Where - Allermuir Hill, 493m/1,618', Sub-2,000' Marilyn, Map 66, NT 227662.
2011 had arrived and my hillwalking year started with a trip to Edinburgh to meet Roddy, who was continuing to have problems with a toe and could only manage a small hill. But that was OK as all of the weather forecasts had failed us for once and there was no sign of the promised blue sky and sunshine. The choice for the first hill of the year was Allermuir Hill which, together with Caerketton Hill, overlooked the Hillend ski centre and Edinburgh from the east end of the Pentland's. The sky was a uniform grey so only a few photographs were taken to record the occasion- which I have to confess is probably just as well as I had forgotten to change the batteries in the camera and it refused to co-operate soon after reaching the trig!. We decided to avoid the steep slope up onto Caerketton Hill opting instead to follow a lower path which went up alongside Lothianburn golf club and joined the ridge at the col east of Allermuir. Most of the snow of recent weeks had gone; only patches of mostly ice remained. Here we are leaving the ski centre with Caerketton ahead.....
This was a very gentle ascent and we were at the trig in no time; here are Roddy, Steven and Ben arriving (Ben is the brown and white streak of lightening heading straight for the camera, anxious to claim his fourth Marilyn).....
and here I am with Ben on his lead, the only way he would stay still to get his picture taken!.....
The view over Edinburgh was grey and uninspiring today but there was a reasonable view west to some of the other Pentland hills including Scald Law.....
We returned by the same route, a walk of just over an hour. The Pentlands are my old stomping ground and as a number of them are classed as Marilyns, I am looking forward to a few more return visits in the months ahead to be able to add them to the blog.
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