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A Sunday stroll to stretch my legs and accustom them to hills again before (my plan went) venturing to a Munro or two on Monday.
Parked at Bonally Tower carpark, which had plenty of space when I arrived for 11am. I headed up through the woods on the north of the Pentlands' edge, grateful for some shade since it was already pretty hot and hardly a cloud in the sky. Reached the outlying top of White Hill, then through some more woods to find fields and a track.
I reached the edge of the MOD area (which, though I'd not realised this, is a lot more extensive than the danger area particularly highlighted on the maps) then more or less followed the path up around the side of Capelwaw hill to cross a larger track.
- Warning sign
Allermuir Hill itself was a good stretch of the legs, especially in the warm sun, making me glad I'd applied (and brought along) sun lotion.
- Allermuir Hill
The hills were popular, as you might expect given the day and weather, but I had peace and a chance to snack, as well as catch my breath, near the trig point at the top. This also offered a fine prospect of Castle Hill, Turnhouse, Cairnethy, Scald Law and the shapely East and West Kip beyond.
- Allermuir trig point view
From there, I retraced my steps to the crossing of a larger track, then around the northwestern hills, down into several cleuch cut between each of them. I topped up my drinksafe canteen at the start of a burn before heading up onto Black Hill, which again felt more work than its 501 metres might suggest. The heat may have contributed, as well as the complete lack of shade unless I tried crawling into the heather.
I took another breather on Black Hill, whose rounded near-flat top felt a letdown after Allermuir's views.
- Black Hill cairn
Again a look towards Cairnethy and Scald Law, which I'd walked last September with my brother, but I was ready to turn back by now. I took a slightly up-and-down route, partly to avoid the road alongside the reservoirs (which isn't unpleasant, but I'd been that way before). This added interest, even some shade while edging a wooded area into another steep little cleuch, but probably meant more height gained and lost than the straightforward route.
Reaching the old right-of-way signs, the last couple of miles out felt longer, especially since the afternoon remained baking, though the paths were good and going easy enough. The carpark was packed, though I also passed plenty of cyclists and people on their way, or apparently returning, on foot.
