Ben Cleuch (721m), Ochil Hills, Scotland
The Ochil Hills will be a familiar sight to those travelling beween Glasgow and Perth along the main rail route or the A9 road. Like other prominent uplands across central Scotland, they are volcanic hills that arose long ago. They stretch 25 miles (40 km) from south-west to north-east. From the north, around Auchterarder or Blackford, they appear as green rounded hills, split by the shapely valley of Gleneagles. The world leaders currently (4 July 2005) preparing for the G8 summit at Gleneagles Hotel will have these as the backdrop for their round of golf on the championship courses.
On the south side the rounded hilltops and ridges finish abruptly in a line of steep slopes running from Bridge of Allan (Stirling) to Dollar and Yetts O' Muckhart. This is the line of the Ochil Fault, which enabled the resistant volcanic rocks to stand out so prominently. Just as the Highland Boundary Fault further north links a series of small market towns that now cater for tourists, so the southern edge of the Ochils is the setting for a line of Hillfoots mill towns: Menstrie, Alva, Tillicoultry and Dollar. At one time the swift-flowing streams provided power for textile industries here.
Ben Cleuch is the highest of the Ochils, rising to 721m (2363ft). It’s connected to lower hilltops on four sides, so that it doesn’t stand out as a prominent summit in its own right. Nevertheless, it provides a great vantage point for views down to the Forth Valley to the south. Ben Vorlich and Stuic A’Chroin can be seen to the north-west, and the Lomond Hills of Kinross away to the east. Apparently on a clear day Ben Nevis can be seen.
I had walked up to Ben Cleuch several years earlier, with colleagues from Scottish Enterprise Tayside. It was a clear winter’s day with a light covering of snow, and we took the long route from Castle Campbell at Dollar via Whitewisp and Tarmangie Hills, returning over King’s Seat – a good 11-mile hike. We were rewarded with entrancing skies of yellow and turquoise in the watery winter sunshine.
This time Bill Cook had invited the Scottish Enterprise Easy Walking Group to meet up at the Woodland Park just outside Alva on the Tillicoultry side. As it was labelled as “just a wee walk” we would set out at 11.00 a.m.: much more civilised than the early Sunday morning starts usually required for more challenging routes in the Highlands. It was only an hour’s drive from Dundee, and provided an opportunity to go along with Catriona, just back from Japan, and young Frances (not quite 8, but already a veteran of Auchterhouse Hill).
We found the narrow Woodland Park road clearly signposted to the right from the A91, as we approached Alva from the east. The car park was half a mile up on the right. Unexpectedly (after a promising forecast) it had begun to rain by the time we arrived. Fortunately it soon stopped, and 15 of us set out, back down the access road for a short distance then up a path to the right.
This took us up through woods, then a gate, to the open hillside where a wide terrace gave a spectacular view across the Forth Valley to the south and west. The sky was brighter now, and rain jackets were removed.
From there, a good wide track led north up Silver Glen for a couple of miles, rising steadily at first, then levelling off after passing a small hill on the left called The Nebit. This became a prominent feature of the view back down the glen. Frances was getting on very well, helped by one of those adjustable walking poles that are all the fashion nowadays. We had to make a few adjustments to the clothing along the way – a stiff southerly breeze meant that once we had warmed up with the effort of walking, we soon coolled down when we paused for a break.
After climbing more steeply at the head of the glen, the track levelled off again, and then there was a narrower path up onto the grassy slope to the right (east). From here it was just a mile or so to the summit, climbing first up to the low ridge between Ben Buck and Ben Cleuch. The path was wet in places, and the trainers which Frances was wearing weren’t really adequate. She didn’t enjoy the final stretch, where we were exposed to a strong gale which meant we had to put the warm gear on again.
We all reached the top at about 1 pm, a couple of hours after setting off. There was some shelter behind the stone dyke built around the trig point, and we were able to enjoy lunch with views in all directions. Two other walkers came up to meet us, along with their dog, and joined us for the descent.
The route back took us west then south-west, to the head of a glen and up again to Ben Ever. From there a ridge led south-east to the last top, Wood Hill, via a little steep-sided notch in the hill. (An alternative from Ben Cleuch would have been to head south-east then south over The Law, and down to Tillicoultry via picturesque Mill Glen.) The walk provided great views of the Forth Valley ahead of us, and back around the horseshore of hills we had walked along. The clouds had begun to break up, and there was much more sunshine to enjoy.
From the top of Wood Hill, we zig-zagged carefully down to the line of an old stone dyke, which the path followed west into Silver Glen. One section went steeply down a long grassy slope, and Frances complained that I was holding onto her hand too tightly to stop her slipping. Before reaching the burn, we turned left along a path through the thick woodland that blankets the steep lower slopes of Wood Hill – apparently maintained by the Woodland Trust. Frances stuck just behind the leader of the party, with the dog running backwards and forwards alongside. This was the section of the walk she enjoyed most. We didn’t take the first track back down to the right, and seemed to go on for quite a distance before reaching another one. This brought us back down to the roadway which we had started on, although further up it. We passed a fine looking house called The Stables (formerly a hotel) before arriving at the car park at 3 p.m. .
It left plenty of time to change our footwear and make our way to the Woolpack Inn just along the road, in Tillicoultry (up a street on the left at the start of the town). A relaxing end to a most enjoyable walk.
See more pictures from the walk in the gallery
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