Stockiemuir

No they're not palm tree fronds, though Autumn in Glasgow is about a month behind the SE of England and it's still quite warm. Which is nice, especially as Spring will be late. Stockiemuir is just north of the farm shop where we get our gluten free sausages. Not as good as from Pickerings in Norfolk, but more convenient!

Oh, Loch Lomond just visible in the background.

Ben Lomond

The top of Ben Lomond is on the right, the slightly spikier peak on the left is Ptarmigan. I walked up the main path to Ben Lomond peak then down the scramble to Ptarmigan. There is a path down from here making a nice circular walk. The weather started glorious for the climb.



Of course the views down Loch Lomond are always beautiful.




Even as the cloud cover builds. This is Scotland after all!



Ben Lomond is the southernmost Munro and is basically in the outer suburbs of Glasgow. OK, perhaps as far out as Potters Bar from central London.

So it gets a lot of feet and has to be managed. Hence the stepping stones at 800m above sea level...



The hills carry on to the North, more walking to be done there.




And of course it rained...

Another sunny day on the edge of the Campsie Fells, I think it was Monday that the sun last shone... Forgot the pictures on the day but found them again when transferring today's rainy pics from Ballagan.

Ballagan Spout main drop

Another scramble through untracked, steep, birch, oak and bracken woodland to the bottom of Ballagan Spout. Worth the scramble. About two hour's worth of Glasgow rain to get this amount of water going down.



The only dry place outside of a house for several miles, tucked under the overhang where the burn drops down. Fantastic place. I hope it will be easier to get to in the Spring before the bracken grows.






Bit of a rough landing for anything going over the fall. There is a flat, non slippery boulder (probably recently fallen!!!!) that you can sit on, in full waterproofs, in the spray drift at the bottom of the drop.






Some idea of the fall.

Kelvin seat

Are you sitting comfortably?



The short clip gives an idea of how the water is moving around the chair Not sure who put it there, but quite an achievement!

Dumgoyne under the clouds

Dumgoyne and the base of the Campsie Fells in a gap in the rain today. River is up. It's raining again in Bearsden, where the picture was taken.

Ballagan Spout

Ballagan Spout is a waterfall in a Scottish Wildlife Reserve on the edge of the Campsie Fells. It's not like a wildlife reserve in Berkshire. There are no paths. The only semblance of a track is up the fence on the Eastern edge. The valley itself is mostly shoulder deep bracken.


This is the whole of the reserve pretty well.



You can get access, if you are very persistent, to the burn just above the big drop. Careful boulder hopping lets you go downstream...





or upstream




Upstream a few tens of yards gets you to this small waterfall and plunge pool



Downstream you come to the Spout. First drop is about 20 feet, the lower one with the burn disappearing is, apparently, 20m or about 60 feet. You can't get to to sill as far as I can see.

Magical place. Next trip I'll struggle down to the burn at the bottom of the reserve and try walking/scrambling upstream to the Spout.

No car park, no footpaths, no boarded access tracks. Wild. Near Glasgow!