The Lomond Hills

12 April 2011

Participants - Me and Ben
Where - West Lomond, 522m/1713', Sub-2000' Marilyn, Map 58, NO 197066 and East Lomond, 448m/1471', Sub-2,000' Marilyn, Map 58, NO 244062.

Well, the hot weather didn't last very long! Today it was back to being a typical April day- bright and breezy with a few showers blasting through. Most showers were forecast for the west so we went east, a good choice as it remained dry all day. It was windy though so walking on the higher hills would have been a problem; on days like this, the Lomond Hills in Fife are ideal. They are another well known and distinctive range of hills, seen from great distances on a clear day. Like Arthur's Seat, they are of volcanic origin. This is a view of West Lomond from near Milnathort.....

I parked at Craigmead car park on the hill road between Leslie and Falkland; it provided a high starting point and is situated between the two hills. As usual, I tackled the higher West Lomond first. I was pleased to see that all the sheep had been moved off the high ground which meant that Ben could run about freely all day. The track across the moor to West Lomond is excellent with the objective always directly ahead.....

As always, Ben was first to the summit, despite the fact that he covered enough ground to have climbed the hill about three times.....

There were a few other walkers about so I asked one of them to take a picture of me sitting at the trig with The Furry One with Loch Leven in the background.....

We didn't linger for long as the wind was strong up here but simply retraced the outward route with East Lomond now being in sight all of the way.....

It must be hot work rushing around all the time; Ben certainly seemed to enjoy going into this wee pool.....

We stopped briefly at the car before crossing the road and picking up the track to East Lomond. This was a shorter walk but also steeper and looking back from near the top, there was a good view of West Lomond and the ground that we had already covered.....

There was a view indicator on the summit of this one (for some reason the trig is situated some 70m lower on the south slopes of the hill); here is the ritual picture of Ben at the summit with the eastern part of Fife in the background.....

and the view west to West Lomond.....

and looking down at the village of Falkland.....

Just before the final steep pull up to the summit, the Regional Park authorities have set out a short trail around an old lime kiln. Limestone quarrying was once a thriving industry in the Lomond Hills. The stone was cut from rocks around the kiln and processed on site. There were lots of information boards around and the short detour to see the site was really interesting.....

I suppose that the walk totalled about 7-8 miles; it is one that I have done a few times now but one that really requires a good day to be appreciated fully. Today was just such a day!