I had spent the last couple of weeks trying to organise a trip up to Glen Feshie, which remain the least accessible Cairngorms Munros which I’ve still to climb, and this was my one weekend where I’d be in Scotland in September (or so I thought at the time). It was not to be, however, a mix of a poor forecast (gale force winds) and logistics made it impractical. Instead I resolved to return to them in October, and to head somewhere more local instead.
We identified a route in the Ochils which would take in the majority of the Donalds I still hadn’t climbed there, and identified a good route over to King’s Seat Hill which would allow it to cover all of the Ochil 2k summits I’d yet to visit. I set out to meet Andrew and Shona after doing Parkrun at Ruchill, and picking up a map at Waterstones.
The forecast was a little dreich, and the tops of the hills were in cloud as we drove through Clacks. However, the start of the walk, through forestry to a reservoir, was pleasant, and from here the climb onto the main plateau was not arduous. We walked over Ben Shee and Scad Hill on the northern side of the horseshoe before reaching Tarmangie Hill, and briefly debating the merits of first taking in Kings Seat Hill. We decided to do so, dropping 150m or so into the “Glen of Sorrow”(!) but in comparison to most days in the hills this was untaxing.
The remainder of the tops involved a walk in the aetherial gloom of Scottish hill cloud, and a few mild sources of stress over determining which were the true summits; mostly of Kings Seat Hill where the true summit is some distance from the large cairn. Views returned as we descended from Innerdownie Hill, and we got back to dry(-ish) forestry roads.
Overall not the most inspiring of hill days, but a hill day nevertheless.
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