East Cairn Hill

[adambarras]

Beautiful weather, quite boggy under foot in places.

[weedavie]

I do have affection for this boggy lump - can't think why. You didn't quite make the summit, which is about 500 metres east of the cairn. I didn't realise this for years and just assumed West Cairn was the Marilyn (it's about a metre higher than East Cairn's cairn.) East Cairn's unmarked summit is about 5 metres higher.

The bit between the two hills is Cauldstaneslap which figures in John Buchan's "Salute to Adventurers". This gets me excited for some reason.

[Sgurr]

Chose this hill when on standby for daughter going into labour. Luckily she left it for another couple of days, as even then (10 years ago) I'd have been hard-pushed to run back to the car in time.

[weedavie]

Both hills are well worth a walk.

Look, I like these hills but, man, they're ugly. They're at the boggy, ill-defined end of the Pentlands and are more of interest for checking navigation skills. They give a fine view of Livingston, if that's of interest, and the slap is recognisable from as far off as Ben More.

Early this year I met someone on the ridge southwest of West Cairn. He was looking for the south west top (possibly Mealowther). There's evidently a list of Pentland tops and he was bagging them. That gave me a fit of the giggles which he joined with. I mean when you come down to it, it's as valid as Munro-bagging.

[adambarras]

As you say, they aren't the most interesting or pretty of hills, and they are good for nav practice. They are easily accessed from Edinburgh, which, with an afternoon to kill, is why I found myself there. I quite like them really, they have their own charm.