Hills: Mount Hill, Cairnie Hill, East Lomond, West Lomond and Largo Law
Date: Thursday 4th November 2010
Company: Just me
Times: 42minutes, 41minutes, 52minutes, 1hour 33minutes, 52minutes
Approximate distances: 2 miles, 2 miles, 2.5 miles, 5 miles, 2.5 miles
The weather forecast for today wasn't great. I set off for Fife this morning hoping to avoid the worst of the weather by staying East and staying sub2000ft. The plan didn't work as I ended up walking in clag and rain for most of the day.
The first hill I ascended was Mount Hill.
I parked at NO339159 next to a gate and a “Public Footpath to Mount Hill” sign.
Starting point for Mount hill:
Nice easy walk, just a case of following the signs leading to the monument.
The mount:
Follow the signs leading to the monument:
Wet underfoot:
The Hopetoun monument dominates the summit - an impressive 95ft column, erected in 1824 in memory of Sir John Hope, the 4th Earl of Hopetoun.
Hopetoun monument:
Plaque on Hopetoun monument:
Trig point and monument:
From the summit, I returned to the car via the same route. I then drove to NO273153 for an ascent of Cairnie Hill.
I wasn't sure where to start this walk from, but NO273153 looked ok on the map.
I parked just off the road a few metres along the track.
I programmed the summit of this one into the GPS and just made up a route as I went along.
Track towards Cairnie hill:
Pheasant cage?:
A few minutes after passing the cage, a man in a 4x4 come driving across the grass to stop me.
What are you doing? Where are you going? Why are you hillwalking? Why are you taking photographs? Etc.!!!
I kept my cool but wasn't impressed.
After explaining what I was doing he seemed ok but seemed very suspicious.
Walking towards hill next to Cairnie hill:
After the man in the 4x4 left, I continued on up the hill to what according to the GPS was the summit.
Heading towards final ascent of Cairnie hill:
Tree next to summit of Cairnie hill:
Summit of Cairnie hill:
On the way back down, I noticed an animal hanging from the fence that was enclosing trees.
Not sure what it is - possibly ferret/mink?
I wondered if this was why the man was suspicious of me taking photos.
Dead creature – not sure what:
I returned to the car via the same route. I then made for the Lomond Hills, passing through Auchtermuchty - what a great teuchter sounding place
.
I parked in the car park situated between East and West Lomond.
I chose to ascend East Lomond first, hoping that the clag might lift by the time I did West Lomond – fat chance!
Sign for East Lomond:
The path was pretty-good most of the way. It didn't take long to reach the summit.
Start of path up East Lomond:
Path up East Lomond:
Path up East Lomond:
Final ascent:
Nice toposcope at the summit, shame I couldn't see anything it described.
Summit toposcope:
I noticed on the map that there was a trig point. Thought it unusual that the trig point was 10-20m metres below the summit.
Trig point, below summit:
I returned to the car via the same route, stopping for a quick drink before heading for West Lomond.
West Lomond was the “biggie” today – a whole 5 miles
.
Sign for West Lomond:
There is a good track for most of the way towards West Lomond.
Vehicle track:
Track towards West Lomond:
Ascending West Lomond:
The ground around the trig point looks quite eroded.
Summit trig point and cairn:
As I walked back from West Lomond at last the clag started to lift.
Strathmiglo:
By the time I was almost back to the car, East Lomond was free of clag – my first view of the day.
East Lomond from West Lomond track:
I quite fancied ascending one more Marilyn in the area. I therefore headed towards Largo Law.
My highlight of the day was driving around Fife. I have only driven through Fife once previously. There are some nice wee towns and villages there
.
On arriving at my intended starting point for Largo Law, I noticed signs that were not walker friendly. I therefore had a drive about looking for an alternative ascent route. In the end I went back to my original plan and chose to ignore the signs.
The hills were now out of the clag but the rain was now persistent.
I parked in Upper Largo and then walked back up to the track leading to Chesterstone Farm.
Largo Law:
No pedestrian access to hill!:
Note you are only allowed to go up the hill this way - aye right!:
Largo:
Once past the farm and gate the path became seriously muddy.
Very muddy path:
I didn't have my poles with me today. I only managed to ascend the mud by pulling on gorse bush branches to keep upright.
Largo Law is a lovely wee hill. It is a shame that the path is in such a mess and there are non walker friendly signs at the base.
Was great to get past the mud but I struggled with the rest of the walk as I somehow managed to hurt my foot.
Summit cairn and trig point from lower top:
Summit cairn and trig point:
I returned to the car via the same route. Descending the mud was fun
.