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.