Tuesday 27 November 2012

Now for a pause....


I'm going to be out of action for a few months. If it had to happen then I suppose that this is the best time of year! Hopefully, I should be back to hill fitness by the time the better weather and longer days return. In the meantime however I'm going to keep the blog going. I have photographs from walks in 2009 and early 2010 prior to my starting the blog.....the walks are still fresh enough in my memory to put them into trip reports. Hope you enjoy!

Sunday 25 November 2012

Cairnie Hill

23 November 2012

Participants - Just me
Where - Cairnie Hill, 228m/749', Sub-2k Marilyn, Map 59, NO 279155

I was on my way to the Dundee Mountain Film Festival and as it was a beautiful day I stopped for a walk. I chose Cairnie Hill on the grounds that although I have climbed it before it had not yet been included in this blog. Anyway, its a nice wee hill. There has apparently been doubt as to whether it in fact qualified as a Marilyn but a survey a few months ago found that its relative height was more than 150m so its status has been confirmed.

Cairnie Hill lies above Lindores Loch south of Newburgh. It is not named on the 1:50 000 map but is on the larger scale map. Although the car park was closed, I managed to get the car off the road close to a fisherman's hut from where it was only a short walk south along the road to the start of a track that went to within a few yards of the summit. Lindores Loch looked very pleasant; there was a large flock of swans at the side furthest away from me and it is obviously an over wintering habitat for birds.





This is pheasant rearing country and there were lots in the wood, definitely not a hill on which to take a spaniel! I was pleased to see thet there was still a bit of colour left on the trees and the area around the summit was very pleasant.....


Approaching the top.....


The highest point is apparently a rock close to this beautiful and distinctive old tree.....


I wonder how much longer it will stand. A path is being formed from the track to the tree so this hill must be attracting its share of Marilyn baggers. Its not really surprising as the views are fine; this is to Norman's Law and the Tay.....


and this is across Fife towards Mount Hill which is close to Cupar.....


Cairnie Hill is not at all distinctive from the countryside round about but it provided a very pleasant short walk.

Monday 19 November 2012

Tosson Hill

18 November 2012

Participants - Neil, Steven and Ben
Where - Tosson Hill, 440m/1,444', Sub-2k Marilyn, Map 81, NZ 004982

The dying days of autumn so we headed south to catch the last of the colour on the foliage (and add a new sub-2k Marilyn to the list of course!). I was really taken with Northumberland when I visited for the first time earlier in the year, it is so close to Scotland yet entirely different- quaint villages, the different use of stone in buildings, and of course the dialect. It deserves more of a visit than a weekend comprised of short days at the fag end of the year. We were staying at Rothbury which is at the foot of the Simonside Hills and the object on this occasion was Tosson Hill, the highest point in the range.

I drove up some narrow country roads through the hamlet of Great Tosson to a large Forestry Commission car park and picnic area at Simonside forest. It had been frosty overnight and it was a glorious day although the forecast was for more rain and wind to come in later. Although a lot of the foliage had fallen from the trees, the colours were still really strong and emphasised by the deep blue of the sky. The route followed good forest tracks initially; out of the car park past an information board and through a one-barred gate and then gently uphill until opposite a radio mast where we turned left. This is shortly after we left the car.....


At the next junction we turned right; the track rose uphill at the side of the forest and there was a good view back to Rothbury.....


The map that I had printed off the internet suggested that our track should still be deep in the forest but in fact it was just outside. However it was obvious that we were heading for the foot of Simonside crag which was where we wanted to be. But when we got there confusion took over for a few minutes. The other bit of the forest that was marked on the map had been felled and it wasn't immediately obvious where the path that led up on to the moors actually was. After one false start we found it; it wasn't in particularly great condition but it led to where we thought that we wanted to be. As we got higher the views started to open out, this is looking east over Coquetdale and the village of Thropton and the second picture is looking north to the Cheviot.....




We reached a fence and a gate and I took another picture looking north to the Cheviot.....


At this point all doubts that we were on the right hill disappeared, we could see a large cairn in the distance across the moorland. The path, still very muddy, ran along the top of Ravens Heugh, another area of cliffs. This is looking back at it from closer to the cairn.....


And then we were there.....






The cloud was already starting to build in the west and there was a fairly brisk, cold wind blowing so we didn't linger for long before setting off back the way we had come.....


This is obviously a very popular walking area; there were lots of people on Simonside and the ridge to Dove Crag but no one else seemed interested in Tosson Hill. Simonside looked a great walk and if I was coming here again I would do that walk and not bother about the Marilyn. Although it was November and I expected that the moorland would be wet I guess that up on the fairly flat plateau it is never very dry underfoot. Past Simonside, I tried a shot of it straight into the sun, there is a figure on top close to the right edge that gives it some scale.....






Sunday 11 November 2012

Cademuir Hill.....Luck or what?

11 November 2012

Participants - Neil, Steven and Ben
Where - Cademuir Hill, 416m/1,365', Sub-2k Marilyn, Map 73, NT 242377

I had looked at Cademuir Hill in passing on a number of occasions and done just that, passed it. The few reports that I had read talked about huge problems in finding a route through the forest that covers the upper part of this hill; the most recent comments that I had come across were "not a nice hill" and "thoroughly unpleasant". Anyway, we were going to Peebles for a Sunday outing and the temptation to give the hill a go proved too strong. I expected that I would have no chance in finding the cairn, particularly as I don't have a gps and the few paths marked on the map apparently bore little resemblance to what is on the ground.

We parked in the Cademuir Forest car park on the south-west side of the hill. A rough path headed up towards the forest.....


This path reached a forestry road at a red marked waymark post. I reckoned that the top of the hill was roughly above us (obviously!) but slightly further to the north. So we turned left on to the track and followed it until it turned into a path which headed steeply uphill. After about 150 yards the path levelled out and I guessed that we must have come all the distance in a northerly direction that we needed. There seemed to be a break in the trees above us at this point - it was not obvious that it continued any distance but we decided to take it anyway so turned right. In fact, there were what looked like old vehicle tracks so the going was OK. Higher up, we appeared to arrive at a junction of similar forest breaks and solely on instinct, we turned right at this point and then almost immediately left. We were back following the vehicle tracks uphill. There was only one fallen tree that we had to get past and not long after that, the forest break that we were following flattened out and we were looking at glimpses of sky through the trees.....


The ground looked higher to our right so we went that way. It looked as though we had hit on the summit area so we scouted around a bit. And, miracle of miracles, after rounding another fallen tree we spotted the cairn.....


Here is the evidence to prove that we made it to the top.....



And here is a close up of one of the party, who was persuaded to sit still for a moment with a shout of "Ben.....num nums" which is dog speak for food in our house.....


There were, of course no views. I suspect that there are other breaks in the trees that lead to the cairn from the main track but we didn't bother to look. We just went back the same way. Going downhill, there was a view of the 407m top, which has no trees, to the west.....


So Cademuir Hill turned out to be not difficult at all; in fact it was easy peasy! Luck or what?