Mick joined me for today’s outing, and as we walked the 1.8 miles along the lane that would lead us to our objective we paused at a suitable viewpoint and contemplated our options:
1) The line of an old track/path marked on the map; or
2) Straight up the fields to the S of the woodland at Bankhead Glen.
We thought Option 1 would give the highest chance of hitting crossing places through the field boundaries, but with the concern that the route through the strip of forest may be long gone. For Option 2 we could see a gate through the first wall, thought we may be able to see one in the second wall, but the third wall was out of sight. (Almost everyone else tackles this hill from the west side, with only one log on Hill-bagging.co.uk giving detail from the east side. They had gone with Option 2.)
We picked Option 1 on the way up. That worked reasonably well with the negative encounters being three farmyard dogs and one barbed wire fence. There was a second fence, but that was step-over-able, and following a burn through the narrow strip of forest gave us easy passage.
With this being sheep country, the going was lovely green fields of cropped grass, with just the occasional waterlogged section, and with the earlier cloudiness breaking up by the time we reached the summit it was a pleasant place to pause for a quick elevenses.
It was the thought of having to pass the dogs again that made me veer towards Option 2 for the return route – a decision made easier by the fact that we could now see a gate in the top wall and were going to approach the middle wall in such a way that we would almost certainly be able to spot the gate that we felt sure would be there. Thus we made it back down to the track without having to climb anything, albeit leaving a trail of bleating sheep behind us.
Looking back up as we descended (summit not visible) to appreciate the lush greeness being set off nicely by the blue sky.
There’s nowt to be said about the reverse repetition of the road walk, other than it got us back to our start point, where we arrived having covered 6.6 miles with 250m or so of ascent.
The map seems to indicate that should have been a pretty good viewpoint.
ReplyDeleteI appreciated your reply to my last comment and it confirms that we are in some accord about these hills, your words would add to and enhance the attributes for Marilyn bagging I was trying to describe. After battling barbed wire an non-existent exits from fields, every now and then you get a Marilyn gift with an easy one that is only a few minutes unhindered trog up and down.
It's almost analogous to the metaphorical hitting yourself over the head with a hammer. The hard ones (often with lots of research and planning in advance of the toil) make you more appreciative of the ease of the little ones with a path the whole way and a convenient car park at the bottom.
Delete