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Tip Top on Tinto

Tip Top on Tinto


Postby scribe64 » Fri Nov 26, 2021 3:16 pm

Route description: Tinto from the north

Fionas included on this walk: Tinto

Donalds included on this walk: Tinto

Date walked: 13/11/2021

Time taken: 2.5 hours

Distance: 7 km

Ascent: 486m

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In gently edging Francis toward his first Munro our next step took us to South Lanarkshire and the joys of Tinto.
This is a hill which has a bit of mythic quality for me having grown up only sixteen miles away in West Lothian. Yet despite having heard of it since childhood I somehow never got round to climbing it. But with Francis having his eye on Schiehallion for that first bagging, I thought this was an ideal excuse to put that right - selling Francis on the notion that it was a kind of mini Schiehallion.

So off we went on a bright Saturday afternoon. We found the generous car park easily enough and were mightily impressed that there was a portaloo and that it was even remarkably clean. (My experience of music festivals has left me expecting the worst of these things!)

I'm not sure if it's a permanent feature or a legacy of the hill race held the previous weekend. (Tinto seems to be the kind of popular hill where old sloggers like me can expect to be passed regularly not just by runners but also under-11 football teams on sponsored walks!)

The path starts out gently enough but was muddy in places. We were too busy picking our way through to notice the ancient hill fort to our left (we eventually spotted it on our way back down).

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Off we go.


As it starts to climb properly the path dries out and gets rockier. And the views to the North begin to develop.

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Out of the mud, onto the slope.


The gradient eases for a section before the kick up onto the shoulder of Totherin Hill. The route to the summit is straightforward and unmissable - even for us!

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Even we couldn't miss the path.


We detoured left briefly to explore the Totherin Hill cairn and catch our breath as we contemplated the second half of the climb. No false summits thankfully. Basically straight on to the top.

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The way ahead.


The final stretch is steep but the summit cairn gave us something to focus on and the views just got better and better.

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The final push.


Reaching the top the first thing you realise is that the Bronze Age cairn is enormous! I tried to get Francis to pose beside the view indicator but he freaked out a bit when he realised it was covered in tiny spiders. He took in the amazing views instead.

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Summit view SE - with spiders!


The views and the sunshine were so enjoyable that we hung around exploring the summit for much longer than we'd planned to. With no wind to speak of, it was a lovely spot to break out the hot chocolate and linger over.

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Summit view SW.


We eventually started to head back down as the hill's shadow stretched out to the North East.

We got back to the car and discovered we'd spent so long on the summit that we'd missed the chance of grabbing a bit of cake at the cafe. Unusually for us, we didn't mind. It had been worth it.

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Heading back down. View NE. River Clyde shining.
User avatar
scribe64
Walker
 
Posts: 30
Munros:17   Corbetts:1
Fionas:2   Donalds:2
Sub 2000:7   
Islands:19
Joined: Oct 12, 2021
Location: Edinburgh

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