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I'd had my eye on Tinto for this weekend, as I've been heading steadily south west (I just haven't written about the Cauldstane Slap yet) - but after a hectic week there was no way I was getting up for an 8.30am bus to Biggar. So after a lazy start to the morning it was back into the near end of the Pentlands and a different blue pin for my map...
I've been trying out different approaches to the Pentlands - this time from Currie out to Harlaw.
It was definitely autumn, with a bite in the air, and the fields golden or ploughed up.
- Autumn field
It fascinates me just how different the approaches are, within a small area - Harlaw's gently rolling fields feel quite different from the woods and heathery upland at Bonaly, or the bare grass and winding path through the hills at the Green Cleugh, never mind the way the shapes of the hills change.
- Harlaw reservoir
- Approaching the hills (with the Black Hill looking black)
Coming in from the northwest, and at the narrow end, brings you to the watershed very quickly.
- Maiden's Cleugh
Then on down Maiden's Cleugh to Glencorse. The road round Glencorse always seems to be amazingly busy, and I don't know where they come from, or where they go - it's much quieter by Loganlea, although I didn't go that far this time.
The map shows a clear path heading up to the summit of Black Hill, but not how you get there from the road. I think I turned off too early, around the outside of the woods behind Logan Cottage - I wasn't the first person ever to go that way, but it wasn't exactly a path. Only one really wet bit, though, and then a very steep slope on wet grass which I fell down and hurt my insides, and then it got better. The path up towards the shoulder of Gask Hill really is good, and the views over White Cleugh are lovely - overall it was a much better walk than I expected, given how long and round and gloomy the hill looks from a distance.
- White Cleugh
- Looking to Allermuir
As you come up onto the shoulder you get the full view of the Scald Law ridge, and then the path keeps on curving up around the end of the hill, until you eventually leave the edge and go straight up the middle.
There's a strange looking mast at the top which talks to itself, and that seems to be the reason for the good path, as it stops there - a tiny path through heather and over black mud leads on to a small cairn - I don't think even that is exactly the highest point, but I wasn't going wading about heathery bog to try to find out!
- The mysterious mast
- Black hill summit
There's a path straight down the hill from the mast on the other side, which I took, or at least bounced down the heather beside (I had to sit down at the bottom to tip bits of heather out of my shoes, but that's better than the Cauldstane Slap where I was pouring water out), and then paths through the Easter Bavelaw fields to the road over the reservoir.
I've always been fascinated by canal locks (one of my earliest memories is of 'helping' to work the lock at Crinan in a thunderstorm at the age of 4), but this was the first time I'd ever seen a lock in a reservoir - the water level is different on the two sides of the road.
- The lock in the reservoir
The Black Hill is one of the few hills whose name obviously suits it - it's not black, but it's dark brown and heathery among green and gold grassy hills, and since it faces north west it's usually in shadow.
- The Black Hill
It was a nice afternoon, and I'll have the bigger adventure another time - maybe not this year, though...
