Tinto

[Gordie12]

Having just completed the Culter Fell horseshoe group of four I was passing the Fallburn starting point for Tinto as I headed for Lanark so took the opportunity to stop off and climb it.. I know there are more interesting and less busy routes up this hill but having just completed a 5 hour walk I was really just looking for a quick up and down (or maybe not so quick).

The car park is massive but was still three quarters full when I headed off in the baking heat. Not really much point in putting much detail on to this walk, just follow the person in front until you reach the top then turn round and repeat the same process downhill.

This is one of those honeypot hills which attract a mix of folk with everything from the super fit runners to others who look as though this will probably be their first and last hill. The one thing the majority had in common was a need to stop every few seconds to take a selfie.

My timing at the top was lucky as there was just one couple there at the same time so pretty quiet. Three or four people stopped to talk to me and all of them seemed to start with an explanation as to why they were doing Tinto rather than a "proper" hill (just starting a 2nd round of Donalds so getting this one out the way, planned to do a Munro but friend pulled out at the last moment so stayed local, didn't want to do Tinto but 77 now so harder to do Munros, already done two hills before starting this one ((hey, that's my excuse!!)) etc etc).

On the way back down I was nearly down on to flat ground when one chap heading up stopped to ask me if there was much more climbing to do, I advised that there was and he seemed a bit upset with that information. He then asked me for directions................

OK, a lot of people climb this hill and it was busy especially compared to where I had just been but I still really enjoyed it. The climb was made harder by the heat but it was worth it for the view.

The start

Looking back down

Nearing the top

The top

And again

Heading down

And again