Sgorach Mor

26 January.

Participants - Me and Ben
Where - Sgorach Mor, 601m/1,972', Sub-2,000' Marilyn, Map 56, NS 097850

The forecast said that the best weather would be around the western coastal fringes so I headed to Cowal, an area with a number of Marilyns. It is also an area of the country with lots of trees so there is always a danger that an intended route might be closed due to forestry activities. I feared the worst when I arrived at the track end to find stacks of newly cut logs and lots of warning notices. However, none of them said "keep out" so Ben and I set off up the forestry road.....

We soon encountered a lorry piled high with logs coming down the track and soon after were passed by a couple of logging machines going up but all their occupants gave a smile and a wave; it was good to find one company that did not impose a blanket ban on pedestrian access whenever work was taking place. After about a mile and just after passing a picnic bench, a rougher track branched off to the right and we took this. It was marked on the 1:25 000 map but not on the 1: 50 000. Looking back down the path there were glimpses of Cruach Neuran across Glen Lean- it is another Marilyn that I haven't done but looks a much more testing prospect than Sgorach Mor being completely surrounded by forest.....

There were also glimpses of Loch Tarsan where there seemed to be a lot of work going on at the dam....

Higher up, where the path made a sharp right turn, we left it to go up a short, steep fire break which took us out of the trees and onto the hill. The going was quite good- grass mainly- and after passing the top called Sgorach Beag, the main top of Sgorach Mor came into view.....

Face on it was quite rocky but much grassier on its northern side and it didn't take long to get to the top where I almost got Ben to stay still long enough to get his photo taken (Isle of Arran in the background distant).....

The weather was calm so I decided on a break for some food. Oh dear! Ben is very nosey and also loves food; the concept of a rucksac that contained both interesting and edible things was too much for him and it was clear that I was not going to get any peace. So I had to pack everything away again and prepare to head down; further training required! Meantime, if you see us on the hill, secure your rucksac!

Although the sun had disappeared by this time and a veil of cloud had moved in the atmosphere was very clear and I could see the hills of Jura and Mull on the western horizon. This is a zoom shot of the Paps of Jura.....

I wasn't sure what all the hills were in this part of the country although I eventually realised that the right hand one of this pair had to be Beinn Mhor which I had climbed a couple of times from Glen Masson.....

On the way down there was a good view of Loch Tarsan.....

The walk took around 3 hours 30 minutes and after a quick visit to a cafe in Dunoon for a hot chocolate and a slice of apple pie to make up for my missed lunch on the hill it was back to the ferry. There was a bit of a sunset over the Cowal hills on the trip back.....

Newtyle Hill

18 January.

Participants - Me and Ben
Where - Newtyle Hill, 317m/1,041', Sub-2,000 Marilyn, Map 52/52, NO 050419.

I had read a number of reports about Newtyle Hill, a Marilyn outside Dunkeld. They all spoke about a hill cloaked in thick bracken and heather and one to be avoided in the summer months. A day in January after one of the longest freezes for years and when the vegetation would be at its most benign seemed, therefore, to be the ideal time to tackle it. I parked in the Scottish Wildlife Trust car park at Loch of Lowes and walked along the loch side for a few hundred yards to the start of a track that went round the hill and apparently down to Dunkeld.....

Where the path split I took a left hand branch which wound its way round and up the hill ending at a telecommunications mast. There was a good view of the loch, still frozen, from here.....

It was a nice walk through mostly birch woodland.....

and there was a good view of Birnam and the bridge over the Tay from higher up.....

The track ended at the mast and it was then a case of continuing uphill behind the mast initially through rough grass and bracken. There were a number of tops ahead, all seemingly roughly the same height (the actual summit is the pointy one on the left).....

As I approached it, the grass and bracken was replaced by heather which even at this time of year was thigh deep in places. Goodness knows what it is like in August! Ben struggled gamely through it.....

and soon we were at the top, which surprisingly boasted a cairn.....

The views were of the distant variety; this is looking north towards Drumochter.....

So it turned out to be a much better hill than I had anticipated providing a good short days outing. It was not nearly as bad as others I have been on. It is also definitely worth following the track to the telecommunications mast as this leaves only a short section of bracken/heather to climb; the approach from any other direction looks as though it involves crossing rough ground all of the way.

Into 2011.....Allermuir Hill

Participants - Me, Steven, Roddy and Ben
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.

So that was 2010.....

Well, that's 2010 over and an enjoyable year it was for hill-walking. I would say that the weather was better than average, despite the long periods at the start and end of the year when thick snow blanketed everything. I climbed 69 hills-13 Munros, 3 Corbetts, 10 Grahams and 42 sub-2,000 Marilyns (I climbed Conic Hill twice.) 18 of these hills were new ones for me and it enabled me to push my Marilyn total beyond 600 and gain access to the Hall of Fame. Can't see me making the upper Hall though! Nonetheless, there are still plenty of new hills to do and lots of repeats that I want to do so I hope that the weather is kind again in 2011.

I'll close the 2010 entries with this picture of the hills of Mull- Beinn Talaidh and Dun da Gaoithe- taken from Oban in April.....