UKC

I want to walk the length of the Ochils next year, E to W. Where would you start, to consider it a full length traverse, Glendevon or further E?

In reply to aln:

I think I’d start from Bridge of Allan and head up to Pendreich farm, then Loss Hill 417m, with the ultimate goal of Lucklawhill 190m above Leuchars/ Balmullo.

Fun project - hope you get a good weekend for it!

In reply to inboard:

Thanks for the suggestion, sounds great. Though I did say E to W, and I think your definition of the Ochils is a bit looser than mine!

In reply to aln:

In case you've not seen it. The route of the Ochils 2000 is a great route in either direction :

http://www.scottishhillracing.co.uk/Graphics/Maps/RA-0203-main.jpg

Cheers, Ross

In reply to aln:
If your being pedantic then the foothills of the Ochils start much further East than Glendevon - Newburgh I think! Up to you though, depending on why and what you wish to achieve. The lower hills east, and east, of the M90 would not be that easy to do, nor probably that enjoyable but it does depend on your reasons for doing.

Personally, if I was ever to do the traverse, I would stick to 2000ft ones and above, and that would mean Glen Devon start as I think Innerdownie is the lowest of the 2000ft hills of the Ochils.

In reply to ross:



It's a good race that. Quite varied terrain.

In reply to aln:

I think I'd start at Seamab hill and finish at Dumyat. Not for any real logic but more feel. That gives you a stretch unbroken by roads, so road to road kinda works for me.
Sounds fun whatever you do

In reply to aln:

Somewhere around Path of Condie?

In reply to Climbing Pieman:


Nice...

In reply to aln:

There's certainly lots of good Ochil country east of the Eagles/Devon road. I used to be on the committee of Friends of the Ochils, and the question of where the eastern boundary lay occasionally came up - not with any definitive conclusion, as I recall. They sort of gradually peter out in that direction, but there's definitely a case to be made that they stretch as far as Newburgh/Auchtemuchty, as the Pieman suggests. On the OS 1:50k map (Landranger 58) the S at the end of Ochil Hills sits on Ormiston Hill just south of Newburgh.

One practical boundary might be the Glen Farg road - working west from there gives lots of good options, and various of the 300m-ish hills are really nice, as are the bits of lower country between them. The area either side of the Dunning road is very good, again lots of options, and the Corb Glen pass is lovely and shouldn't be missed. Very nice grassy tops above here, with good ATV tracks leading in useful directions. Then once finally across the A823 either get on to the main spine immediately on Innerdownie and just carry on west, or go over Ben Shee (a nice shapely lump) and join the spine in the Tarmangie / Maddy Moss area.

At the western end most people would tend to treat the Sheriffmuir road as the boundary, but the 270m hill between the Waltersmuir and Cocksburn reservoirs is worth wandering over, so there's a case to be made for carrying on right down to Dunblane or Bridge of Allan for the finish.

There's a list of 300m Ochil summits here:
http://www.friendsoftheochils.org.uk/the-ochils/list-of-hills-and-maps/
All of these are west of the M90; be aware however that a couple of the ones in the area west of Glenfarg itself have crops on their gentle summits so aren't suitable for summer peakbagging - but there are lots of good ways through between them if a traverse is the main intention.

In reply to Dave Hewitt:

Great reply Dave, lots to work with

In reply to aln:
The stand out feature of the Main Hills is the set of 12 600m tops so a route that takes those in seems like a good contender. Starting at Sherrifmuir & ending at Glendevon (With a westerly behind you) has an appeal. Ben Buck or Ben Ever require a deviation as does The Law then King's Seat is an outlier, otherwise they make a continuous high level jaunt.

In reply to Dave Hewitt:

Sorry - it doesn't do justice to your detailed reply, but whenever I hear of 'Auchtemuchty' I never get beyond youtube.com/watch?v=kb0kiiB3O-o&

In reply to keith-ratcliffe:

E to West for fs

In reply to aln:

Is there any free route mapping available where I can show a route on 1:25,000, save it and post a link?
I can do it on Walkhighlands GPS planner but can't save it.
I've got a great route for you.

In reply to Lusk:

You could do it on walkhighlands, save it as a gpx and email that to him.

In reply to markk:


Very good - watched that straight after watching (and enjoying) Vic and Bob on BBC2, so it followed on nicely.

In reply to aln:

Off on a tangent slightly but on Sherrifmuir right by the road is an interesting WW2 training area where a section of the Atlantic Wall was recreated to test weapons and tactics out in preparation for D Day. An interesting spot to spend a few moments.

https://canmore.org.uk/site/145650/sheriff-muir-atlantic-wall

In reply to aln:
Never mind where the Ochils start, where do the Andes start?

At the end of your armies of course

In reply to aln:

Worth noting that there has been a lot of recent tree planting east of the Dunning Glen and above Sheriffmuir with fences. Agree there is some good stuff between Glen Devon and Glenfarg.

In reply to aln:

Thanks for the replies. Some good information.