A Spring Day in the Pentland Hills

West Kip From Red Gate

By way of a warm-up for next week’s season-opening trip to the Cairngorms, I  thought I’d take advantage of the arrival of Spring and wander up into the Pentlands for some sun.

Threipmuir Reservoir

Parking at Threipmuir, I headed up the private road past the Red Moss & Bavelaw Marsh nature reserves.  Despite the late morning sun, the low overnight temperatures of the past week were clearly evident in the frozen surface of Threipmuir Reservoir as I crossed Redford Bridge.   So no waterfowl to see today but I headed up the Bavelaw beech avenue to the welcome sound of an unseen woodpecker!

Black Hill From the Red Road

I left the woods for open country and followed the Red Road (named after the underlying red sandstone) which leads across the Pentlands to Nine Mile Burn.  Just under 2Km of gentle climbing brought me to the Red Gate and the familiar and welcome view of the main Pentland spine from West & East Kip to Scald Law and on to Carnethy Hill.

 

Carnethy Hill From Hare Hill

By way of a change from my usual traverse of these hills, I turned left at the Red Gate and walked up to the multi-cairned top of Hare Hill (449m).  For the first time since October, I was able to sit on a hill top and soak up the warmth of the sun –  a particularly pleasurable thing to be able to do in February!

East & West Kip From Hare Hill

Descending along the NW ridge of Hare Hill, I came to a poignant memorial to the crew of a German Junkers JU 88 aircraft which crashed here on the night of the 25^th March 1943 with the loss of all 4 crew members.  The crew were buried in Kirknewton graveyard and relatives of the aircraft’s captain attended a plaque unveiling ceremony at the crash site in 1999.

The Hare Hill War Memorial

From here, I descended to intercept the Red Road before retracing my steps along the Beech Avenue back to Threipmuir.  A very pleasant day - and now I’m definitely ready for the winter snow of the high Cairngorms!

Bavelaw Beech Avenue

Check out my plans for similar walks at: http://www.hillways.co.uk/summer/summer.htm