A traverse from Glendevon to Alva, via seven New Donalds.
Hills: Innerdownie, Whitewisp Hill, Tarmangie Hill, King's Seat Hill, Andrew Gannel Hill, Ben Cleuch, Ben Ever
Company: Just myself
Date: Friday 2nd December 2011
Distance: 19.2km, Ascent: 995m
Time: 6Hrs 30Mins

The weather forecast for this morning looked reasonable - the forecast was due to deteriorate in the afternoon. I therefore set off from home at 04:00 hoping to catch the best of the day.

I arrived at Glendevon at 07:15 and was off walking by 07:30. I parked in the large car park at Glensherup.

Click here to see a map of the route undertaken

Pre-dawn Glensherup car park:


From the car park, I followed the track towards Glensherup reservoir. After passing the reservoir, at the track junction I took the left track which skirts round Black Hill.

Track skirting round Black Hill:


I continued to follow this excellent track until I reached a treeless section. At this point I decided to directly ascend the hill.

Ascending ground where trees have been felled, is definitely not my favourite type of terrain.

Looking across to windfarm on Steele's Knowe:


Looking back at ascent through felled area:


It was nice to get above the tree-line and witness a lovely sunrise. It looked like it was going to be a lovely day .

Nice to see the sun appear above inversion:


The final ascent of Innerdownie was straightforward, apart from having to climb over a deer fence just below the summit.

Ascending final section of Innerdownie:


From Innerdownie there were great views to the North. However, to the South there was quite a lot of cloud, which was covering most of the Ochils. Hopefully it would lift – wishful thinking .

Innerdownie summit cairn:


From Innerdownie, I made my way across to Whitewisp Hill.

Looking back to Innerdownie:


Heading for Whitewisp Hill:


On reaching Whitewisp Hill, the cloud was coming and going. Innerdownie was clear but Tarmangie Hill was covered in cloud.

Looking back towards Innerdownie from summit of Whitewisp Hill:


From Whitewisp Hill, I followed the track across to Tarmangie Hill.

Looking towards Tarmangie Hill from summit of Whitewisp Hill:


Ascending Tarmangie Hill:


By the time I reached the large cairn just below the summit of Tarmangie Hill, I was white with snow. I had a stop for ten minutes to put on an extra jacket, put the camera away into my drybag and to warm-up a bit with some hot Ribena.

Large cairn near summit of Tarmangie Hill:


The next few hours walking were mostly in cloud and snow. I got the camera out at each summit but it stayed mostly in the bag.

Looking back to large cairn from summit of Tarmangie Hill:


I made a slight navigational error descending Tarmangie Hill but soon noticed my mistake. I was heading for Skythorn Hill instead of King's Seat Hill. It didn't take long to get back on my intended route.

The descent from Tarmangie Hill and ascent of King's Seat Hill was the largest drop and re-ascent of the day.

Looking across to path ascending King's Seat Hill:


Looking down Burn of Sorrow:


I stopped for another short break at the large cairn and then went for a wee walkabout visiting all the potential summits.

Cairn near summit of King's Seat Hill:


The walk across to Andrew Gannel Hill was just a case of head down and march on.

Summit area of Andrew Gannel Hill:


By the time I reached the summit of Andrew Gannel Hill, I had already decided that Blairdenon Hill could wait for another day. I was however keen to continue on to Ben Cleuch and Ben Ever. The walk from Andrew Gannel Hill to Ben Cleuch was nice and easy.

Approaching summit of Ben Cleuch:


toposcope and Shelter/Trig Point of Ben Cleuch:


Ben Cleuch Trig Point:


I didn't hang about at the summit of Ben Cleuch. I was keen to get across to Ben Ever and then to descend out of the snow.

Looking across to second cairn from summit cairn of Ben Ever:


From the summit of Ben Ever, I opted to descend the good track down to Alva.

Descending out of the clag:


The descent was pleasant. During the descent, I stopped to chat with a couple of walkers who were heading up Ben Ever – the first two walkers I had seen all day.

Descending towards Alva (Alloa in distance):


Descending to Alva:


On reaching Alva, I got a taxi back round to Glendevon.

Disappointing that the weather deteriorated much earlier than expected.