Hill: Hill of the Wangie
Date: Saturday 16th January 2010
Company: Myself and Beinn
Time: 1Hr 10Mins
I had read that finding the summit of this hill would potentially be tricky, as the trig point is surrounded by trees.
Posts on the RHB Yahoo Group spoke of:
"Spent an hour looking for the blasted trig and never found it"
"Agree with Chris's route which I took but still got lost at the top. Took me a long time crawling around trees ..."
The Hill of the Wangie is also mentioned more than once in the Marilyn Hall of Fame Hall of Shame for "Excessive tree density".
I therefore did my homework before setting off.
The 1:25000 map was useful for identifying the start point and main lower paths but wasn't great for the forest section.
What proved really useful was Google Maps (Satellite View):
Using Google maps I noted the key Grid References which are detailed below should anyone else need them (esp. for forest section):
A - NJ1397153192, B - NJ1382653204, C - NJ1375553349, D - NJ1371253459, E - NJ1375953463, F - NJ1382853629, G - NJ1365453711, H - NJ13671 53734
Thanks to the above I found the summit without any need for searching.
Setting off from parking spot (A):
Thankfully the ascent up through the felled area was straight-forward. This could have been avoided if necessary by continuing along the main track. This short cut saved perhaps 2km.
Ascent up through tree stumps (B-C):
Snow covered path (C):
Ascent through more tree stumps (C-D):
Mound and stumps:
Snow covered path (D):
It was from this point on that I found the grid references noted above useful.
The GPS was handy today however several times I did get the message "Poor coverage" owing to the surrounding trees. Map was still 100% reliable.
Entrance to wide fire-break (E):
Beinn walking through fire-break (E):
From (F)-(G) there is another wide fire-break which I followed as far as (G) from where I immediately spotted the trig point.
Trig point from (G) [zoomed]:
Beinn at summit trig point (H):
During the descent I paid more attention to views and took a few snaps of surroundings once out of the trees.
View from just above (E):
Dallas:
Dallas (zoomed):
Beinn:
Windfarm:
Distant hills:
Enjoyed the short walk, albeit views were not spectacular.
Hopefully the GRs will help others.