Glentye Hill - a short Ochils wander

[matt_outandabout]

We took a wander on Christmas Eve, but decided to move the walk slightly due to the line of others also wandering up our planned route. It has been wonderful to see so many people take up walks and rides through lockdown, but it does make any clear path with a car park somewhat overrun....

Instead of our usual direct route up from the trees (and unofficial wild camp site), we headed up from the most southerly of the concrete 'Atlantic Wall' bunkers. From here it was a rough hill side, with expanding views over the valley. Beautiful sunlight hid a biting wind, but the views and exercise were worth it.
Glentye Hill, Sherrifmuir by Matt Robinson, on Flickr
Glentye Hill, Sherrifmuir by Matt Robinson, on Flickr
Glentye Hill, Sherrifmuir by Matt Robinson, on Flickr


At the top we took a quick picture and headed down to the north nearer the road junction with Head Dykes, aiming for the main area of Atlantic Wall ruins. A last wander in the sinking winter sun saw us back at the car.
Glentye Hill, Sherrifmuir by Matt Robinson, on Flickr
Glentye Hill, Sherrifmuir by Matt Robinson, on Flickr

A really nice walk, off paths and away from the crowds. A good reminder that not everything needs to be a big day.....
Glentye Hill, Sherrifmuir by Matt Robinson, on Flickr

[Dave Hewitt]

Funnily enough I was on this again just a couple of days ago, in somewhat different conditions to yours. Hadn't (and still haven't) been up Blairdenon this year, so decided to give that a go from the west - parked at the MacRae monument and walked up the road. Even before getting to the Lairhill wood it didn't seem very likely that I'd get to Blairdenon - there was snow falling and also drifting across the slopes, and more snow at the 300m level than I'd expected - had been hoping for not much on the Glentye Hill slope with the main graft coming on Greenforet/Blairdenon beyond, but it was hard work from the start. The cloud was about 500m so I could see, but it was pretty bleak and not very enticing, so after the usual random-ish search for the highest tussock on Glentye Hill it made sense to retreat. Could see someone starting up the Greenforet slope beyond - and going quite slowly. Wasn't tempted to try and catch up and share the workload through the drifts, so instead angled back off with the wind now behind me, splashed across the Wharry Burn and picked up the woodland track on the far side for a pleasant-enough descent.

Pretty sure that's the first time I've ever been up Glentye Hill without linking to or from Blairdenon. Not sure how many ascents it'll have been in total - Blairdenon is in three figures, but lots of those have been from the south or east - so probably between 30 or 40 Glentye Hills and now finally with it as the highest thing of the day.