Hiking With Kids - Dumgoyne Hill



Where is it?



Dumgoyne hill is less than an hour's drive  north from Glasgow following the A81 road towards Aberfoyle. The number 10 bus  (to Balfron) from Glasgow will also stop at the Glengoyne distillery, which is opposite  The hill is situated on the edge of the Campsie Fells. This is a hill that looks impressive even though it is easy to walk to the summit within a couple of hours. The height is 427m, which is higher than I had thought, I also never told my kids this. The path here is easy to find and the walk is manageable for younger legs, although it gets steeper nearer the top so they may need some help. 

It gets steeper near the top

Facilities

There is limited parking, just off the main road opposite the Glengoyne distillery. Also note there is no toilet facilities here, so a trip to the woods may be in order, if you need to answer the call of nature.

Where To Go

From the road edge we crossed the open grassland and followed the track up. This is lined with trees, and on a good day gives good views of the hill. Once we had climbed over the stile the hard work begins.


Looking Back


This was the first hill I had walked with my 3 children. I had no idea how they would take being dragged up a hill, however armed with the remainder of their Easter chocolate we set off. I thought we may get half way up before one of them refused to go any further. To my surprise they were quite content to continue to the summit. The youngest one who was almost 3 struggled with about 100m from the summit. It gave me a an extra workout to carry her to the top. On the way we got quite a lot of looks from other hikers, but most were encouraging and a few were along the lines of better you than me type comment. I was wary of putting my kids in danger but felt the older 2 kids who were 7 and 4 would manage it fine. I was happy to look down the track and see another Dad walking with his 3 children, and like myself carrying the youngest one.


Track Winding up the Hill

Summits Up!

We reached the top in under 3 hours, and the kids were impressed with the views looking over to the Campsite Fells and Loch Lomond. It would have been better for us to retrace our steps back, however we came down the hill another way which was a steeper descent and caused a lot of bum sliding, not that the kids cared.

Overall this is a good wee hill for those looking to get out for a few hours either as a solo trip or a family day out. The track does get quite steep at the top but the views on a good day are worth the walk. 

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