Over The Hill

It has been quite some time since we had a Wednesday mid-week walk, and so it was all go when Alan suggested the Ochil Hills and Ben Cleuch as a nice winter walk, the weather forecast being for a clear, but cold day, which should offer us some nice views. We set off on a clockwise circuit from the Ochil Hills Woodland Park car park between Alva and Tillicoultry and headed through the forest and uphill to the southern shoulder of The Nebit.

Under blue skies scattered with a light wispy layer of thin cloud, we made the steady ascent up a good clear path along the crest of the hillside to the summit of this 449m top, from where we had a good view of the rest of our days route, with Ben Ever, Ben Buck and Ben Cleuch all clearly visible, and all under what would prove to be a fairly light covering of snow, certainly much less than we had anticipated.

A short descent from The Nebit followed by a good pull up the grassy slopes to the 622m summit of Ben Ever and it's twin cairns, vying over which holds the high spot. Descending once again before angling across the gently rising hillside and we were soon approaching the broad open summit of Ben Buck. A featureless top, with nothing more than a few stones and an old iron post marking the 679m summit.

Staying on the high ground, we made the relatively easy transit from Ben Buck, to the summit of our main objective for the day, Ben Cleuch, with its circular stone wind-break, Trig Point and mounted view point indicator. By this time, the blue skies had been replaced by a layer of cloud, still high enough not to impede the views, but thick enough to block out the sun as we sat and took a leisurely lunch break.

We encountered our deepest patches of snow as we departed Ben Cleuch and made our way across the bealach at the intersection of Ben Cleuch, The Law and Andrew Gannel Hill, and onwards to the crags at the head of Andrew Gannel Hill, where the views south and down along the Gannel Burn are quite spectacular, and from where we could clearly see our route out etched along the snow line on the eastern slopes above the Gannel Burn.

An easy descent eastwards and a crossing at the head of the Gannel Burn and we were making our way along the narrow path which contours the hillside as the Gannel Burn drops away below, leaving the path to wind its way along the hillside towards the head of Mill Glen and a steep descent through the gorse bushes and into Tillicoultry to re-cross the joint waters of the Gannel Burn and the Daiglen Burn ; from where it was then a gentle stroll back along the track through the Ochil Hills Woodland Park to our start point.

A fine walk in great winter weather, and good company - Thanks