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Another beautiful day was forecast after a misty dull start. So with just 4 Donalds to go, I decided to do my next trio of hills, in Glen Afton. Started at the usual place of Blackcraig Farm for the climb to Quintin Knowe and then onto my first Donald of the day, Blackcraig Hill. There's a small area to park on the right not far beyond the turning to Blackcraig Farm...a little track which only goes up to the forest fence...park sensibly and there's room for a couple of cars. A good track and path leads from the farm to Quintin Knowe.
- Glen Afton
- Craigbraneoch Hill in the early morning mist
- Glen Afton from Quintin Knowe
A marker post point to the right from the second cairn on Quintin Knowe, but I carried on to see the cairn which is marked on the map, further up the track. Turn left through the gate and it's on the little rise straight ahead...it wasn't worth bothering about, as all that remains here is a pile of stones.
It was then a case of following the fence up onto Blackcraig Hill. Still quite misty as I got to the top, so not many photo opportunities here.
- Glen Afton from the first big cairn on Blackcraig Hill
- Blackcraig trig
Next it was more fence following to climb Blacklorg Hill.
- Mist starts to clear as I head for Donald number two...Blacklorg Hill. Alhang is in the distance on the right
- Blackcraig Hill from Blacklorg Hill
- Cairnsmore of Carsphairn and Windy Standard from Blacklorg Hill
- Meikledodd Hill
Onward to Meikledodd Hill (a Donald top). At the col between the two, there's a new track constructed to build pylons, for carrying the electricity out from the still under construction Afton Wind Farm.
- Alhang and Alwhat, with Cairnsmore of Carsphairn and Windy Standard behind from Meikledodd Hill
From here I headed for the next Donald top, Alwhat.
- Afton Reservoir on the way to Alwhat
- Alhang from Alwhat
A quick descent and ascent takes me to the third Donald of the day, Alhang. From here, I could see the only Donald I haven't done, Moorbrock Hill. So close, yet so far.
For me this would have been just too much for a day walk, so my plan was these 3 today, with another trip to bag Moorbrock soon.
- Afton Reservoir, Blackcraig Hill and Blacklorg Hill from Alhang
- Windy Standard
- To be my last Donald, Moorbrock Hill
I'd planned to return by climbing Millaneoch Hill, along to Wedder Hill, then join the track beyond Lamb Hill. But this just didn't look any good due to the amount of wind farm construction work going on. Lots of traffic on dry dusty access tracks was putting up clouds of dust, so I'd have ended up completely covered in dust by the time I got back to the road.
Instead, I went straight down into Glen Afton, and followed the Afton Water to the reservoir road. From there, I cut down to the dam, and road back to the car.
- Heading for Afton Reservoir
- Afton Reservoir and Craigbraneoch Hill
- Meikledodd Hill, Alwhat and Alhang from the reservoir
- Blackcraig Hill from back at the car
A superb day in the hills around Glen Afton, glorious weather and the walking was lovely and dry all the way.
This was walked in a very long dry spell of weather, so in normal conditions, I'd expect the walking to be a lot more boggy in many places.