Monster cairn & not even on the summit!

[Fife Flyer]

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After watching the weather closely all week, Friday looked like the best option to nip out and be back home in time for lunch The plan was to pop down to the Pentlands and in the small time window East Cairn Hill was my obvious target
After reading all the reports and there are many starting at varying different points, I checked the map and decided to head down through Balerno on the A70 and park in a car park that was marked on my OS map
However, best laid plans and all that, the car park wasn't what you would call "well advertised", I knew roughly where it was and still went past it. Ended up pulling in a bit further up the road and the car park was sign posted 700m in the direction I had come from
Anyway found it after that wee bit of help. Spaces for about 10 cars if everyone is considerate (like me), failing that 8 at most, as I was there before 9am I had the pick of spaces
The forecast had been OK but when I got out of the car it didn't look too clever at all, the Pentlands were covered in lowish cloud

Car park - looks bigger in the photo

The start of the walk

The sign of things to come, squelch, squelch

Nice little bridge

Left the car park at 9 sharp and as you follow the path which is marked with marker posts at strategic points, East Cairn Hill can be seen as the big lump on the left, the right hand hill is thoughtfully names West Cairn Hill
As this walk was just a little romp and the weather was 'changeable' I only managed to take 35 photo's, the good thing about that is that I don't need to use Flickr just yet I have had a look at how to post photo's using that facility but being a bit of a technophobe, it has been left for another day
It was just a matter of following the path which involved picking my way through various depths and degrees of bogginess The "Friends of the Pentlands" and the land owners had laid umpteen old railway sleepers at some of the worst boggy areas, this must have been quite a challenge. Wooden sleepers are fine in nice dry weather but when they are wet or frosty they are rather slippy, so great care was taken

An example of the railway sleepers

The path goes up past Harperrig Reservoir and heads up to the bealach between the two lumps, however I wasn't going as far as the bealach and turned off to the left and headed uphill following another path. This was the first real uphill bit and it wasn't too long before I was warming up quite nicely

Harperrig Reservoir - low level view

Just before reaching the higher ground near the summit, the ground was starting to turn white underfoot, nothing substantial. The big problem was it was soft and hid the soft ground underneath, so greater care was taken, otherwise it was mud up to the ankles The large cairn marking the lower top of East Cairn Hill was reached and it really is one the biggest cairns I have seen, not quite sure why the lower top should have such a huge construction The cairn provided a bit of shelter from the wind and snow/sleet showers that were whizzing through, and on a couple of occasions I was quick enough to get a few photo's when the cloud broke up. However the trek across the summit was no fun at all, soft slushy snow, a well trodden path over very boggy ground - YUK
Visibility at this time was about 10m and I was hoping the path would lead me to the summit I checked my phone when I started descending as I was very becoming suspicious that I had passed the summit and my suspicions were confirmed
So I retraced my footprints in the snow and set off back to the car Here are a few photo's, not the best I have taken but the photo opportunities were very rare

The middle of the cairn

Close up of my new lighter rucksack - note the snow flakes on same

Looking back to the path

Harperrig Reservoir from on high

Monster cairn, looked much bigger in reality

Northern Pentlands

Edinburgh, Firth of Forth and the Kingdom

And finally - another shot of the monster

Descent was easy and straightforward and was back at the car in less than 3 hrs, never saw another human being, however there was another car in the car park
It won't go down as my favourite day in the hills, but I still enjoyed the fresh air and the occasional view
Off out tomorrow Mayar & Dreish again, this time hopefully with snow, may even try out my crampons, so watch this space

[rockhopper]

Must be great to be able to get out almost any day you like - good to be able to get out and about even if it did look a tad boggy at times - cheers

[jmarkb]

The large cairn marking the lower top of East Cairn Hill was reached and it really is one the biggest cairns I have seen, not quite sure why the lower top should have such a huge construction

It's a prehistoric burial cairn: I guess the builders must have forgotten to take their differential GPS up with them

[Fife Flyer]

Must be great to be able to get out almost any day you like - good to be able to get out and about even if it did look a tad boggy at times - cheers

The joys of early retirement - the way ahead

You picked the wrong direction yesterday, Martin. It was like a summer's day yesterday on Norman's Law. East Cairn from the Balerno side is one of the boggiest walks I've ever done. Your photos show the nature of the walk very well. Its a bit drier from Carlops on the Biggar road.

Rub it in why don't you Russell, did consider it from the A702 side, maybe later in the year

It's a prehistoric burial cairn: I guess the builders must have forgotten to take their differential GPS up with them