HIll of Stake

[McMole]

A prediction of good weather from the Met Office lured me west to add another Marilyn to my CV. The drive there along the M8 might have been through mist (as predicted), but the day was bright and clear for my walk with sun later on and no precipitation at all.

I started from the closed Muirshiel visitor centre shortly after 9am before the toilets had been unlocked and took the track to the mine workings.

Bridge over River Calder on the way to the mine.

Near the start a few overnight ice crystals were thawing rapidly.

Old Barytes mine workings

More mine workings further on

Once past the mine I followed a soggy trampled groove in the vegetation along the true right (east) bank of the stream for about 150m then crossed to another groove on the other bank. This gave easier walking than through the heather but was a bit vague in places. I lost it a couple of times over the next half kilometre or so only to relocate it or similar paths heading in the right direction. Eventually I did have to plough my way through the heather and interspersed bog to the steeper slope up to the fence and adjacent path running to the summit. I'd taken about 45 minutes to reach the mine workings and about another hour to gain the summit.

Trig point on summit with Arran in the distance

Looking NE to Earls Seat

A brief stop for coffee and photographs then saw me starting to retrace my route back down beside the fence. I then decided to look for an alternative and hopefully better path back by heading west directly towards the car. That was a mistake. Though I started off along what I thought might be a path it didn't continue, and I soon decided the faster route back would be over the 473m summit to regain my inward track past the mines.

Another view of Earls Seat from the mine workings

On the way in I'd looked jealously at a couple of cyclists speeding along the track, and now on my way back along 4km of track I regretted not bringing my own bike. I did meet some dog walkers and the centre's car park now had about eight vehicles in it and the toilets were now open!