As someone who recently had to start using crutches to walk and has been looking to get back into hiking, this was probably a bad place to start. Going up what must have been 100 steps, some of which were about 30cm higher that the one before, up a very steep incline, for about an hour, with hornets buzzing around, left me looking a little less than glamorous as I clambered up the side of East Lomond. On at least two occasions, I had to throw my crutches ahead of me and basically bodycrawl my way up. Upon reaching the gate at the base of East Lomond, I took one look at the path ahead, which was even steeper than the trek through the forest, and decided to skip the summit. I found a path around the base, and carried on to Craigmead car park without further incident. After getting a little ahead of myself and not checking the directions, I got a little lost but eventually found the path for Maspie Den - which is currently closed due to emergency repairs for soil erosion! I followed the path marked for cyclists past the den towards Falkland. I emerged from the woods into a wide walkway and had to make up the path as I went along from there as, rather helpfully, there were no further signs back to Falkland. Found the right way in the end, after going round in circles a few times, and made it back to my car.

All in all, the walk was fantastic fun, although I required some nuts and coffee to keep me on my feet. The initial climb is not for the out-of-shape the rest of the walk was a gentle stroll, punctuated by fellow hikers and midges.

10/10 for entertainment
10/10 for passing strangers
1/10 for my sensible life choices

PS. Hats off to the four cyclists I passed on the route. I don’t know how you do it!