Sunday 31 March 2013

Lamington Hill

31 March 2013

Present - Just me
Where - Lamington Hill, 492m/1,615', Sub-2k Marilyn, Map 72, NT 001305

It was the first day of British Summer Time. A snow storm had swept through about a week ago, the hills remained covered in snow and although the biting east wind that had blown across my part of Scotland over the last couple of weeks had dropped slightly, it was still a day for full winter gear. I can't remember when last winter hung on so long; there is little sign of spring flowers yet, the birds are still fairly quiet and I only passed one field with lambs in it. Still, it wasn't raining/snowing and the visibility was great!

I drove down through Lanark, round Tinto, and on to the car park beside the church at Lamington village. This is a view of Lamington Hill from near Wiston....
.

There was even snow on the track through the woods. The wooded area didn't last long and I was soon out on to the open hillside with a great view of Tinto to the north.....


The snow had blown into the dyke where deep drifts had formed and other parts of the hill had been swept clear although the ground was rock hard. Lamington Hill is a nice gentle gradient and the track went all the way to the top, although in parts it was under snow today.....



 The hill lies between the two dominant hills in this area, Tinto.....



and Culter Fell and it's neighbours.....

 
 


There wasn't much shelter at the top and my hands quickly got cold while I was taking photographs so after about 10 minutes I headed back down. I took this pic of another Marilyn, Dungavel Hill, as I went down through the wood.....


Then it was back to the car, boots off, a short drive to the services at Abington and a large cup of hot chocolate. A short day but another good one.

1 comment:

blueskyscotland said...

Hi Neil. I really like the hills around that area. Got a big sky feel down that way. Cant even remember if I've done it myself as I deliberately don't keep a list.
Dementia is a big asset for a keen hill walker as you can do them several times with the same enthusiasm.
Lambs have been hit really hard this year. Very few around. Wait until you see the price of lamb chops in the shops in the next few months :(