Saturday 14 January - Ochils in the snow

Just as we were pulling on our boots at the car, a couple on skis glided past towing their children on a sledge. Sensible folk. Every year I consider replacing our ancient X-country gear but never get much further than thinking about it on the basis that such a purchase will guarantee a snowless winter. 

If only this sort of day was the norm in winter

Skis wouldn't have been a great help here which is why I suspect the people using them stayed on the piste-like road and had fun on the reservoir dam wall with their sledge.

There's not much to say about this area that I haven't said before so I'll leave you with a few more photographs - including, by way of contrast,  a couple from Monday 16 January.Click to enlarge any photo.

You need to grab days like this when you can because in the space of forty eight hours-

We'd come along the tops in the distance to make an enjoyable circuit

Cult Hill - 31 January

        Cult Hill 5 January 2010

It was supposed to have been a ski tour in the finest snow conditions we have ever had in this area, but we always found ourselves wandering off in other directions. Over time the passage of farm vehicles made the approach tracks too icy to make skis an advantage, and since the expected new snow fall never materialised little Cult Hill remained unkown to us. Until yesterday. It felt like a spring morning rather than the last one in January and by the time we'd reached the track to Wester Aldie we were peeling off our trusty Paramo trousers.

 The Ochils from start of Wester Aldie track

The Ochils drew our gaze and we wondered whether the 13 new wind turbines planned for Burnfoot Hill, which lies to the north of these tops, would be high enough to desecrate the sky line. But it was too glorious a morning to dwell for long on this folly and we turned our attention to more positive things.

A welcome from the lovely young Border collie at the farm sent us happily on our way.

      Pack-horse bridge

As we crossed fences, barbed and otherwise, climbed over gates that wouldn't open and crosssed walls with barbed wire along the top only to find ourselves on the wrong side of yet another wall, fence or gate, we reflected what a trial this would have been with skis! I suppose we are just not used to this sort of rural walking having the freedom of the Highlands virtually on our doorstep.

Lynne on yet another fence/wall crossing

A short, but very worthwile walk from home to a pleasant little summit with wide views. Small crags face north and might be worth a visit some summer evening although scrambling is probably all they have to offer.  Too cold today though, so I just had to climb the trig point!                   

Two strikes

Yesterday morning the garden was full of the noise of birds, happy, one felt, at the return of milder weather and a slightly easier life. The usual mix was there: coal tits at the kitchen window feeder, collared doves and blackbirds at the ground food, sparrows, blue tits, chaffinches, robins and starlings.

Then all went silent and the reason was not hard to discover. There on the buddleia sat another regular: our female sparrowhawk. We watched her for a while before she disappeared into a hedge near the apple blossom tree where some feeders hung. Back to what we were doing, but not for long.

The garden was noisey again, but this time with unmistakeable alarm. The sparrowhawk had ambushed a blackbird for her breakfast and soon only a scatter of feathers remained. She grabbed another this morning and devoured it on the same spot. We couldn't help but feel a pang of regret at the loss of the songsters, but the sparrowhawk takes only what she needs to survive and it is always a priviledge to study and admire this beautiful bird of prey.

To Pool of Muckhart and Seamab Hill

Thursday 8 January

There hasn't been any more significant snow here for a few days, although flakes are gently falling again this morning. We haven't bothered to drive anywhere in case parking is still as difficult and decided to walk from home to Seamab Hill above Pool of Muckhart. An enjoyable 8 mile trip. Here are a few pics.

        Seamab Hill 439m above Pool of Muckhart             
                                                                   

A 'Chainsaw Carving' of an eagle sits at the gate to what is now the Muckhart Nature Park.

Chainsaw Carving

Me below Seamab

Looking towards West Lomond and Bishop Hill

A few more photos have been added  here

Possible ski-tour

Wandered across the tracks from the house on a glorious morning to check the posssibility of a ski-tour to a little hill called Cult Hill, a mere 264m.

After crossing a minor road, we strolled passed Keith Farm with a wee pony enjoying the winter sunshine and a late breakfast.

The snowy Ochils promise some fun outings if, as forecasted, this weather continues for weeks to come.

The farmers at Wester Aldie were busy coping with conditions they hadn't expected in Kinross-shire when they came a few years ago, and they were relieved to learn that we'd never experienced such a long hard spell here before. We chatted amiably for a while and established that it would be possible to ski from there to our planned hill.

Cult Hill 264m

It's a short tour, only about 11.5km round-trip, but should be an enjoyable one in such beautiful conditions. Meantime, some snow-clearing around the house required...

A couple of short slideshows here

Snowing again

No surprise, but it's snowing again here and the nice top-up for the local Ochils which we noticed yesterday, had been scoured a bit by the overnight wind. The ski-touring should be fabulous when the side roads are clear of snow allowing access, but for the moment we can only dream of being out in conditions like those in early January 2008.

Arriving at the top we noticed a slab avalanche on a route we often take and were glad we'd opted for a different one on that day! Perhaps not a common occurrence in these hills, but Hamish Brown noted that one of the biggest avalanches he'd ever seen in Scotland was in the Ochils not that far from here, on the northern slopes of Whitewisp.

A reminder that you don't have to be in the big hills to get avalanches.

Happy New Year and welcome to our blog

What's this? A bridge over a bridge? Well, actually, yes, and it's at a place called Rumbling Bridge in the county of Kinross-shire.We walked here yesterday, the last one for 2009, access to the hills being almost impossible with barriers of frozen snow blocking off-road parking places.

The Lower Bridge, built in 1713 for horses and carts, crosses the narrowest part of the River Devon and, with a 24 metre drop to the river and no parapet, it's not the best place to be on Hogmanay! The higher bridge, which carries today's traffic, was built in 1816. The Devon itself rises in the Ochils some 6 miles from where it enters the River Forth - a short distance you may think - but its actual journey there is about 30 miles as it flows east then takes a sharp turn (the 'cruick' or bend) west at Crook of Devon. A trip from home to the source will make a fine 2 day backpack in Spring.

At Rumbling Bridge the river rages in waterfalls and swirling pools as it rushes through the enclosing rock walls, potholed on both sides. After heavy rain or thaw, or as now in the grip of hard frost, it is a fine and awesome sight.