This was an absolutely bonkers cross-country adventure. My goal was to just grind out all the leftover hills and cross-country hills in the eastern and north sides of the kilpatrick hills

My day started in Glasgow where I got the number 2 bus to Fairley. I got off just about the end of the line which was perfect as target number 1 - White Hill Trig Point was right in front of me. With a nice 30-odd meter climb and a short walk, I had bagged it. The next section was a road walk to Muirhouses Trig Point. The road walk wasn’t that bad for me as I was passing through early in the morning. One thing I’ll mention is to watch where you step in for passing cars as I had a nasty bramble thingy cut my leg.

At NS 50850 74004 take the road to the far right side don’t go straight on as it will take you into someone’s house. Continuing up the gradual incline to NS 50605 75146 where there is a gate onto the field with the Muirhouses Trig Point I just hopped over and up the field to the trig point as there was nothing in the field and it was 7 am so no disturbances caused. After reaching the trig point I retraced my steps back over the gate. Continuing up the road to NS 50583 75257 where there is a metal gate and then a pedestrian gate to the right. I went through the pedestrian gate.

The next bit was weird as you have a long narrow path with fences on each side and overgrown plants and bushes on the path. Eventually, at roughly NS 50271 75249, you will come onto the farmer's field which takes you up to a gate at NS 50186 75329. After passing through that I could see one of the Maiden Paps so I kinda just aimed for that. Once I got up to the first maiden pap at NS 50121 75685 I headed eastward towards the track shown on the map. After picking that track up I was trying to gauge a decent attack point for the cross-country section towards the Black Loch Trig Point.

At around NS 50226 75743. At the corner of the fence, there is a faint path that goes around the fence right into the corner at NS 50270 75752. Be careful as the farmer's fence is electrified. After climbing over the fence in the corner. I was clean sailing the whole way, this first part can be a pain as there is a lot of logging debris but once you pass that it’s all tall wet grass until NS 51087 75856 where there is a makeshift gate that looks as if it’s about to fall off so take care crossing it.

After crossing the gate I noticed a very faint path in front of the gate so I followed it and surly enough it put me on the ascent to black loch trig point. This path leads all the way to the trig point. After reaching the trig point at around 0830 it was shaping up to be a great and warm day. After getting photos of Earl's seat side of the campsies I set off for my next target Craigmore Hill North Top. There was a path / MTB track leading towards the direction of Lucifers Loch so I just followed that down to Lucifers Loch where I had my breakfast.

After avoiding tick bites at the loch I moved on up the hill to the cairn at the top of Craigmore Hill North Top. After topping out, I followed the track west towards the Birny Hills. After crossing over the fence at NS 50517 76887 I was back on solid ground but not for long. My next target was Dunellan, after following the logging road at around NS 50276 76631 there was a track leading off to my right and along the fence line so I took that option. After following the fence for a short distance and crossing the fence at NS 50227 76564, Dunellan was certainly almost bagged.

After crossing the fence I continued on the track for a short time before I descended into the notch and picked up the path straight up the side of the hill. After reaching the summit of Dunellan I noticed a shortcut, so I took it. So following the path around black loch towards the fence line I reached the fence crossing at NS 49668 76534. And after a short walk, I was back on the logging road.

After following the road until NS 49330 76702, I came off this road and headed west through the trees and down the embankment. After reaching the wall at NS 49215 76705, the slog was on. I 100% underestimated my next two hills, which were Craighirst NE Top and Dennistoun’s Craigs. These two are probably better done via a T shape from the track at NS 48866 77206. Nevertheless, I carried on through the rough terrain. After reaching Craighirst NE Top at 1030 I was glad it was done. After covering the other two plateaus on Craighirst NE Top. I descended the hill towards my next target which was Dennistoun’s Craigs. I couldn’t see any real attack point to Dennistoun’s Craigs. So I just went straight up the side of it, I reached the summit at 1056 I was absolutely over the moon that these two hills were done.

I descended Dennistoun’s Craigs via the back and came around as I was much easier. After aiming for a path I found which was at NS 48699 77283, I managed to find it and followed it to the track at NS 48871 77208. With 7 things ticked off I was making good progress. After following the track for about a kilometre and a half I reached the Kilmannan Reservoir. I was pretty hungry at this point, I had some food and water at the dam which was really good.

After my pit stop I set off for my next target, Kilmannan Dam Top. This was a fairly simple hill, again I couldn’t see any decent attack points so I just went for it and after fighting through ferns that were the size of me I reached the summit plateau. All that was left is a 5-10 minute walk to the summit. I reached the summit at 1151 which was amazing. Trying to get off this hill was interesting as I wasn’t going down the way I came up, sack that. So I descended into the notch which was covered in logging debris, after fighting through all that and down the steep embankment I was back on the main road at about 1210.

I followed the road and eventually linked up with the John Muir Way path for 3 and a half kilometres. It was a nice walk on solid ground as I had been walking cross country for the majority of the day. At NS 47912 78906 I had a short break and drank an energy drink as the next bit is going to be interesting.

My next target was Thief’s Hill, it is the sole definition of it’s just there but takes ages to get to. I went straight up keeping the burn on my right and then I headed eastwards to the summit. I reached the summit of Thief's Hill at 1325 which was pretty good for timing. The next target was Knockupple and all I can say is this took ages to get to. I could see it from Thief’s Hill as well and I just knew this was gonna be a fashionable fight. After a lot of stop-and-start and a small break in the middle, I finally reached the summit of Knockupple at 1442. And I was glad this one was done, and this is where my plans were up in the air.

So I had aimed to do 12 hills in the Kilpatrick Hills to leave just one in the main range. However, as I approached Knockupple, the logging commission was out in full force. I planned to hop the fence, head through the firebreak, and ascend Meikle White Hill and then Doughnot Hill but with all the heavy machinery around I didn't want to cause an interference. I was going to go for it, but the lack of coverage meant I'd stand out, risking being caught and shown where the main gate was, this meant a 15km trek back to Balloch - not ideal.

So after pondering what to do I called my trip at Knockupple, now this is where the real fight begins. So after looking at many options, I settled on dropping down to the forestry fence and following it until NS 46124 78456 and then climbing straight up to the middle of the Saughen Brae’s. I contoured around the Muir towards the wall at the bottom of Duncolm. I was so happy to see this wall, and after crossing it at NS 46984 77667, I climbed up to the path that took me all the way out.

I reached the path at NS 46984 77573 and began a long walk back to old kilpatrick. I think it took me roughly an hour but I just kept on plodding along.

⌛ 7 hrs 38 minutes moving time

⛰️ The hills and trig points covered

1. White Hill Trig Point 131m
2. Muirhouses Trig Point 230m
3. Black Loch Trig Point 356m
4. Craigmore Hill North Top 333.72m
5. Dunellan 339.23m
6. Craighirst NE Top 324.18m
7. Dennistoun’s Craigs 302.4m
8. Kilmannan Dam Top 276.6m
9. Thief’s Hill 313m
10. Knockupple 343m

This takes me up to 144 classification summits this year so far