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This was a big circuit around the Pentlands from Flotterstone.
First up Castlelaw, it was a red flag day, lots of pops.
Red Flag day, get ready for NOISE by
Joe Kincaid, on Flickr
then Allermuir. Then a long up and down walk to Black Hill. The drop down before it veers away from the fence line as the valley bottom is usually boggy and treacherous to cross. Where the path divides, I took the left one and followed it to the bottom and crossed the burn where it flows into a ditch, no problem. Black Hill has a worn track to the grouse feeders and it has had the heather cut either side and burned up almost to the top. It was easy to follow the path through the burnt heather to the top.
From Black Hill looking to Allermuir by
Joe Kincaid, on Flickr
I then walked straight down the hill initially following a path to bird feeding stations but it petered out and I just crossed a fence and aimed for a track climbing up the other side of Green Cleuch. It was a steep drop down but I walked through old patches of burnt heather so it was simple. Turned into the cleuch and took the track up out of it on the other side. Had my lunch at the top. It is a long walk over to the top path and round to West Kip but good ground most of the way.
West Kip over to Scald Law by
Joe Kincaid, on Flickr
All I had to do now was walk along the ridge back to the car park. The wind was now behind me. Once up West Kip it was relatively straight forward walking the ridge, plenty of ups and downs but not too deep down.
Carnethy Hill and Black Hill by
Joe Kincaid, on Flickr
