Lendrick Hill and Steele's Knowe

[jgregor]

Lendrick Hill
Distance: 4.7km
Time taken: 1:36
Ascent: 255m

First walk of the day. Started around 9am, parking at the entrance to the forestry track, where there's room for a few cars without blocking the gate. It was misty, but the forecast rain hadn't come on yet. I followed the track from the west side of the summit up and round to the east of it. So far, so easy. Then a steeper and quite slippery ascent up a fire-break to the top of the forest, followed by a short climb up to the summit cairn. There's also a trig about 100m south, which I also visited for completeness sake. Unfortunately it was too foggy to see any views, but I'd fully expected that.

Descended north via a long fire-break, which was even more slippery than the one on the way up, and quite tricky going in parts. But was soon down to where the path re-joined the track which I followed back down to the road.

View of Down Hill and the start of the walk below

I get the impression there's not much traffic up here

Heading up to the summit

Summit cairn - too foggy for a view unfortunately

Heading north down the path into the forest

Heading down a rough fire-break path

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Steele's Knowe
Distance: 10.9km
Time taken: 3:14
Ascent: 559m

The second walk was a longer one up Steele's Knowe, a few miles north-west of Lendrick. I parked at the entrance to the wind farm, and ascended by the access road which goes most of the way to the summit. It's an ugly road up, blasted out of the rock of the hill for much of the way up. And the fog robbed me of any distracting view of the surrounding countryside. Spirits were flagging and I listened to music while trudging up the road - something I never normally do when out on a hike. The only thing of note were the 19mph speed limit signs. I wondered how they came by such a weirdly specific number. What tragedy would you be risking by doing 20?

A grey windfarm access track in the fog - about as grim as a hill walk can be

I followed the track up to the top, staying right at the final fork. The last turbine (number 6 IIRC) marks the end of the track, and I was left to follow faint tracks through the grass up to the summit trig. Views were even more out of the question - it looked like I was standing on a small island in the clouds. It was also strangely quiet - perhaps the birds had been taken aback by the sound of the music playing on my phone, which I had just switched off.

Summit trig

Setting off back the way I had come, the usual song of the ground nesting birds struck up again. I must have got onto a different path, as I came upon a different turbine track (turbines 1 to 5) than the one I had taken on the way up. It was closer to the summit, so at least I was stumbling around in the fog less There was a track from here which re-joined the main track.

Checking the map, I could see a path descending the other side of Ben Trush, away from the wind farm. This was reached easily enough via a branch of the wind-farm track, which petered out into an older looking Land Rover track. This was a more pleasant route down on a grassy (albeit rather muddy in places) path, avoiding a large part of the wind-farm track. As I descended the fog cleared slightly and I at least got a look at the Creish Burn flowing towards the River Devon.

Following the Creich Burn south towards the River Devon

Two tracks - I took the right hand one

Heading down to the main road

The path led me though a farm and down onto the road at Glendevon. Across the road was a track I had once walked along when climbing Innerdownie. I could see the house where I was challenged by a lady, insisting we should be on the "core path" (the pavement by the main road). I was tempted to take that track again, but it was the long way round back to the wind-farm entrance, so core path it was. It's actually quite narrow, and didn't feel very safe, with traffic passing at 50mph not two feet away. At one point it was subsiding into someone's garden, and further on a garden wall had collapsed onto it. However, it did get me back to the car. And I got to see some donkeys.

The fabled "core path" leading me back to the wind farm entrance

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[jmarkb]

The only thing of note were the 19mph speed limit signs. I wondered how they came by such a weirdly specific number.

Mindless conversion from 30 km/h most likely!

[jgregor]

The only thing of note were the 19mph speed limit signs. I wondered how they came by such a weirdly specific number.

Mindless conversion from 30 km/h most likely!

Ah, I think you're onto something there. Still a bit fast - would have loved to have seen the more accurate 18.64 on the sign

[Graeme D]

I still remember getting a terrible telling off from a barmaid in the Tormaukin in Glendevon after my wife and I did Steele's Knowe back in 2011. We told her that we were on our first hill walk after our daughter (then only a couple of months old) had been born and we had left her with my parents for the afternoon while we went up Steele's Knowe! She seemed to think we were highly irresponsible!

[jgregor]

I still remember getting a terrible telling off from a barmaid in the Tormaukin in Glendevon after my wife and I did Steele's Knowe back in 2011. We told her that we were on our first hill walk after our daughter (then only a couple of months old) had been born and we had left her with my parents for the afternoon while we went up Steele's Knowe! She seemed to think we were highly irresponsible!

There must be something in the air around Glendevon.
I avoided confrontation this time - probably because I didn't meet anyone, and no-one could see me in the fog