Over The Hill

My previous walks in the Ochil Hlls have centred around Tillicoultry, Mill Glen and Ben Cleuch, whereas today, we were venturing a few kilometres further east to Dollar to visit Dollar Glen, Castle Campbell and a round of hills focused on King’s Seat Hill. Accessing the Ochils from any point along the A91 invariably involves a climb up one of the many narrow tree-lined gorges or “glens” which rise steeply from the southern edge of the Ochils onto the higher-level grassier hills and summits.

The National Trust of Scotland describes Dollar Glen as having “deep gorges, cascading waterfalls” it also informs us that “the wildlife habitats and geology” have earned it a Site of Special Scientific Interest status. Oh, and one other thing, it is obviously a favourite for “canyoning” enthusiasts, as there were about a dozen or so of them setting off from the car park just ahead of us.

Immediately on leaving the car park and taking the path into the woodlands you know you are in an incredibly special spot; the greenery is spectacular, from ferns and shrubbery at low level, to towering trees above and lichen covered rock gorges. And, amazingly, as you look down on treetops below you, you realise just how deep a gorge lies directly below the narrow path, and, through the trees, the glimpses of the waters flowing through the gorge below; waters converging from burns with lamentable names, such as Burn of Sorrows and Burn of Care. We transited the glen as far as Castle Campbell before gaining the open hillside, however, I am sure that this glen must surely be worthy of a visit purely to complete the round of the glen and castle in its entirety as it is such a beautiful place.

Once on the open hillside, we made the short climb to the 346m top of Bank Hill, where an unusually large cairn marks the summit of this minor hill. The rolling grassy hills of the Ochils are criss-crossed by a network of paths leading from one summit to another, and so, from Bank Hill we joined one such path leading downhill to The Banks of Dollar, a name which may just conjure a vision of a river and its grassy banks, but instead is simply a dip in the hillside from where the path then undulates around a series of hillocks and makes a gentle ascent onto the south east shoulder of King’s Seat Hill.

It is here, just a few hundred metres from the cairn and wind shelter that the path passes by a rather beautiful memorial plaque in memory of three young pilots, two of whom were killed, and the third badly injured when their flight of three Spitfire aircraft, on a training flight from RAF Grangemouth, crashed into the hillside in thick mist and fog on 16th January 1943. The sole survivor, Sergeant Daly, suffered two broken legs among his injuries. His survival is all the more remarkable in that, he tied a scarf around his legs and dragged himself down the snow-covered hillside, spending two nights in below freezing temperatures huddled in the bracken before he was found 48 hours after the crash by a local farmer from Dollarbank Farm and his shepherd out on the hillside tending their sheep. Quite remarkable, and, once again, a poignant reminder of what we owe to those young man and woman who, like these three young pilots, rose to the challenge of defending our freedom.

The summit of King’s Seat Hill is a narrow, grassy plateau almost 400 metres long, marked at the southern end by a large cairn, not the most auspicious of cairns, in that it resembles a pile of stones, and a double wind shelter, the true summit is actually situated at the northern end, and marked by a very small pile of stones, so small it cannot be described as a cairn. Obviously therefore, we opted for the wind shelter and rubble for our stopping point and enjoyed a relaxing break as a reward for our efforts to this point.

Small by comparison to other hill ranges, the Ochil Hills have 78 named tops, many of them over 600 metres in height. Squeeze that many tops into a small space, and what do you have – Steep sides and big drops between summits. And this became very obvious as we left the summit of King’s Seat Hill and headed north, descending to the narrow bealach and the convergence of the three small burns that form the head-waters of the Burn of Sorrow. A short, but steep descent of almost 200 metres, with, conversely, an immediate, and steep ascent back up to gain the 645 metre high summit of Tarmangie Hill. From here, it was downhill all the way. An easy stroll east on a fine grassy ridge to the 643 metre summit of Whitewisp Hill before swinging south and making a short descent to Saddle Hill, at 522 metres high our last top of the day.

A quick look at the map and you will see that Saddle Hill is surrounded by steep slopes, a few crags, but mainly steep grassy slopes. And so, we debated the best route off, and opted to angle our descent from the top heading south south-east following yet another faint path through a couple of minor crags and down the steep grassy slopes towards the footbridge over the Burn of Sorrow. The descent required care, but was certainly easier than we had anticipated, possibly due to the toughness of the grass which gave quite good grip underfoot – it all might be a different story in winter with snow or hard frost around, I think it may be a bit tricky then.

We crossed the rather old and well worn sleeper foot bridge over the Burn of Sorrow and settled on the banks alongside the burn to soak up the afternoon sun, it was an idyllic spot to taking in the day, before we set off on the final leg, a return along the footpaths through Dollar Glen.

An absolutely fantastic day, my first visit to Dollar Glen, and a return to the rolling grassy hills of the Ochils – Thanks Pat, Brilliant.