Munros and Other Walks

Gleniffer Braes Country Park Hiking with kids What do you do on your birthday? Some people like to celebrate with a party or a meal. My choice has always to go for a hike or a walk somewhere. So this year I decided to choose Gleniffer Braes Country Park. This park is located just outside of Paisley, near Barrhead. We actually parked at the car park at the furthest end, next to the information hut. The idea was to walk the Tannahill walkway which would take in the impressive Craigie Linn waterfall and the viewpoint over looking the surrounding area.  The Route From the car park we headed along the path that wound up through the woods. We had managed to get a map from the information hut and that helped to navigate our way. The first stop was to walk to the waterfall. The weather in Scotland had been mixed, very warm with large downpours of rain. Our way to the waterfall only took about 20 minutes, it took us up some large wooden steps. There is a signpost an...

South Queensferry to Edinburgh How to get there I decided to take public transport to South Queensferry for this next section of the John Muir Way. From Glasgow I took the train to Haymarket then another one back out to South Queensferry.  The Route The path makes it way along the front of the town passing under the iconic rail bridge. It's stays close to the shore as it ducks into the woods at the fishery cottage. The trail can be a little mucky underfoot as you catch glimpses of the river Forth. There are also some nice sandy beaches along this stretch of the route. The woodlands open up at Dalmeny House, another one of these large stately homes the JMW has been showing me on my last two outings. At this point the track diverts towards the water and then along the front before ducking back into the woods. When I reappeared it was at eagle rock, near Crammond. Small beach areas Dalmey House Eagle Rock The track then takes you out of th...

Beinn an Lochain Height: 901m Status: Corbett OS Map: 58 Distance walked: 4km Time taken: 4 hours With the return to work only a few days away, I decided to take advantage of the good weather and head out to the hills. Although I had considered other hills, mostly Munros, in the end I decided to tackle Beinn an Lochain. This hill was originally considered to be a Munro (hill over 3000ft or 1000m) however it was reclassified as a Corbett, although it is only 14m short of the Munro status.  Beinn an Lochain is situated at the rest and be thankful carpark, only a few miles north of Arrochar. The car park is popular with tourists as it gives excellent views of the surrounding hills, the collective term for this being the Arrochar Alps. From Glasgow the drive is only an hour, up the side of Loch Lomond and can be reached quickly by car.  The Cobbler in the Distance The Loch at the Base of Beinn an Lochain From the car park the idea was to walk ...

Hiking With Kids With the summer holidays, and what looks like the sunny weather coming to an end, I thought it would be a good time to try a hiking up a small hill, or possibly two. Blackwood and Dunwan hill are both located at the Whitelee Wind Farm, where over 200 wind turbines are located.  Blackwood Hill, right Dunwan in the distance Actually, it is  the biggest onshore wind farm in the UK and generates over 539MW of power from the site. The place is popular with cyclists as there is an extensive network of roads to access the wind turbines.  There are also several smaller hills in and around 300m which can be walked. For our wee jaunt we had chosen Blackwood and Dunwan, the total circuit being 5 miles in length, and which took just under 3 hours to complete. The strange thing for this place was that on this particular day there was no wind whatsoever. At first we thought this was great as it would allow us to sit at the top of Dunwan hill and...