by Rannoch3107466855 » Wed Aug 07, 2024 8:30 am
Sub 2000' hills included on this walk: Duncolm
Date walked: 06/08/2024
Time taken: 8.04 hours
Distance: 23.7 km
Ascent: 1055m
3 people think this report is great. Register or Login free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
Today was quite a day, huh? 😂 I ventured on a solo journey to climb some more of the Kilpatrick hills, I'm getting closer to completing all the classifications in the range. My route was about 70% pathless cross-country terrain, which is my favourite to walk in. This route can be broken up into various different routes. Most of the track sections are perfectly ok. There are some bog parts that can be a bit of a nuisance.
Starting my route at 07:20, I started heading via the Old Kilpatrick access road to the Kilpatrick Hills. My first target of the day was The Slacks West Top. So after walking up the lovely road, I got to my cut-off point NS 45731 75169, there was a path there so I followed that up onto the main sorta plateau and then branched off to my right to get to the summit, then I followed the lovey path all the way around to the summit of The Slacks. Then next hill is easy but the bog patch at the bottom of the slacks is always a nuisance, but passing that I started my climb onto Boglairoch which is a lovely walk.
Reaching the hydro track I was now headed for Berry Bank, this was a straightforward cross-country section. I was looking for a decent attack point and I just made a B line for the fence and cracked on, to my luck I found a gate at NS 46464 76101 with a faint ATV track going through it, that will do for me. After reaching the summit of Berry Bank I just retraced my steps back to the main path. My next target was Little Duncolm, I used the path to Duncolm until I saw a faith path leading up to Little Duncolm at NS 46359 76730 so I took that, it was a steep ascent fighting through jaggy stuff wasn't the nicest. After reaching the summit of Little Duncolm I just dropped over the back of Little Duncolm and linked back onto the Duncolm route. This part of the walk was lovely very simple and easy as the route up to Duncolm is fairly straightforward the descent from middle Duncolm onto Duncolm itself is a steep one and needs a bit of concentration going down it as it can be very slippy. As I dropped over the top of Middle Duncolm there were two paths up Duncolm I could see so at NS 46885 77365 I chose the left side path as I hadnt been up this path before.
After reaching the summit of Duncolm I descended via the south path back into the col. I skirted around middle Duncolm which the path can be found at NS 46784 77281 or on your right as you face middle Duncolm with Duncolm to your back. I used the main path back towards Loch Humphrey but not for long as I'll be coming off this path soon. At NS 46353 76822 I started to cross-country this section lucky enough to find a faint ATV track all the way to the summit of Fynloch Hill which was a simple hill to bag. Now the next interesting section of my walk was completely cross country as I was aiming for the Cairn of Fyn Loch. Standing on the summit of Fynloch Hill I saw a faint path to my north so at NS 46110 77073 I descended the embankment to find this path I managed to find something but at NS 45869 77012 it branches off towards Fyn Loch. So with the Cairn of Fyn Loch in front of me, I cracked on through cross country to the summit of Cairn of Fyn Loch. With a navigation check, I was now aiming for the gate at NS 46262 76262 which is the path on and of Dumcolm.
After an interesting and successful cross-country section, I made it back to lock Humphrey around 12 pm and with 9 hills bagged I was pretty happy so far. After a drink and a sandwich, my next target was Creigarestie SE Top. After following the logging road for as long as I could I came off the road at NS 45417 75803 and started the climb up a steep embankment through dead tree branches, stumps and twigs. After fighting through all that I was at the 350 mark and at the top of this summit was this one beautiful pine tree. After sorting out navigation and photos I started my descent back onto the logging road. I descended straight down the side of it through a burn and some bog and I was back on the road.
Two more hills to go, and after a fairly nice stroll through the forest I got to my cut-off point for brown hill, it was super easy up and down from the logging road with no problems at all. Now my final target of the day was Lang Craigs. This was another straightforward hill I followed the road all the way to the end which was at NS 43925 77251 now to my left there was a path leading towards Lang Craigs. I followed it for a bit and then I crossed the fence and climbed up to the summit plateau and topped out at the summit. After retracing my steps back to the road I continued to follow the fence line down to the other path which was a steep part but I got to the path which was the Lang Craigs Woodland so passing through the Gate at NS 43992 77368 I followed the woodland path all the way to the overtoun house. I took 5 minutes here as the heat was a nightmare after cracking open an energy drink I began my road walk all the way down to Milton where at NS 42785 74362 I got the bus back to Glasgow
My total time was 8 hrs and 4 minutes with a moving time of 5 hrs and 40 minutes which is quite decent
⛰️ The 12 hills I covered
1. The Slacks West Top
2. The Slacks (Repeat)
3. Boglairoch (Repeat)
4. Berry Bank
5. Little Duncolm
6. Middle Duncolm (Repeat)
7. Duncolm (Repeat)
8. Fynloch Hill (Repeat)
9. Cairn of Fyn Loch
10. Creigarestie SE Top
11. Brown Hill
12. Lang Craigs
- Attachments
-
Killpatrick clean up .gpx
Open full screen NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts