Tuesday 17 November 2009

Mugdock.

Bit of a panic when I realised I had still had some way to go before the end of the year to get my annual tally of 100 trig points.It`s hard when your bagging year is taken up by hillwalking as one a day is the usual rule and even that`s if you are lucky.So,every so often the need for a low level campaign arises ...such as today.

There are quite a few in the Mugdock area north of Milngavie that hadn`t seen attention from me and it suited the bill for a midweek foray.In order to avoid the rush hour traffic I picked up Bob at around 10am and followed his directions,this being his backyard, to a car park in Mugdock estate.The forecast was for reasonable weather up to noon and then a short spell of heavy rain so we didn`t waste any time.

First stop was Mugdock Hill...


....from where we scaled the barbed wire fence to get out on to the road near Millionaire`s Row with it`s Footballers Wives style houses.Outside the entrance to one the Milngavie Fundamental Benchmark sat proudly awaiting a good bagging :)


The GPS was acting up and there was little chance of finding the buried bernsten which lurked nearby.Heavy dark clouds were scudding quickly towards us from the Renfrewshire area so we departed hurriedly to the car to sit it out.We were glad we did because it really was torrential.As it tailed off we drove round to the main visitor centre car park for round two.Bob knows this area like the back of his hand so I was content to follow his guided tour as we negotiated our way down via the Khyber Pass in search of the next trig on a hill in Hilton Park golf course.We joined up with the West Highland Way at the bottom of the hill and turned north.


The West Highland Way...



We could see the hill on the other side of the Allander Water but the recent heavy rainfall had made it impossible to cross...another failure..!

Not to worry though,the sun was out now so we decided to carry on up the WHW around Craigallian Loch and Carbeth Loch to the Blanefield road.It was around this area that the climbers from the Depression in the 1930`s gathered at weekends.There are quite a few good books around including this biography of Jock Nimlin by the excellent Ernest Press entitled "May the fire always be lit".These guys were hard men of the hills.! A nice stocking filler for someone at Xmas...

Jock Nimlin

Dumgoyne from Craigallian Loch...pity about the cables spoiling the view....



Along towards Blanefield past Pillar Crag where we had been climbing many years ago.Looks someone had been giving it a clean up as a few of the better lines appeared to have been stripped of moss.Bob disappeared into the undergrowth soon after and and a few minutes of steepish mudbashing later took us out onto a balcony trail which I would never have expected to exist.


Although it was muddy going and we were denied the views across to Dumgoyne the colours were quite wonderful and the moss and other vegetation gave it a sort of "magic forest" feel.The polar opposite of last week in Spain :)



A quick thrash through the woods towards the building marked Boards on the OS map ensued....


.....from where we followed the track along the top of Cuilt Brae.The sun was dancing and playing tricks with the light over the crags on the Campsies...




Years ago,when inspired by a geology nightschool class I was attending,I wandered up to the crag seen on the right hand side of the pic above.A fresh landslide had cleaved the hillside,like a smaller version of the Whangie, and I was lucky enough to find a few half decent examples of amethyst and jasper.Jasper is quite common up on this section of the Campsies if you keep your eyes peeled.


Blanefield enjoys some late winter sunshine....


From here a fifteen minute walk over the moor past Dumbrock Loch saw us back at the car park having only met two people all day.I was still bemoaning the two failed trigs on the drive back down the road when Bob must have taken pity on me."There`s one over in Faifley you haven`t done if you want to nip over" he said.There`s not many folk who would park and go for a walk through a housing scheme to bag a trig with me :)
Number 91 for the year was duly bagged.My spirits soared even further to find on return that the car still had all four wheels intact :)

More information on Mugdock can be found here....

Mugdock

7 comments:

The Glebe Blog said...

Congrats on getting your 91st.
I'd never heard of Mugdock till now.That's what comes of being a long time exile in a foreign land.

blueskyscotland said...

This is a vast semi wild area of land very close to Glasgow and once you know your way around its easy to escape the casual ramblers and dog walkers clustered around the carpark honeypots.Some of the more obscure,hidden paths in this region are lucky to get a couple of dozen people a year walking on them.for example the"secret route" from loch ardinning
to Blairskaith muir trig.
Bob.

Anonymous said...

A corner I've never walked in. I remember taking the kids to the country park when they were young but that's it. It looks a crackin' place though. Am keeping this one in mind for a good winters day.

Anonymous said...

I remember me and my family when hill walking here it was the best day of my life. I love the countryside it's so amazing and free. My mum used to have a hut in carbeth but my dad died and my mum didnt go out much but then we started to go out then we got there and it was burnt down. I was really gutted i spent most of my life out there and know its away it was so heart broken and i miss the countryside.

Jacquetta said...

Good post, guys, and a really interestig blog. Any chance you would let us use your lovely Dumgoyne photo ("Dumgoyne from Craigallian Loch") in a specialist guidebook? Can't see how to message you privately, so here's hoping you keep an eye on these comments. We would need a hi-res file but this can be emailed if you are willing. You get a credit and free book if interested. Thanks: pls reply to info@rucsacs.com or phone 01786 824696.

russell campbell said...

Hi guys. You possibly know this already, but here goes. There is a CD called "Carbeth" by an English folk-rock band called "Trembling Bells." The cover shows one of the Carbeth huts. I've heard one track from it which sounded good to me. The band are appearing at Celtic Connections in January 2011. All the best for the festive season. Russell Campbell

blueskyscotland said...

Anon.I Know the Carbeth huts well.Sorry your own is now gone.
Alex May get in touch with you
Jacquetta,its his picture.
Russell,never heard of that band.I remember being in the carbeth pub years ago though and a girl singer and two male guitar players were in.Best folk/pop band I,ve heard in any pub and I never got the name! It was an informal thing and they left while I was getting in a round of drinks.Always wished I,d been less shy about asking sooner.Never seen them again.bob