Craiglich
Date Walked: 9th April 2011
Distance: 2.9 miles (4.8km)
Actual Ascent: 826ft (252m)
Time Taken: 1.5 hours
Sarah was keen to be out on a hill today ..... but only a 'small one', Craiglich fitted the bill because it's close to home and meets her request perfectly.
We stopped in a lay-by on the B9119 as described by WH.
The sky was weird, almost white all over and a strange haze hung all around the area, it didn't put us off though and Sarah made for the gated access on the opposite side of the road, leaping over like a young gazelle ...... well...sort of.........
In a short time I'm looking back at the car and ranting about the sky and the impossibility of getting any good pics today
Looking forward the track dries and climbs toward a plantation
Sarah makes short work of the style and is really setting the pace
looking back down toward the road, the views are already opening out
within the plantation the track is a little bushy in places but dry and clear enough for wandering
There are a number of places where flailing track side shrubs has splattered large sharp splinters of wood across the track, MTB would not be a good idea on this stuff.... just in case you were thinking of it....
The spring fields are being drilled and a patchwork of browns and greens scatter the horizon, but the damn haze persists
a small cairn marks the spot where a left turn is required to take us up to the summit
Up a steep but very short climb then the plantation is gone and we open out to the heather clad summit path
Just a short time later the cairn is within sight
Sarah is pleased with herself and scurries up the cairn like a rat up a drainpipe
The distant views are confined by the haze and really remind me of the hills of Arkansas when I lived across the pond
after a cuppa and summit sandwich we set off toward the end of the summit track
then because I hate to turn straight around and go back the same way, we turned south and dropped down through the heather toward a track marked on the OS map (yeah I took a map....sad I know but its a habit )
We dropped down steeply and into the plantation before coming across the track shown on the map
though it was much less used it soon opened out and swept around the side of the hill as expected
as we circled the west side of the hill we faced the cairn where we had turned off en route to the summit
From there is was, unfortunately, back the way we came..... on arrival at the car park Sarah pointed out the picnic tables over a small embankment adjacent......well it would be bad manners not to make use of them wouldn't it!
This is a very short walk with little ascent but I suspect this little hill will provide excellent views on the right day....damn that haze