Back in Scotia and up Tinto

[MacThomasmor]

The Clan MacT has just returned from a very enjoyable trip to the West of Ireland (perhaps may do a wee report on Connemara at some point in the 'ootwith Scotia' walk reports), so we thought we would ease our way back into the hills with a nice day out at Tinto Hill. We had never walked this hill before (always too many more exciting hills closer to us), but were in for a pleasant surprise.

We parked the car at the car park just after Carmichael's farm and tearooms, off the Lanark Road. As it was quite a nice day, we decided to apply the sun cream before the walk up.

MacT Og getting some UV protection

We then began our walk towards the entrance gate.

The Fire hill entrance

The gate marks the beginning of a fairly meandering and pleasant 20 minute walk. MacT Og liked this part of the walk: the cows and tractors made for a noisy and colourful accompaniment to the trek.

On our way

After this initial phase, the climb became a little more taxing (and enjoyable), though the loose rocks made going a little difficult for MacT Og, who occasionally went in a huff and refused to walk further. I then volunteered to give him a piggy back up until the dirt track returned.

A wee break

We got some pretty good views of the Southern Uplands at this point and we extremely glad that we decided to come to Tinto - generally very impressed with the great views of the Southern Hills.

Once back on the dirt MacT Og, Mummy MacT, and myself decided that it would be great fun to race to the top of the hill (it was also a useful way to walk off all that Guinness, soda bread, and lovely Irish nosh we gobbled down over the last few weeks). Competitive hat on, and fatherly notions of encouragement forgotten, I sped ahead of the field. Unfortunately my body is decreasing in its speed and dexterity at the same rate that MacT Og's is increasing. He soon caught me up...

The race

The final ascent was great fun as we all raced to the cairn top while pretending to be Power Rangers. The final result was a win for Mummy MacT and MacT Og...

Victory

We had a good look around once at the top, because visibility was very good. Great views back up to Lanark and we could just make Glasgow out in the distance too...

Views up to Lanark

We had a few sandwiches at the top and a wee drink before deciding to head back down. Not, though, before MacT Og got his wish of a wee summit photo of him, Ultimate Rath, and Ultimate Humungasaurus (Ben 10 for the uninitiated)

Munkasawr!

All in all a great wee walk and a great day out!