headed in a westerly direction following the ridge along the south side of the Fintry Hills before turning north towards the summit. The upper area is gently undulating but pretty featureless, in cloudy weather it would be easy to become disoriented without a map and compass or GPS. To get back to the car I retraced my steps.

The total trip was just under 15 kilometers with an ascent and descent of 400 meters. I used the OS 1:25000 Sheet 348 Campsie Fells map.  Photographs are available in the Gallery.

A month between updates, I knew that was going to happen! So what is new, yesterday I went walking for the first time since July. I decided to climb Culter Fell in the Scottish Borders.

Culter Fell from above Glenkirk Farm

I mostly followed the route in the SMC Corbetts book. I parked the car off road just before Glenkirk Fam (note that there is no longer a locked gate, just a sign stating there is no parking further up the road) and then proceeded through the fields and up Chapelgill Hill. There was not much to see on the summit so I walked on to Birnies Bowrock where I was granted a great view north west to Tinto. From here I followed the fence line across King Bank Head and Glenharvie Moss and on to the summit of Culter Fell. There was a stiff breeze on the summit which was very chilling so I didn’t hang around for long, from the summit I descended to the south over Moss Law and Holm Nick. On the descent I had a lovely view of Coulter Reservoir.

I continued heading south following the ATV track up to the summit of Gathersnow Hill, at this point the weather turned and the clouds rolled in reducing visibility to about 100 meters and a light rain started to fall. To get back to the car I walked along the tops over Coomb Hill, Broomy Law, and Glenlood Hill, finaly descending down Barrow Rig towards Glencotho Farm before picking up the road and heading back to the car.

The total trip was just under 15 kilometers with an ascent and descent of 1000 meters. I used the OS 1:25000 Sheet 336 Biggar and Broughton map. Photographs are available in the Gallery.

I am not going to have much free time over the next few weeks due to the grand kitchen refurbishment so I decided to finish work early yesterday and tackle a quick jaunt up Ben Lomond and Ptarmigan.

Looking south back down the path towards Loch Lomond

I got to the car park at Rowardennan about 3:40pm and was on my way following the path up hill a few minutes later. There were signs warning about forestry operations but I was unprepared for the changes since my last ascent in August 2002, pretty much all of the trees from the lower slopes have been harvested. This has its good points – views over the loch and a breeze to keep the midges at bay, and its bad points – the barren waste land left by the harvesting is a bit of an eyesore.

On the lower slopes the weather was bright and sunny with a slight cooling breeze, once up on the hill proper the breeze stiffened and I had to put on my Gore-tex jacket to reduce the wind chill. The last 20 or 30 meters to the summit were in the clouds. Because of the poor visibility I didn’t hang around on the summit. I descended to the north and headed out along the ridge to Ptarmigan, stopping just before the summit next to a small tarn for some sustenance. As I was finishing my sandwiches a light drizzle was starting and the temperature dropped as the wind moved to be more northerly. I packed up and briskly climbed the summit of Ptarmigan and then descended to the loch side before following the track back to the car park.

Photos are available in the gallery.