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After a couple of planned and then aborted attempts to head down to Coulter, I finally managed it, forecast was good so in an effort to beat the 'commuters' heading into Edinburgh I left home just before 7am and even at that time both lanes over the Forth Road Bridge and beyond were nose to tail
Arrived in Coulter and the parking area at 8.15 so after kitting up I was off along the road at a nice brisk pace. I had the route programmed into my phone via Maverick and after about 10mins I suddenly realised I had left the spare phone battery in the car

So with that hiccup on my mind, I missed the turn off uphill, so I had to double back and decided to take a short cut up a steep snowy slope in an effort to get back on track

- Parking area, maybe 5 cars if parked carefully
- The initial road before you head uphill
- Interesting glen on the right - plenty of space if the tiny burn overflows
Once back on track the going wasn't too bad as there were a couple of boot steps to follow (if that was you - thank you

). Having said that it was still hard going, the surface was either soft snow, hard snow, ice or a combination of all three

- The way ahead
- The first view of one of my favourite cash machines, even being almost the same whitish colour, they don't exactly blend in with the surroundings
- One of the Cowgill Reservoirs with the odd turbine blending in perfectly
- The way ahead
The first summit of the day Hudderstone has to be one of the least obvious, only when you look in every direction do you realise that "this is it"

- Hudderstone summit, marked by my sticks & gloves
- Looking across to Tinto
- Wind turbines almost invisible
- A random mast, that I am reliably informed monitors the wind speed for the cash generators
After taking a few photo's near Hudderstone the going got really tough, the footprints I had been following were non existent, so it was now down to me to pick my way through the tufty terrain. There has been vehicular activity as the tracks were visible, however at times walking on the tracks was like being in Kirkcaldy Ice Rink (where Fife Flyers play) - sorry couldn't resist it
Most of the walk involves following what seems like never ending fences, however when you can see what looks like the the highest hump or better still a summit, why not take a short cut
I was also warned by Pete R (thanks)

to expect much bogginess, I did very well and only manage to find bog underneath the snow twice, so that was one good reason to do this round in the winter
The summit of Hillshaw Head was reached after what seemed like and was a real struggle, this is the most southerly part of the walk, but unfortunately the going didn't get any easier

- The summit of Hillshaw Head, enhanced by my poles and gloves (again)
- The way ahead to Gathersnow Hill
- Interesting snow formation, thought they were footprints until I got nearer
Once again I was having to trail blaze across to the next summit of Gathersnow Hill, it was a bit of slog uphill but I knew I was now past the halfway mark so psychologically it was a bit of a turning point

- Another underwhelming summit - Gathersnow Hill, interesting as it hasn't got that much snow on or near the summit
- Culter Fell - looks along way, also includes a brutal descent & then ascent
- The way up Culter Fell from the bottom of the glen
- Coulter Reservoir
- Fence posts in a pretty straight line
- Culter Fell trig
The walk up from the bottom of the glen was really hard going, the good news was that there were a few foot steps to utilise, I have to confess I stopped plenty of times purely to take photo's
Eventually the summit of Culter Fell was reached and it was pretty cool, so after the usual photo's I was about to leave when a chap appeared, we had a brief chat and he told me he was just going to head down to the reservoir and back to the car, mainly due to the time
The descent of Culter was pretty steep in bits, it was also fairly slippy so I decided to create my own descent path

It was during the descent that I had an attack of cramp in my right thigh, I have never had that happen before certainly not whilst walking - I put it down to over exertion and hard going, maybe I need more practice in walking in winter conditions

- Final photo looking back at Culter, doesn't look that steep
Got home at 3.30 and getting out of the car, another bout of cramp which was not overly pleasant
Fantastic day, but I have to admit that was probably one of the hardest days I have out in the hills. It also highlights the fact that you don't need Munro's to have fun and a tough day
Next.