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The Lomond Hills - we'd seen them on countless occasions from other summits and when driving past, but it's taken nearly 6 years of living in Scotland to get around to climbing one of them! East Lomond was the target for this morning - sunshine and wind forecast, the latter putting us off climbing a higher hill.
After parking in one of Falkland's side streets we wandered down to the village centre to have a look at the palace. We'd been here before but always nice to come back to such a beautiful place.
Quiet lanes led south and gently uphill, soon leaving the houses behind and becoming a woodland track. A pheasant ambled along in front of us, seemingly unaware of our presence.
Dozens of stairs make progress through the woods quick:
Gradient relents for a while:
After another long set of stairs we burst out onto the open hill. East Lomond comes back into view, looking much closer than expected.
The path becomes rougher and steeper near the top, but views looking back provide the perfect excuse to pause for a minute.
Final push to the summit:
View east towards the north side of the Firth of Forth:
It was windy on the summit, no longer sheltered from the westerly wind, but not so bad that we couldn't enjoy the view. Lovely patchwork quilt of fields in most directions. Some people combine West Lomond to make a longer walk, but the terrain in between looked a bit boring. One to save for another day when we'll climb it from a more interesting side!
There's a choice of paths heading off the summit to the south-west but I think they all join up. The trig point for East Lomond is halfway down the southern slope - strange. Looking back towards the summit:
After the first steep descent there's a motorway all the way to a minor road which crosses the Lomond Hills between East and West Lomond. Easy going:
View back:
Soon we arrived at the car park which was undergoing a makeover with new interpretation boards etc. Also some fancy toilets with a conspicuous lack of sinks (no running water!). From here the walk takes one a different feel. A track leading between two hillocks takes you out of the car park before a scrubby slope with regenerating woodland or heathland.
There's a fork with no signpost at one point, but (I think) the two paths join back up further down. All very undramatic around here, so it comes as a surprise when, after branching right onto a much rougher path, you drop into a deep valley without warning, with Maspie Den's popular waterfall beauty spot ahead - the path heads right behind the cascade to emerge on the other side. Not much water today - it's been a dry spring.
Maspie Den is truly lovely - it doesn't feel like Fife at all (no offence to Fife
)...
Half a dozen bridges or so later, the path heads into a tunnel through the valley side. The estate owners back in the past must have had plenty of money...
Ornate bridge:
Entrance (/exit) to Maspie Den at the bottom end:
