Turnhouse Hill

Today we escaped to the Pentlands to take a route up Turnhouse Hill instead of our normal walk up to Castlelaw and round by the reservoir.

We began the walk along the path starting at the car park which passes a memorial to CTR Wilson, a locally born man who won the Nobel Prize for Physics - noting he invented the 'Cloud Chamber'. We then took a track on the left, signposted for Scald Law. Another signpost for Scald Law directed us along a path through a gate on the left. We then crossed a footbridge and turned right on the far side.

The route now begins the long ascent to Turnhouse Hill, climbing up and down along a ridge over two hummocks.

Starting out :)

 Kids being very careful not to disturb the dozing cows.

 Avoiding the mud by following the dyke.

Or walking on the dyke at places.

Some lovely autumnal colours.

A wee break and an apple.... 

....in the sunshine.

 The route then bears right alongside a fence before going through a gate and continuing to climb, then heading through another gate. The path then leads up the hillside towards a group of trees. The views back from here are brilliant: to the right a glimpse of Glencorse Reservoir is backed by Castlelaw. The path continues steeply upwards to the summit of Turnhouse Hill - the start of the ridge proper. A great traverse then stretches ahead with super views to either side.

Little legs marching towards the summit.

Yay! Very windy but very satisfying.

 We couldn't stay right at the top for long as it was just too windy.

Summit shot :)

and again.

Time for gloves!

 Views to the reservoir.

 Views back over Edinburgh.

 We then found a dip in which to shelter from the wind and eat our sandwiches!

Yum :)

 Lunch with a view.

Scottish crisps on a very windy Scottish hill.

 and the descent.

This was a brilliant walk. Leo and Freyja coped amazingly. They would have continued across the ridge to Scald Law but it was very windy and the distance rather than the height of the hills would have been a bit much for Leo.

Things to remember its cold and windy up there whatever the weather at the bottom!

"A hill for magnitude, a mountain in virtue of its bold design."

In his Picturesque Notes on Edinburgh, Robert Louis Stevenson noted that Arthur's seat was Arthur's Seat was "a hill for magnitude, a mountain in virtue of its bold design."

It is the main summit in the group of hills forming Holyrood Park and affords amazing views over Edinburgh in all directions (822ft at summit).

We often take the kids up here and let them choose a route. On Thursday I took both kids up and put Leo in charge of path finding. Thus, we found ourselves scrambling up a reasonably inhospitable path to the summit of Arthur's Seat in a bit of a gale and with it starting to rain.

We took a hasty snap of the kids clinging to the trig point, before I had to shepherd them down again which was probably harder than getting up there in the first place.

As it is almost in Edinburgh itself, it is easy to think of Arthur's Seat as little more than an easy stroll, but just like any Scottish hill the weather changes quickly at the top and waterproofs and good shoes are a must regardless of the weather at the bottom!

It provided some good navigating and scrambling practice.

Some nuggets of Arthur's Seat info:

• A hill fort occupies the summit of Arthur's Seat and the subsidiary hill, Crow Hill.
• Arthur's Seat is mentioned as one of the possible locations for Camelot, the legendary castle and court of the Romano-British warrior King Arthur.
• The foot of Arthur's Seat, was covered by the forest of Drumselch, in which the 12th-century Scottish king, David I, encountered a stag while out hunting. Having fallen from his horse and about to be gored, he had a vision of a cross appearing between the animal's antlers, before it inexplicably turned away, leaving him unharmed. David, believing his life had been spared through divine intervention, founded Holyrood Abbey on the spot.