Tinto Hill

[AndyHam]

My daughter and I are beginners at hillwalking having decided one day last October to walk up Ben Lomond with the dog. We enjoyed it however due to our inexperience thought it wise not to venture onto the hills over winter. In Feb during the wee warm spell we walked and scrambled up the deceptively steep Dumgoyne then on to Garloch hill. We ran out of time to get to Earls Seat.
Anyway , I digress. We looked for relatively easy hills near the central belt to get us back out and settled on Tinto Hill near Biggar roughly an hours drive from home.
We arrived at the free car park just before 10am on a dry but overcast morning. The cloud base was high so visibility was good. There was a bit of a breeze at the bottom but not too bad.
We set of up the hill and immediately noticed the track is well worn and heavily eroded. It forms a wide scar up the hill. Not very pleasing on the eye.
The walk is fairy benign and featureless passing over Totherin Hill with a small cairn to the left of the path marking its 479m summit.
Shortly after this the path splits. Take the right fork which is a nice single track above Maurice's Cleuch. By far the best bit and best views of the walk.
By this time the wind was blowing a gale and the temperature had dropped noticeably. On reaching the summit at 707m it was so windy we only paused briefly to take a couple of photos and admire the view for a few seconds.
We took shelter just below the top to eat a quick snack and as we set off down the cloud came down and it started drizzling.
We kept up a reasonable pace downhill and managed to stay dry. By the time we got to the car the top of the hill had disappeared into the cloud so we timed it just right.
In summary , while it was nice to get out and get some fresh air in the lungs the walk and the hill were disappointing and featureless. The view from the top was expansive but would really need a cloudless bright day to be appreciated.
And note that the Tinto Hill cafe is closed on a Tuesday and Wednesday.

[Emily R]

You've done Tinto, try Coulter Fell next. Same range, but a little higher, with some beautiful views.