Over The Hill

Fortunately it is very rare for us to have to drive through the Glasgow morning rush hour traffic to get to the start of a walk - but today saw us heading for the Southern Uplands, and Culter Fell, but not before doing battle with the traffic on the M8 and M74. The observant among you may well have noticed the discrepancy there, I say Culter Fell, and yet the walk is entitled Tinto! An on-route weather diversion - its was pretty mucky ahead, and so we took a vote (and for once Alan was not sleeping) and decided to swing off the M74 at junction 11 and head for Tinto, instead of the planned junction 13 and a long day on Culter Fell.

On a beautiful summers day, Tinto is the type of hill path along which every man and his dog, and ladies in high heels (or, to be PC, should that be inappropriate foot ware?) can be found, out for a Sunday stroll. Not today, the wind in the car park was quite ferocious, and the whole hillside was covered in thick low cloud. And so we four, all appropriately dressed, headed off up the broad track and into the gloom.

If possible, the track gets even broader as you approach the summit, and today it held the remnants of last weeks snow fall as we skirted around Maurice's Cleuch and made the final climb to the massive rock pile that holds the summit cairn and viewpoint. The wind at this point was so strong that I actually held onto the viewpoint to steady myself as one particularly strong gust of wind hit us. Not a place to hang around for too long.

Rather than retrace our steps back down the main path, we opted for a cross-country route which saw us heading off in a generally easterly direction, descending to a small bealach on a grassy ridge, before a short ascent to Scaut Hill, a grassy knoll that boasts a cairn and a huge semi-circular stone shelter. I guess on a clear day, the views along this section may by quite extensive, especially south over the upper reaches of the River Clyde towards our intended destination, Culter Fell. However, today with the low cloud and mist, we were lucky to see a few hundred metres at the best.

A curving track took us down the east side of Scaut Hill and onwards to an area with a scattering of small woodlands, some of which contained a number of very healthy looking Scots Pines. We followed the general line of these woodlands, first west north-west to cross a couple of small gullies and then north east uphill to a the circular stone enclosure atop Park Knowe.

A kilometre away, across some grassy scrub lay the car park, and the end of what transpired to be a very enjoyable walk, despite the winds and lack of views.

Great day, great company - Thanks.