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Pentland Hills forgotten relation - worth a look

Pentland Hills forgotten relation - worth a look


Postby Dot on the landscape » Mon Mar 07, 2016 9:03 pm

Sub 2000' hills included on this walk: Mendick Hill

Date walked: 07/03/2016

Time taken: 2.75 hours

Distance: 7.8 km

Ascent: 337m

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Parking was easy enough – along the golf course road, just before the entrance to the course, where several other cars had also parked.

We (Inmyowntime and I) headed along the tarmac towards the hill, which was pretty easy to spot from the outset – big lump popping out of nowhere.
1 Start of walk.jpg
Mendick Hill - from the golf course road

As the road veers to the right, there is a signpost indicating the route to the hill is to the left of the house
2 Signposts.jpg
Signpost as the track starts the old roman road route

3 take a left.jpg
Take the left, along the track, with the trees to the right

The path, which runs along the line of the old Roman road, is pretty straight (strange eh?)
4 Path alongside the trees.jpg
Path is pretty straight - trees between the course and the track were full of crows

There's a small kink that takes you across the old bridge over the West Water burn. That's good, because it offers a really good view of the hill.
5 Gate over bridge.jpg
one of several gates along the route - this one over the old bridge at the kink

The path continues straight ahead through a crossroads
6 Crossroads straight ahead.jpg
Crossroads across the track to South Slipperfield

The last of the gates is a few hundred yards after Hardgatehead cottage, at a small cops of trees on the right of the track
9 Last gate.jpg
Last gate....after Hardgatehead

There is a sign just after the gate, so it's easy to follow its pointer alongside the treeline through some slightly boggy bits before coming to end of the trees.
10 Up there.jpg
There it is....up there

There are some more marshy bits to navigate before starting upwards. The path isn't particularly clear, but you can just about make enough of it out to follow it diagonally across the hill, so that the final ascent is from the south.
13 not a clear track.jpg
Unclear path

14 IMOT made it.jpg
Mrs IMOT gets there....in her own time

Views from the trig point are fantastic. We had a great day for it, so could see for miles in all directions. There is a nice memorial bench near to the trig – offering great views toward the rest of the Pentlands.....and to sit and have a nice cuppa, of course.
15 - trig with black and tinto.jpg
Trig - with Black Mount and Tinto behind

15 - view of borders.jpg
View across to the Borders

15 - view of pentlands.jpg
View of the more recognisable Pentlands

15 - view of u shape.jpg
View of Broughton Heights????

We took a peek over the eastward track – it looked to be a more direct route back to the car, but looked a bit steeper and we weren't sure how boggy it would be at the bottom. We had loads of time, so decided to return the way we came.

It's not the highest marylin, it's not the most sexy to look at....but with sunny, cold weather, it was a great little hill to walk and had terrific views to take in. So please don't forget about it – it's a grand way to spend a few hours.

If you have more time to spend, then Black Mount, just a few miles further down the A702 to Dolphinton/Dunsyre, is likely to be worth adding
Dot on the landscape
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Re: Pentland Hills forgotten relation - worth a look

Postby rockhopper » Wed Mar 09, 2016 12:44 am

nice one - haven't been here but you're right, worth a look - cheers :)
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Location: Glasgow

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