Tinto

17 March.

Participants - Me and Ben
Where - Tinto, 711m/2,334', Graham, Map 72, NS 953344

Rain and low cloud in the morning had given way to something a bit more hopeful so I gathered up the Furry One and set off around lunch time for Tinto. This is a good hill for me as it is quite a short drive, is an easy walk with a path all of the way and, on a good day, has very good views. I took this photo of it on some distant summers day.....

It was certainly not like that today as I pulled in to a brand spanking new car park at Fallburn, there was some fresh snow higher up and it was a bit grey overhead but looked as though it might improve as the afternoon went on.....

It is a real motorway of a track and considering the weather we have had and the amount of usage it gets, it was not too muddy. Higher up, it improves enormously and amazingly, so did the weather. This is looking east to the Pentlands from a point just before the final rise to the summit. 

There were still showers about and we reached the top just as a heavy one passed close by.....

Is the cairn on Tinto the biggest in Scotland? It apparently dates back to the Bronze Age.....

As usual Ben was there first.....

There used to be a view indicator but over the years it has got vandalised and is now in a sorry state.....

Two more views; another looking east down to the start and one looking south to the Culter hills and beyond to Broad Law.....

So not too bad a day after all. I have been up Tinto many times but never on a really good day; such days tend to see me heading north to something a bit more rugged and "highland" which is a shame really as Tinto is an excellent wee hill. On the way down, Ben was interested in the call of a grouse but turned tail when it suddenly exploded out of the heather. Hope he stays like that; I don't fancy having to try to get him back if he runs off on a grouse moor!