Meikle Bin,Campsie Fells.

The recent floods in the Lake District had us keeping an even keener eye than usual on the forecast.The weekend prediction was dire,even for Scotland in November and thats saying something indeed,so, we opted for a Friday jaunt.There was a brightish spell hanging over the area to the north of Glasgow set to last until around 1pm which restricted our choice of hill somewhat.

Craig of Monievreckie near Aberfoyle suited the bill,for me at least, being a new Marilyn and being the beneficiary of a trig point on the summit as well.Only 1,100 feet of ascent and protected from the wind in the initial forest stages.However with everyone`s preoccupation with the events in the Lakes we never bothered checking the state of play on the roads to Aberfoyle.As luck would have it we were diverted by flooding on the A81 to Aberfoyle near Balfron Station and forced eastwards on the A811 through Buchlyvie.Bob,luxuriating in the co-pilots seat,had a birds eye view across the Pendicles of Collymoon ( been dying to blog that placename for months..! ) towards the Trossachs and announced that the hills were covered in clag.The Campsies however had a little bit of sunshine upon them so we took a right turn at another road block and diverted over the Kippen Muir road at Arnprior heading for Fintry and the car park opposite Todholes farm.Meikle Bin was now the days objective.


A local woman from Milton of Campsie turned up to walk her three rescue dogs and we accompanied her along the initial stages by the shores of Loch Carron.Turned out she had been a rock climber and had climbed with a mutual friend in years gone by....it`s small world sometimes.As usual we had a well used map and as luck would have it the area detailing the forest rides was practically illegible but our new friend pointed us up the appropriate forest ride.For the benefit of anybody else using the Todholes approach here they are.....

Along the lochside from the carpark and take the third on the right about 100 metres past a concrete bridge over the river Carron,up this and take the second ride on the right and folow it uphill until you reach this point....


From here put on your wellies and snorkel,say a prayer if you are that way inclined and launch yourself through the swamp to gain the open hillside.If you make it this far success is assured :)

Exiting the far end of the Swamp from Hell...



Not a lot of pics as the for the main part this route is through Sitka City.
A wee bit of blue sky for us looking back to Stroned and Fintry as we exit the forest.Stronend is a fine hill and well worth saving for a good day.



An old scanned pic of Ben Lomond from Stronend......



Over the Carron Reservoir to the wind farm on the Gargunnock hills....


It was blowing a gale and pretty nippy to boot.Gloves and hat made their first appearance since Kaim Hill in March.

The soggy trig point...



We didn`t hang around for long and made off quickly via the remains of the crashed Fairey Firefly just below the summit....



Above is the wing section with the two cannons showing on the right hand side.Apparently these were the aircraft that put paid to the Tirpitz according to the following site which has more information...

Fairey Firefly

Another return bout with the Swamp from Hell saw us back on the forest ride leading back to Loch Carron.As forecast it started to rain about 5 minutes from the car....