28 October 2025

A long hiatus since I last posted. I had a major cancer operation at the beginning of May followed by a diagnosis of heart failure so in all many weeks in hospital followed by a lengthy convalescence. It also looks as though my hill walking days will be over or at least severely curtailed.

Anyway, my first trip away yesterday, to Aberfoyle. The objective was to follow up on the story (fable?) of the Rev Robert Kirk and the faeries. I think that I will be doing more trips like this in the future, visiting places of interest. I also intend to do more journeys by train and also to visit some more Scottish islands. So the blog will continue. The Rev Kirk story in summary:

Robert Kirk was the minister in Aberfoyle in the 17th century. He was also very interested in the habits of faeries who apparently were a concern at the time. In 1691, he published a book, "The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies".

One evening, he failed to return from his usual evening walk. His body was found at the top of Doon Hill and the local populace concluded that the faeries had stolen him for revealing their secrets. They also believed that the faeries had captured his soul and imprisoned it inside a Scots Pine which still stands at the summit of the hill. The tree has gathered a huge collection of trinkets and messages over the years although last time I was on the hill they had all been removed on environmental grounds. There are obviously lots of folk who still believe in fairies!

Aberfoyle is a nice town on the edge of the highlands:

It is dominated by Craigmore, a Tump, which is a fabulous viewpoint:

Ben Lomond is also seen in the west:

On the edge of the village stands the old Aberfoyle graveyard and the remains of the old church and it was to there that I headed. The place is being tidied up, all the stones are numbered and there is a visitors book containing details of the folk who are buried there. Also various other bits of information. It looks as though visitors are going to be encouraged and it is well worth a visit. The graveyard and church with Doon Hill behind:

The supposed grave of Robert Kirk, there is some doubt as to whether he is actually buried here. Again, lots of gifts for the fairies have been left:

On this occasion I didn't go to Doon Hill, I have been there a few times before. But here is a photo of the summit pine tree taken on a previous visit; there are other photos and a description of the route elsewhere in the Blog.

A good day out taking advantage of late autumn sunshine.

Ben Gullipen

 6 February 2025

Where: Ben Gullipen, 414m/1,358', P 63m, Tump, OS 57, NN 596 044

I last climbed Ben Gullipen south of Callander in 2005 on the way to the Marilyn, Beinn Dearg. Didn't take any photos on that occasion so another visit was due.

Took a chance today that a forecast of lots of cloud might be wrong; it wasn't, but I hung around the top for long enough to claim a partial success. It was a clear blue sky when I left home but the cloud built as I drove north and the hills were clagged in when I got to the start point.

There was nothing to see when I reached the top but perseverance paid off and after about 20 minutes there was a partial clearance. On this occasion I didn't carry on to Beinn Dearg, the going in between the two hills is the worst of the worst although it looked as if there might now be a partial path between the tussocks.

The approach to the summit from half way up the path (taken on the way down)........

Misty at the top.....

Looking down on Loch Venachar.....

Lochan Balloch and Loch Venachar.....

Beinn Dearg above Lochan Balloch.....

Summit looking much clearer when I left.....

Ben Ledi still in cloud.....

Law Hill (Ochils)- Repeat visit

31 January 2024

Where: Law Hill (Ochils), 202m/663', P 36m, Tump, OS 58, NS 976 992

My first hill walk of 2025 after a pretty miserable start to the year weatherwise and a back problem. I think that I'll probably be concentrating on the more scenic small hills this year (with some new Tumps among them!) rather than charging about visiting odd patches of rough ground in search ao another "tick". Also concentrating more on photography.

Today I started by revisiting Law Hill which is east of Dollar on the south fringes of the Ochil Hills. It was a dull day when I was last here, not so today. If I can get more days like this I will be well pleased.

Law Hill from the north, the approach was from the Law Community woodland.....

A nice little copse of trees at the summit, glad to see that they survived the recent storm.....

Looking to King's Seat Hill, Tarmangie Hill and Whitewisp Hill.....

Looking west, the Campsie Fells can just be made out on the horizon.....

Looking to the east top from the summit.....

Looking south to the Craigluscar hills.....

I carried on the the east top which has the trig and from where there was a fine view back to the main summit with King's Seat Hill in the background.....

On the way back I had a walk through the woodland park.

Meall a'Choirie Odhar

 11 November 2024

Where: Meall a'Choirie Odhar (Comrie), 357m/1,171', P126m, Hump, OS 57, NN 806 139

Some nice November sunshine. This Hump, to the east of the Auchterarder to Comrie Road, had tempted me to visit for a while. But the rough ground and lack of a parking place had put me off. Now, however, I had read that a small windfarm had been constructed at the summit and there was now a track network from a car park to the south of the hill, so off I went. It has to be said that it is not the most attractive hill with lots of forestry which has been cut down along the summit ridge to make way for the windfarm track but it was a walk with a new "bag". The track route is much longer than a direct attack from the road but at least there is a safe space to park.

From the north.....

Looking to the Ochils.....

Approaching the summit......

The high point is somewhere in the mess of brash left by the track and turbine excavations.....

October trip

 11 to 14 October 2024

Where: Torr Mor (Rannoch), 335m/1,098', P 30.2m, Tump, OS 42, NN 708 609; Ord Hill (North Kessock, 191m/627', P 134m, Hump, OS 26, NH 663 490; Ord Hill (Avoch), 149m/489', P 36m, Tump, OS 26, NH 696 573; Kinbeachie Hill (Black Isle), 121m/397', P 32m, Tump, OS 21, NH 629 627; Kirkhill, 62m/204', P 31m, Tump, OS 26, NH 549 456; Hill of Allargue, 558m/1,831', P 33m, Tump, OS 37, NJ 257 099; Creag an Lurachain, 442m/1,450', P37m, Tump, OS 37, NO 259 933.

I was travelling to the MBA AGM which this year was being held at Boat of Garten. Apart from some rain and low cloud on the journey up the weather was good and I was able to use the non-MBA time to bag some new hills. I decided to take the scenic route avoiding the bottlenecks on the A9 and used the Crieff, Aberfeldy and Tummel Bridge route enabling me to bag Torr Mor above Loch Rannoch. There wasn't much of a walk involved and unfortunately the cloud was down spoiling what would have been a good view south to Schiehallion.....

I had decided to stay on for a day after the meeting and do a tour of the Black Isle north of Inverness. Ord Hill at the north end of the Kessock Bridge is a notable landmark. There was a FC car park at its foot on the north side and signposted tracks to the summit, passing the remains of an Iron Age Fort close to the top. The summit is marked by a large cairn although I thought that an alternative top a few metres to the east might have been higher. Being tree covered there were only glimpses of the surrounding countryside although I did make a detour to a viewpoint low down which overlooked the Moray Firth and part of Inverness.....

Continuing east, I next stopped at another Ord Hill, north of the village of Avoch. 20 minutes was enough to walk up a track to the top from where there was a view of Ben Wyvis, snow on it for the first time this coming winter.....

Kinbeachie Hill was a drive past. The road was quiet so I was able to get out of the car and take a couple of photographs.....

I then made my way to the village of Kirkhill, near Beauly, where the high point of the village churchyard is a Tump. Again, little walking involved as I was able to drive to the gate. The churchyard contains a 17th century Mausoleum to the Frasers of Lovat which was interesting and is worth a visit in its own right.....

The next day was homeward bound and I decided to do this via the Lecht- the A939, always an exciting road to drive. Allargue Hill is situated above Cock Bridge and again was only a short walk from the road. Views from here included a snow capped Ben Avon. The actual summit is close to the track to the north of the transmitter.....

The final hill of the trip was Creag an Lurachain above Crathie, one that had been on my to do list for a while, not because of the hill itself but because it contained a couple of cairns to previous members of the Royal family. There is a big car park (for Balmoral Castle) and it was a walk of about a mile along the south Deeside road to the start of the hill track. A short distance up I passed Princess Beatrice's Cairn and close to the summit Prince Albert's Cairn, a massive and impressive structure. There were views north to Culardoch and south-west to Lochnagar. The actual top is not the Cairn but a clearing in the forest some 20m to the south.....