King's Seat from Dollar - Gloom, Sorrow and a Skull

[jgregor]

We started form the car park on the north edge of Dollar on a relentlessly wet February Sunday morning. Crossing the road, we took a path down into Dollar Glen. Right from the off we were met with signs pinned to trees warning that the path was closed further down. We decided to see for ourselves, and pressed on.

Land slip into Dollar Burn

A bridge further up the glen was in a bit of a state, but passable with care. I hope it does get repaired, rather than the path just being permanently closed as seems to happen in Edinburgh.

The way is shut

This bridge has seen better days

On the other side we continued along the path and up a flight of steps which emerged on the road next to Castle Campbell.

Castle Campbell - also shut

The castle is closed at the moment - also in need of repair. Nature appears to be trying to reclaim Dollar Glen! Walking down the road to a gate we found two paths on the south side - one going down and the other up. Since we were aiming to climb a hill we thought the latter would be the best bet.

Further up the path we turned for a view of the castle, and Gloom Hill behind it. Right enough, shorn of it's trees it didn't look happy.

Gloom Hill behind Castle Campbell

Heading north-west towards the top of the glen the path took us past a number of waterfalls.

Heading up out of the glen, we looked up a path and saw what appeared to be a sheep standing next to a sign. Approaching, it became evident that it was not a living sheep. It was a wooden frame with a fleece draped over it and (what I assume to be) a sheep skull screwed to it. I guess someone felt the 'keep your dog on a lead' sign needed a bit more emphasis. I very much hoped we wouldn't encounter a 'Danger of Death' sign...

When a warning sign isn't enough

From here we headed up Bank Hill.

Looking up the Glen of Sorrow

Dollar from Bank Hill

From Bank Hill we continued south-west for a short distance before following the path to a style in some rather boggy ground and turning north-west to ascend King's Seat Hill.

Onward into the fog

Memorial to 3 Spitfire pilots who crashed here in 1943

As we neared the top we passed a large cairn and stone shelter. I assume it's here because this affords better views out over the Forth Valley than the actual top does. Sadly it was too foggy to experience that. By now the perpetual rain had turned to stinging sleet and we pressed on the 300m or so to the summit.

A frozen pond at the summit of King's Seat

The summit is rather flat. There is a small cairn, but it's hard to be sure exactly where the top is. I found remnants of a couple of other cairns about that presumably also once marked the 'summit'. The fog was being blown about by the stronger wind up here and through it we caught glimpses north to the hills on the other side of the Glen of Sorrow.

The summit cairn?

We didn't stop long, and set off down the way we had come until we reached Bank Hill again. This time, instead of going over Bank Hill we took the path skirting it to the north. The mist and fog had cleared somewhat and we were afforded a view back up the Glen of Sorrow.

Glen of Sorrow

We crossed over our upward path at some point and arrived back at Dollar Glen further south than where we had left it on the way up. There are many paths through the glen and we followed one past more waterfalls and emerged at the castle on the second of the two paths we had seen previously.

Back to Dollar Glen, overlooked by Gloom Hill

From here we followed the narrow road back to the car park.

The Burn of Care crossing the road in sight of the castle

Last view of Campbell Castle