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Doughnuts on the Kilpatricks

Doughnuts on the Kilpatricks


Postby Jaxter » Thu Mar 19, 2020 9:07 pm

Route description: Duncolm and the Slacks, Old Kilpatrick

Sub 2000' hills included on this walk: Duncolm

Date walked: 08/03/2020

Time taken: 4.25 hours

Distance: 17.08 km

Ascent: 688m

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Another miserable weekend but we spotted a weather window on Sunday. We had thought to get a bit further afield but laziness coupled with it not seeming worth the drive meant that we were heading for Duncolm 8)

We hopped on the train and got off at Old Kilpatrick in beautiful sunshine – what could possibly go wrong 8)
ImageOld Kilpatrick

We wandered around the roads and headed up the track towards Loch Humphrey. We had a long and heated debate about whether the road had been resurfaced since each of our last trips up this way :roll:

It was a nice easy walk up past the houses and up to the cattle grid. Here we turned off onto a very muddy path that went steeply uphill towards the Slacks. After a bit of slipping around it did improve and as we gained height quickly we got great views back down towards the Erskine Bridge 8)
ImageErskine Bridge

So far it was a beautiful clear afternoon 8)
ImageGlasgow

ImageTowards Gourock

ImageGood grief is he actually smiling

ImageErskine, Bishopton & the Erskine Bridge

As we climbed higher we reached the zig zags which made the gradient easier and it was even more stable underfoot
ImageZig zags

ImageDSC07566

The gradient eased as we approached the summit plateau and the wind also made itself known as we frantically added extra layers :shock:
ImageThe Slacks

ImageDSC07568

I warned Malky about the stile to nowhere – obviously he had to climb over it (which I also did on every other visit :lol: )
ImageThe stile to nowhere

The views from the Slacks were great, but Duncolm looked miles away :shock:
ImageDuncolm

ImageGreenside Reservoir

ImageTrig dance at the Slacks

ImageDumgoyne & Earl's Seat

We dropped off the front of the Slacks towards a track before picking up a fence line which led us across some boggy ground and joined up with the route around the end of Loch Humphrey and up Duncolm. It started raining hard along here but fortunately it didn’t last long and the sun was back out soon 8)
ImageLoch Humphrey

It was very squishy along here – I’ve only ever been here once when it wasn’t a swamp and that was during a very hot spell last year! We passed Little Duncolm and I decided to give Middle D a miss as I’d been up before but Malky hadn’t…
ImageMalky heading up Middle Duncolm

ImageThe bypass path - very wet!

Finally we made it to the top of Duncolm itself – it was pretty windy and wild so we didn’t feel the need to stay too long! The views were nice though :thumbup:
ImageGlasgow from Duncolm

ImageThe Campsies

Doughnot Hill in the centre – looked a long way away :lol:
ImageDoughnot Hill

ImageDuncolm selfie

We dropped off Duncolm then headed across the flank of Fynlock Hill and along the side of Fyn Loch. It started throwing hail into our faces around here which was horrible but fortunately didn’t last too long :roll:
ImageFyn Loch

We hopped up and over some heather and dropped down to the dam where we had hoped to pick up a track. It turned out that there wasn’t much of a track so we just straight-lined towards Doughnot Hill
ImageDoughnot Hill

The sun was back out which made the wet ground a bit easier to tolerate
Image

ImageBlack Linn Reservoir

ImageGetting there....

Finally we had made the final ascent to Doughnut hill – I’d been looking at it on the map for years and wanting to visit because of its brilliant name – now I’d finally made it :lol: The views were fabulous 8)
ImageThe Campsies

ImageLoch Lomond and the Luss Grahams

ImageLoch Lomond

From here it was just a case of getting back to the train :roll:
ImageThe Clyde

We thought it would be easier walking to head to Black Linn before picking up the track from there. Fortunately the sun was still out 8)
ImageBlack Linn dam

Image

ImageLooking down the glen

The track made for easy walking and a path joined onto the glen path. As it turned out this had been turned into the Lang Crags trail which appeared to be quite a popular local route.
ImageLang Crags

ImageLooking back up to Doughnot Hill

As we put miles down we could see a big pile of horrible weather coming our way – how far down could we get before it hit?
ImageThat doesn't look fun

ImageDumbarton Rock

We reached Overtoun House and by this point the rain had hit :roll: It rained heavily for most of the way down making for a miserable end to the day but fortunately we managed to hop onto a train a couple of minutes after reaching Dumbarton East station. We were pretty glad to be home but it had been a great day out 8)


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User avatar
Jaxter
Wanderer
 
Posts: 1486
Munros:229   Corbetts:152
Fionas:106   Donalds:49+13
Sub 2000:160   Hewitts:69
Wainwrights:81   Islands:40
Joined: Aug 8, 2011
Location: Glasgow/Inverness

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