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It's been a few weeks since I did any walking at all. This was due to ropey back, work, travel and weather. By this point in the year I thought I would have been strutting around munros during long summer days - sadly any decent weather we've had hasn't coincided with my freetime. With this in mind, I decided to snatch a decent weather report yesterday afternoon and head off to do something "short", "easy" and public transportable.
Earl's seat is the highest point in the campsies. Other than the stunning views of the lower west highlands, the hill itself is nothing special with little to write home about concerning prominence or majesty. For this reason they've put an impressive wee mound beside it called Drumgoyne which you can climb at the same time.
I took the B10 from Queen's Cross(it starts at Buchanan St. Bus station) to Glengoyne distillery. A return was £9.80(!!!!) for 12.6 miles. Its a pleasant enough trip which meanders through Milngavie and then out towards the Campsies.
The bus stops outside Glengoyne distillery. The warehouses are in the lowlands and the distillery is in the highlands; the road runs along the fault line. The easiest to follow means of getting to the walk is to continue in the direction the bus was going - walk past a lay-by on the right - cross over and then follow a path - that's the method in the walk description. I noticed a few folk going up through the fields on the other side of the distillery - which would be a more direct route.
The "official" path winds up through a forrest walk. There's the opportunity to cut across the trees in between the meanders, I go for this at one point and disturb several grouse/pheasants and the surprise startles me enough that I decide I'll stick to the path while there is one.
After not that long the path opens out onto fields where the "unofficial" path from the other side of the distillery leads to. You can see Dumgoyne from this point and it's not so impressive, but you know that once you're on it, it's going to be pretty steep.
The other side of the field is a stile which then leads onto the hill proper and you see a rather steep path which ascends through sheep to the top of the mound. It's not long into this before the thighs start to burn pretty seriously. The developing view of the lower reaches of Loch Lomond and the surrounding hills only mildly help the mental challenge of taking the next step.
There's a wee surprise after a wee while in the form of a milder path that winds off to the right. It's well needed as by this point you are truly reminded that you are climbing a hill.
Once I am round the corner, I see some sort of big bird. It may be a buzzard, I optimistically hope it's an eagle; it's likely a seagull. When I get my camera out to try and take a photo, I clumsily knock my ear phones out and step on them pulling one off. Given the choice between continuing my appraisal of the new remasters of Led Zep's first three albums with one headphone and appreciating some silence, I opt for the silence.
I had hoped to report that I managed to fix my headphones without the use of solder or a soldering iron…. but alas a penknife and some chewing gum didn't cut it.
From here it's pretty simple to get to the summit of Dumgoyne. In return for the thigh burn, you are rewarded with some pretty spectacular views of Loch loomed, Ben Lomond, the arrochar alps and further(I'm less good at picking out mountains beyond that point. On the other side is a view of the whole of Glasgow which I'm not really used to
From the OS map, I can tell that the majority of the hard climbing is done. The route goes across a saddle and then sustains a fair amount of height and undulates for the rest of the walk. Before I can do that though, I have to come down from Dungoyne.
"Dumgoyne looks most impressive looking back"
That's code for - the path down from Dumgoyne is steep and treacherous. It's maybe easier when it's not been raining solidly for a month, but there's a few squeaky bum moments and some serious calculating as to where the next foot is going to go.
Once you're down onto the saddle between Garloch hill is before you and it's a relief to see an easy walk in front of you. It's an easy trek up to height again, and once you are up there you can see the rest of the walk stretching out in front of you in the form of an undulating moorland walk that swings across two cairns.
It's a lovely day and as you walk along the cliff edge you can see from the bottom of Loch Lomond to well into the Western Highlands:
It's lovely and peaceful, and given that it's a midweek afternoon there's no one to be seen. Everyone else just stuck to
Dumgoyne. The incline is minimal and it's just a case of getting the distance behind you while admiring the views until you get to Earl's Seat:
You return a slightly more direct, but marshier route back to the saddle before Dumgoyne. The views of Glasgow and Dumgoyne are quite spectacular:
From the saddle, there's path that takes you back down avoiding Dumgoyne. It's still quite steep. From there it's back through the trees to get the bus home from the distillery.
All in all it's a lovely walk and what's more it's accessible by public transport from Glasgow so there's no excuses. Getting to the summit of Dumgoyne requires a bit of will and leg power, but if you don't fancy it, bypassing it to go to Earl's seat gives you some pretty magnificent views on a nice day.
