We had planned a walk that included a circuit of some of the Ochil Hills - namely The Law, Ben Cleuch and Ben Ever but before we could set off we had to drop the bags with our civilian clothes off at the B&B as arranged. Now Kathleen had said the the Hotel Manager had sounded a bit strange on the phone so maybe we shouldn't of been surprised when no-one answered the doorbell or phone. We waited for a wee while until another guest opened the door then we went in and shouted "Hello!" at the top of our voices before giving up, leaving our bags with a note then left for the bus with fingers crossed that our bags and a room would be waiting for us when we returned.
Our hotel manager "If you'd have left your bags on a Wednesday, I'd say Yeeeeeeess!"
We arrived at Tillicoultry (near Stirling) later than planned so didn't have time to go look at furniture or Dougie Donnelly. We set off up the first hill and were very quickly puffing and panting. The route up "The Law" includes five hundred metres of direct ascent and we both felt every one of them as other walkers passed us by and left us for dead. The surrounding hills and views of the Lowland plains of Scotland made up for it though and we plodded on to the summit. The top of The Law was totally exposed and the winds were so strong that we had to quickly move on to avoid getting blown off.
Action Manson prepares to assualt the hill
On top of The Law, with the Scottish Lowlands stretching into the distance.
The rest of the ascent to Ben Cleuch was pretty easy and we stopped for a flask of coffee and some lunch while huddled behind a dilapidated stone shelter at the summit cairn. By Scottish standards the weather had been fantastic all day, but it was really cold at the top so we headed down via our last hill and into Alva where we and everyone else on the High Street was told to "f*ck off" by the local jakey before getting the bus back to Stirling. We finally managed to check-in and finished off a great day with a wash, change of clothes and a nice meal and wine in Stirling town centre.
Neither of us could walk very well the next day so we abandoned plans to climb the steps to the top of the Wallace Monument and just went to Stirling Castle instead. Some say this castle is better than Edinburgh's and I'd probably agree. We had a good wander around, looking like the tourists we were with the audio guide playing. If it hadn't been chucking it down with rain we might of stayed even longer.
At Stirling Castle, with the Wallace Monument beyond
After the castle, we had some lunch and pints then headed off back to sunny Glasgow.
1 comment:
nice pics
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