A Bimble on Benarty

[nathan79]

Still grumbling from the fact i hadn't made the Clachaig for Saturday evening's fun, i thought i might as well take advantage of a breezy but sunny Tuesday off.
I'd had my eye on Benarty Hill for a wee wander for a good few months. It's a hill i'd been past so many times over the years, be it weekly drives to Dunfermline and back to visit my great-gran when i was a kid, or in more recent years on the picturesque way home from work in Edinburgh. Always happy to explore local spots i've never been to.

28.8.12 Benarty hill.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

After the lovely scenic drive along Loch Leven arrived at the laybay to find a minibus parked there and a couple of cars across the road, a short drive further along towards Ballingry revealed the entry to a forestry road with plenty space to dump the car (and as a bonus lengthen a rather short route)
A leisurely 2:30pm set off, happily travelling light with just my lumbar pack, bottle of water, light snacks and my camera.

Just a short stroll up the forestry road to the first bend, you can either round the bend right and continue on it or go left onto a path that leads into the trees. I tool the latter and was soon chasing a glistening dragonfly, it evaded me and my camera but i was glad to see it and also the two buzzards flying about close by.
I'd assumed my route would connect with the path that leads up from the steps at the road and sure enough it did.
Stopped to grab a couple of snaps of Lochore Meadows, a place fairly regularly visited as a kid. Even got a good view of the old train and the pit tower i loved playing on and around back in the day.

Meadows from afar

Choo-choooooooo

Continued on up through the trees, a rough but obvious path to follow which forked after a while, i took the right uphill track with led me to the edge of the trees with a fence to hop to say goodbye trees and hello heather. There was a track hugging the fence to this same point, which i assumed to be the continuation of the left fork from a few minutes previous.

Looking SE

Out of the trees it was just a patchwork of shades of purple and green. Lovely, breezy but lovely. A guy with three dogs a bit in front of me and i could see a group of folk on Seamark that i assume were the minibus passengers. I eased off the pace so never caught up with the dog walker, the group passed me as they made their way down, so it was peaceful aside from the wind when i got to the trig point.

Ochils in the rear

Nice to have views on a hill were i can see so many of my regular haunts.
Figured i might as well walk further west along the ridge towards Castle Craig since i had the views.

Loch Leven and West Lomond, Bishop HIll and East Lomond o'er the water.

A short stop for a flapjack and a drink. Followed by an incident i never wish to repeat. Thanks to a combination of poorly chosen spot and devilishly timed gust of wind i effectively managed to pee in my own face! Thankfully no-one was there to see it, i found it rather amusing if infortunate.

Back towards the crags and the trig

Headed back to the trig point, wandered eastwards for a bit, pondering which way to return. Ended up cutting across the heather back to Seamark and down back through the forest.

Seemed a lot longer than 1.5 hours, in a good way. A cracking wee hill, one that i'll definitely be revisiting in the future.

Who'd have thought you could write such a long report on such a wee hill!

[walk aboot]

A few years ago I was lying in my tent in Shielbridge campsite wondering how on Earth I was going to get to the loo. I had just done the Lochalsh Dirty 30 Challenge and my feet felt like they were on fire, so walking to the toilet block was out of the question. I decided to improvise and pee into an empty water bottle. The water bottle however, was only 250mls (too small), and I ended up peeing over the Rab sleeping bag I was squatting over. It cost me £40 to send my sleeping bag away for specialist dry cleaning!

I can tell this tale without the slightest hint of now, Nathan, because, unlike you, I am proud to say that I have never ever peed on my good self

Great story and trip report .

[Bod]

Love this wee hill too Nathan, it's a beauty

[Graeme D]

I'd expect that sort of behaviour from my 18 month old daughter on the hill Nathan, but from a grown man......

[hills]

Great wee hill, pity about the gusty weather.

[ChrisW]

Brilliant Nathan, lovely little hill and cracking views along the way, thanks for sharing the peeing tale I laughed so much at the thought of it and what your reaction would have been My friend peed on an electric sheep fence once....that caused some shock related splashing around but he managed not to hit his own face