Flying up Fife's finest

[Fife Flyer]

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Hardly a cloud in the sky in Fife, so it seemed daft to stay indoors After reading Mrs Panther's WR of her local hill I thought why not nip up West Lomond after lunch. I was trying to think when I last paid my local hill a visit and reckoned it is probably about 2 years, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to see how fit I am (or not) I don't think I have posted a WR for West Lomond before (I haven't checked), but I will post again anyway
After a 20 minute drive to the start point which is a layby on an unclassified road on the south side of Gateside, I parked up and had already decided my route to the summit
I have no idea how many times I have been up West Lomond but it is into the high double figures and I always went the same route, so today I was going to be brave and take the direct route, for those of you who are familiar with West Lomond from Gateside, the direct route is a faint path after you pass the Bonnet Stane

The start of the walk - fairly obvious

The "Bonnet Stane"

The entrance to the inside of the Stane

The Stane from a bit higher up

The 'direct' route is in the background

After passing the Stane, the ascent began along a faint path as it got steeper higher up, there are a few foot holes but I was carefully picking my way up. Whilst struggling uphill I was thinking of a comparison and the only hill I could think of was An Stuc and it's steep grassy approach from the east. Thankfully the slope up West Lomond is much shorter, but I had already decided to descend by my usual route Going up was tough, but descending on damp grass is not my idea of a safe descent.

Looking down at the Stane

Going up

The angle of the ascent

Looking across rural Fife

Once I reached the top of the incline, there is a fence to negotiate before the final easy push to the summit. All you do then is follow what looks like the fairway on a golf course to the summit

The fairway to the summit

Looking across the tufty grass to Loch Leven

Summit cairn & trig

The wind on the summit was pretty brutal, coming from from the west so I was using the trig in an effort to steady the camera, the wind was so strong I could feel the trig rocking slightly. The views from West Lomond are spectacular, fortunately the visibility was quite good and the whole of Fife could be seen as well as the Forth and Tay. Both Edinburgh and Dundee were zoomed and it is 18 miles to both cities

The fairway that takes you to East Lomond

Glenrothes and Fife's newest windfarm blending in nicely

The Tay and Dundee zoomed

Mossmoran creating it's own weather with the Pentland's in the distance

East Lomond in the background

Zoom - East Lomond with Largo Law in the background

Now it's confession time, I was planning to descend via my usual route but either through over confidence or not paying attention I went to far east, as I reached a gully that had a tiny burn and I knew my usual route didn't have a burn anywhere near
I could easily have turned back and picked up my usual route but I thought why not go for it

The "new" way down

The way I should have come down

The path

Stye to climb over

Really enjoyed getting outside again and will be returning again in the near future. West Lomond is a superb hill and one of the many benefits is there are umpteen different routes to reach the summit and naturally an ideal walk for keeping one in shape
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[dooterbang]

Clear blue skies - lovely!

Looks a nice wee walk. Liking the stane!

[BlackPanther]

Spring has arrived in Fife

[Gordie12]

That had me totally confused................until I realised I had my East and West mixed up

[Sgurr]

Always think the bunnetstane looks like a dinosaur

[Fife Flyer]

Always think the bunnetstane looks like a dinosaur

I thought more like ET