Over The Hill

Unforeseen circumstance have kept me off the hills since mid-April when I had a wonderful day on Beinn Ghlas, so I was very glad to join David’s walk today and stretch my legs on the fine grassy slopes of Cort ma Law.

Departing Clachan of Campsie we climbed up through the woodland area on the east side of Campsie Glen to reach the base of the long grassy west ridge of Cort ma Law where we exchanged woodland track for the open moorland. There was a heavy drizzle in the air, which did not seem too bad in the shelter of the trees, but on the open moorland it soon became obvious that it would be prudent to don full waterproofs, as the earlier forecast was for fairly persistent rain throughout the day. One bonus though, following a wet week preceding the walk, I had expected the hillsides to be much wetter and muddier underfoot, whereas, although a bit wet in places the track was almost mud free, thankfully.

A steady plod was made up the initial kilometre or so of the ridge, the legs letting me know that I had not been in the hills for 8 weeks, and so I was happy to take my own pace, along with Mike and just let the group wander ahead, although never really out of sight, just a hump of dip ahead of us. As the ridge leveled off a little it was pleasant to just take it a step at a time, the summit wasn’t going anywhere and would still be there whatever time we arrived.

Over the 518m top we observed the group ahead divert a little and take a more direct line towards the summit, and so we followed suit and joined up with them as they crossed a fenceline just short of the 531m summit and cairn on Cort ma Law. By now the drizzle had actually stopped and there was a hint of brightness in the sky which indicated the possibility of a drier period ahead.

Rather than take a break on the open summit area, David lead us to a pleasant grassy spot on the ridge which offered fine views south over the expanse of the central belt while we enjoyed a lunch break in ever drier and brighter conditions.

Lunch over, we made our descent down a twisting track, at times a little steep, towards Glazert Water in the glen below and just to the east of Lennoxtown to link up with the hard surfaced disused railway track for a slow, easy return to Clachan of Campsie where we were welcomed into The Glen Café for what was a fine cup of coffee and some very scrumptious cakes.

A fine walk, thanks David and everyone for your company.