Fin Glen in the Campsies

[Poocini]

Hi All.

Last weekend we went up the Fin Glen in the Campsies to scatter my dad's ashes (he had long requested that they be scattered there, as it was his haunt when he was younger), and I was a bit shocked to find how quiet the whole place is now.

My dad used to take my brother and myself walking there when I was a wee boy, and from memory it was always reasonably busy. You'd always see at least 3 or 4 other people out and about, However, this time we didn't see another soul, and it was the same story when we did a bit of a reccy a few weeks back, although I'd put this down to it being early on a Saturday morning, and that Sunday would be busier. This proved not to be the case last weekend.

Don't get me wrong, I like the fact that the paths (or the faint track through the ferns that passes for a path) aren't the 10 foot wide trenches that you see on more popular routes, but we almost walked past the cairn in the glen because it was surrounded by chest high ferns.

I suppose what I mean is that I find it all a little sad that a place that I hold such affection for it bypassed almost in it's entirety.

Has anyone here paid it a visit in the last few years?

[Kevin29035]

Interesting. I've walked in the Campsies a lot and never been to Fin Glen. I didn't know a path existed actually, and never knew the glen was popular. I don't personally feel this as sad but I've never had any connection with it, I tend to stick to the Dumgoyne/Earls Seat/Slackdhu triangle and this is an area I'll no doubt have the same connection to, as you do with Fin Glen.

[bootsandpaddles]

I have never heard anyone complaining about the hills being too quiet before!

[Poocini]

I'm not complaining as such. It's just that I remember it being quite popular when I was young, and I suppose it's just that it perhaps gets overlooked now.

But perhaps you're right - maybe I should see it as a blessing rather than a curse. My brother went into the cycle shop at Clachan of Campsie a day or two beforehand, and the guy described the glen as 'pristine' - there's not many glens that you can say that about these days!

[Kevin29035]

I'm not complaining as such. It's just that I remember it being quite popular when I was young, and I suppose it's just that it perhaps gets overlooked now.

But perhaps you're right - maybe I should see it as a blessing rather than a curse. My brother went into the cycle shop at Clachan of Campsie a day or two beforehand, and the guy described the glen as 'pristine' - there's not many glens that you can say that about these days!

The waterfalls just below the Crow Road car park were a total dump the other day.

[Poocini]

I suppose all the more reason that I shouldn't lament the relative unpopularity of the Fin Glen compared to other nearby places!

The times that I've been there, the Crowe Road car park did strike me as a bit of a boy racer magnet. Sort of similar to the view point at the summit of the Tak' Me Doon Road at the other end of the Campsies.

[Kevin29035]

Is it best to park at Clachan of Campsie for Fin Glen? And is there a path through the base of the glen, the only thing on my map is a track that climbs the hillside on the north. Might go for a wander some day.

[Poocini]

We tend to park beside the Morris Furniture factory - if you're not familiar with it, it's the first turning after Shoenstatt, if you're coming from the Lennoxtown direction. From here, you walk up the path, under the barrier, and on up the hill. There's a gate with a sign saying 'No dogs, not even on leads'. You go through here, and on past 'Auld Jock's Cottage' (at least, according to my dad, it was called that), a derelict farmhouse. There's a faint path from here that continues up the left hand side of the glen, through the ferns.

[Campsieman]

Know the path you mean but not been over that side of the glen for many years. Don't remember it being busy though, most people visiting the area used Campsie Glen years ago when the path up beside the burn was in much better nick than it is now. Fin Glen is a much bigger and deeper than Campsie Glen but a new track (rough) has been cut higher up on the eastern side of the glen and thousands of new native trees planted, should look good when it matures. This can be accessed from The Clachan of Campsie Glen but fizzles out eventually. We sometimes used the path you mention either on route to or returning from The Earls Seat via Dumbreck and Owsen Hill but it too is not very obvious once above the T-woods just above the cairn. There are some fairly good water falls and pools if tracking up the Finglen Burn but it is very steep sided and rugged in places, as you probably know, and we too have happy memories exploring the Glen.

PS many people used to use dogs for hare coursing around the area back then but I think that has largely decreased now and it may be you saw some of the local poachers on your visits!

[Campsieman]

Know the path you mean but not been over that side of the glen for many years. Don't remember it being busy though, most people visiting the area used Campsie Glen years ago when the path up beside the burn was in much better nick than it is now. Fin Glen is a much bigger and deeper than Campsie Glen but a new track (rough) has been cut higher up on the eastern side of the glen and thousands of new native trees planted, should look good when it matures. This can be accessed from The Clachan of Campsie Glen but fizzles out eventually. We sometimes used the path you mention either on route to or returning from The Earls Seat via Dumbreck and Owsen Hill but it too is not very obvious once above the T-woods just above the cairn. There are some fairly good water falls and pools if tracking up the Finglen Burn but it is very steep sided and rugged in places, as you probably know, and we too have happy memories exploring the Glen.

PS many people used to use dogs for hare coursing around the area back then but I think that has largely decreased now and it may be you saw some of the local poachers on your visits!

[Poocini]

We did notice something on the other side of the glen - although from where we were we couldn't really tell if it was a path or just a long landslip!
And there does seem to have been a lot of trees planted. We were clambering around the edges of the river gorge, trying to find a distinctive spot in the river that we were looking for, and there were a lot of sapplings in their protective tubes planted all around. It will look quite spectacular when they grow, although I just hope the soil is strong enough to hold their weight. The Campsies have always struck me as being rocky with very little soil coverage. Last time I was up the Earl's Seat, it rained a lot, and I ended up turning back because the path was quickly disappearing under several inches of water!

You're probably right about the poachers as well. I was a wee boy back then, and it wouldn't have registered with me that they were doing anything more than hillwalking - like me and my dad!

[Kevin29035]

We did notice something on the other side of the glen - although from where we were we couldn't really tell if it was a path or just a long landslip!
And there does seem to have been a lot of trees planted. We were clambering around the edges of the river gorge, trying to find a distinctive spot in the river that we were looking for, and there were a lot of sapplings in their protective tubes planted all around. It will look quite spectacular when they grow, although I just hope the soil is strong enough to hold their weight. The Campsies have always struck me as being rocky with very little soil coverage. Last time I was up the Earl's Seat, it rained a lot, and I ended up turning back because the path was quickly disappearing under several inches of water!

I'd say the opposite, they're some of the more fertile hills in Scotland. There's little exposed rock in the Campsies and essentially none on the plateau itself.

[Desy]

Know the path you mean but not been over that side of the glen for many years. Don't remember it being busy though, most people visiting the area used Campsie Glen years ago when the path up beside the burn was in much better nick than it is now. Fin Glen is a much bigger and deeper than Campsie Glen but a new track (rough) has been cut higher up on the eastern side of the glen and thousands of new native trees planted, should look good when it matures. This can be accessed from The Clachan of Campsie Glen but fizzles out eventually. We sometimes used the path you mention either on route to or returning from The Earls Seat via Dumbreck and Owsen Hill but it too is not very obvious once above the T-woods just above the cairn. There are some fairly good water falls and pools if tracking up the Finglen Burn but it is very steep sided and rugged in places, as you probably know, and we too have happy memories exploring the Glen.

PS many people used to use dogs for hare coursing around the area back then but I think that has largely decreased now and it may be you saw some of the local poachers on your visits!

A was prob 2 of the poachers

[Bastonjock]

I can't get it straight in my head where fin glen is , I used to fish the Glazert and took the occasional stroll up Campsite Glen , my parents would visit the Area near the Clachan ,after my father passed ,my mum would often visit Campsite Glen to " talk " to my dad

Ex kirkie boy here

[allanglens]

I can't get it straight in my head where fin glen is , I used to fish the Glazert and took the occasional stroll up Campsite Glen , my parents would visit the Area near the Clachan ,after my father passed ,my mum would often visit Campsite Glen to " talk " to my dad

Ex kirkie boy here

It's the next glen to the west of Campsie Glen. Usual access is now up the eastern side, with the path (starting on Knowehead Road) starting at the back of the Schoenstatt (former Campsite Glen Hotel). The main path runs up to the waterfall on the Almeal Burn. It continues north-west up the Fin Glen but appears little used after the falls.

The Finglen Burn runs into the Glazert a couple of hundred yards west of the confluence between the Kirk Burn (Campsie Glen) and the Glazert.