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Lockdown still in force and looks like continuing right through March, this may assist in our mission to conquer all the Tumps in the Kingdom, all 100+ of them. With the daylight hours increasing it means in theory we can visit more hills, however our fitness is miles off what we would like. We both found yesterday's outing tough and we only ascended a shade over 1000m. Having said that we do use plenty of mental and physical energy especially climbing over fences. Fences and gorse have been a common theme with the Tumps, gorse has meant the odd detour to reach a summit and it is thriving in Fife. Fences like with the bigger hills vary in construction and height. Luckily deer fences haven't really been a problem, however the smaller fences have seen us clocking up extra kilometres trying to find a safe and easier spot to get to the other side. Barbed wire is very common and the majority of fences have at least 2 layers which is very unfriendly and sometimes there even 2 fences. Another addition is electric fences, which I can understand for livestock. Of course you always have to assume the fence is live and to date I have only had one shock and it certainly was a shock.
The plan for the day was another 8am meet and if we felt OK we could add the trio including Prospect Hill which would make it 10 for the day. I felt so much better one week after my vaccination.
The hills I 'hand picked' meant we were able to cut down the amount of driving between hills. The plan was to link the first group of 4 together then Lindores Hill on it's own, the a duo finishing off with a trio.
Dunbog Hill, 216m, 405m of ascent, 10.7km, 2hrs 50mins
We parked on the banks of Lindores Loch and parking spaces are in very short supply.
Lindores Loch looking lovely
A different angle
The way ahead
Good track initially
Low level look westish
Looking back as we leave the track
The way ahead, bit of grassy ascending
Lindores Loch in the distance
Here you are Parminder
Someone has taken a chunk out of the trig
Close up shot
That was Dunbog our high point for the day, the walk to our next summit wouldn't take very long and was without obstacles.
Balmeadow Hill, 196m
Not sure if the puddle is always there or just a result of the snow and recent rain?
Luckily we didn't have to climb this gate
Typical farm buildings
Looking back, the dark green vegetation is our unfriendly gorse - which wasn't a problem for us
A bit of going up, note the gorse trying to attack us
The gap in the gorse is now very obvious
We are now on the large rounded summit area of Balmeadow
Looking eastish towards Mount Hill from the tussocky grassy summit
Leaving Balmeadow and heading towards the Cunnoquhies, east is in the woods on the left, west is on the far right where the mast is
Cunnoquhie East Hill, 151m
The summit of Cunnoquhie east is in there, you can imagine how good the views are going to be
Looking back
About to enter into the darkness, so far the jungle warfare has been pretty tame
Another style of fence, chicken wire on the lower part
Summit area of Cunnoquhie east
Now it is onto final hill of this foursome.
Cunnoquhie West Hill, 199m
Out of the forest now and looking back
Looking back, the fence wasn't on our route
Someone had been through the fence before us, we managed to squeeze through
George surveying a bit of going up in front of us
Dead bracken which is the best time to encounter it, looking across to Balmeadow
Heading downhill, to guess what? Another fence
This was a first for us, a "cat flap" in a deer fence, was a tight squeeze but doable
Looking back again
Another first, anyone any idea what this is? We managed to scramble elegantly over it, note the barbed wire fence either side
Looking back down on the 'contraption'
Looking east from the summit of Cunnoquhie West
Descending off Cunnoquhie west
Now it is a short drive towards Newburgh to tackle our next hill.
Lindores Hill, 178m, 110m of ascent, 1.75km, 45mins
We parked up a track off the main road
The way ahead, once past the field on the left we turned left and headed uphill
A bit of height gained and looking towards Newburgh, Clatchard Craig Quarry can be seen in the distance
The summit is where the mast is, however we have the usual problem before we reach it - pick your way through gorse
Looking NE towards Dundee and our next hills
The mast on the summit, Lindores Loch in the distance
Now it was time to move onto our next hills, into Newburgh and turn right onto an unclassified road, past what looks like a new distillery.
Glenduckie Hill, 218m, 231m of ascent, 4.4km, 1hr 20mins
Low level look across the Tay, Ballinbreich Castle on this side of the Tay
Ballinbreich Castle zoomed
Dundee zoomed
Plenty of poly tunnels on the other side of the Tay
We opted to stay to the left of the fence as we would be turning left uphill soon
Heading uphill now, small silver birch plantation
Heading up to top of the slope before heading into the forest
Looking back down and across to Higham Hill on the other side
One last look at the Tay before we become engulfed in the forest
Easy forest stuff for us
First time we have come across Rhododendron
Not far to the summit of Glenduckie Hill
The limited view from the summit of Glenduckie Hill
A few tracks in Glenduckie forest, all going in the wrong direction for us
Now it was downhill before the slight ascent up Higham Hill.
Higham Hill, 155m
Looking back across to our route up Glenduckie - the obvious gap in the trees
This bit of the approach to Higham is part of the "Fife Coastal Path", nice friendly fences on either side
Quite a few big stanes dotted around
Looking west down the Tay towards Perth
The summit stane on Higham Hill, from the ascent up Glenduckie we thought it was a trig - certainly trig shaped
Quite a big stone
Glenduckie Hill
Out of the group of hills we tackled Glenduckie was probably the star of the show. Now it was another short drive to Luthrie where we would start our final trio.
Prospect Hill, 188m. 282m of ascent, 6.6km, 1hr 55mins
Plenty of local walks in the area
Looking back
A substantial new gate, that took a bit of brute force to open
George posing, Prospect Hill is on the right
Not far from the summit of Prospect Hill, at first we thought the mast was maybe higher - but it wasn't
View eastish from the rounded summit of Prospect Hill
Now it was the 'challenging' walk across to the lovely named Whirly Kips.
[u]Whirly Kips[/u], 167m
The view as we left Prospect Hill towards Norman's Law, Whirly Kips is the wee rounded lump on the left
Mount Hill in the distance with the tower on the summit
From now on I lost count of how many fences we encountered, as you can see they are anything but friendly
Whirly Kips is up there
Looking across to the dominant hill in the area Norman's Law from the insignificant summit of Whirly Kips
Now it was the long undulating walk to our final hill of the day Emily Hill.
Emily Hill, 154m
We followed this track in roughly the direction we were planning to head, avoiding fences like the one on the left
Plenty of money in this area, large land owners we guessed
Looking east, we would be heading up to the left to avoid the house in the distance
Large house being renovated
Renovated house on the right, got their own wee pond
Typical north Fife farmland
Not far to the summit of Emily Hill, we opted to stay on the east side of 3 fences we encountered
Norman's Law from the summit of Emily Hill
The final and welcome descent back down into Luthrie
Luthrie church
Really enjoyed the day and I think George did too. We are certainly clocking up the kilometres but the amount of ascending is a bit of a concern, especially when we are allowed to escape out of Fife. Having said that we are burning up extra mental and physical energy tackling the extra obstacles.