At the weekend, I walked and ran to a Donald and a Donald Top in two separate outings. This completes my list of Donald summits in the Ochils in Stirlingshire. In total, there are five Donalds and four Donald Tops in the Ochil hills.
What are the Donalds and Donald Tops?
The Donalds are named after Percy Donald and includes a list of hills more than 2000ft in stature in the Scottish Lowlands. The Lowlands is defined as being in Scotland and below the Highland Fault Line.
The Donalds are based on a complicated formula for determining separate hills – and originally comprised 87 hills and a number of other named “Tops”.
Now there are the New Donalds, defined as “hills in Central or Southern Scotland at least 2000ft (610m) tall with a drop of at least 30m (98 feet) all round”.
All New Donalds are either a Donald or a Donald Top, but some of the Donald Tops do not qualify as New Donalds. There are 89 Donalds and 52 Donald Tops. One of the Donalds, Ben Cleuch, is also a Fiona/ Graham.
Read about my friend Ben who has completed all the Donalds.
I previously bagged a Graham, a Donald and a Donald Top in the Ochils, including Ben Cleuch, King’s Seat Hill and Andrew Gannel Hill.
On another occasion, I walked to Tarmangie Hill and Innerdownie, taking in Whitewisp Hill on the Glen Sherup horsehshoe route.
A claggy, damp walk to Blairdenon Hill
On Saturday afternoon, I made good use of my time before meeting my daughter Havana for a meal in Stirling. Blairdenon Hill is a Donald and it looked to be a fairly straightforward walk from the Sheriffmuir road.
The weather wasn’t promising with low clouds and the risk of drizzle but I don’t mind a shortish walk in damp conditions. The trickiest part was locating the start of the walk, which I did before setting out in my van, and thankfully there was a layby large enough for a few cars just metres away.
I headed off on a muddy path and meandered on a mostly uphill route that undulated into solid cloud. I spotted a fence line marked on the map higher up and decided this was a good way to navigate.
The top of this Donald seemed vague but I check my watch and OS Map app to make sure I was at the highest point at 632m.
The return option was to go back the way I had come. In the end, I wished I had done this. However, I knew there was an alternative route that would form a loop. I always prefer a circuit walk.
The problem was that this second part of the walk was much wetter and boggier and the route was far more meandering. I reckon the return route would have been about 8km, while I ended up walking closer to 12km.
After following a a soggy trod that seemed to twist and turn far too many times across moorland hills, I found myself descending towards a forest and a track.
The final 3km, or so, took me along and down a hard-packed track to reach a narrow tarmac road that climbed uphill again and back to my van. By the time I reached my vehicle, it was dark although I had not quite needed to use my headtorch.
I was throughly wet and my hands were cold and I wondered why on earth I had not chosen to walk back the way I had gone to reach the summit. I am sure the views would be marvellous in better weather and it is not a route that is too challenging.
Blairdenon route details
Distance: 11.7km
Total ascent: 520m
Heart of the Ochils run – and a random Donald Top
My friend Lynz suggested we run the so-called Heart of the Ochils route from Tillicoultry to reach Ben Cleuch at 721m (a Donald) and Andrew Gannel Hill at 670m (a Donald Top). I spotted that the route headed over another Donald Top, Ben Ever at 622m, which was a summit I had not been to before.
I met Lynz the day after the Blairdenon in marginally improved conditions. We did enjoy some views, although not many at higher altitude.
It’s a fairly easy route to find with plenty of path and trods, although there are a few junctions where we almost got lost in the cloudy weather. Being able to see ahead would have made the route finding much more obvious.
Instead of moaning about the weather, we made the most of the opportunity to enjoy each other’s company and some outdoors exercise.
The climb starts at around 40m and goes up and up to reach Ben Ever first and then on to Ben Cleuch. There is very little relief for the legs and there was a fair bit of boggy ground but I felt like the time and kilometres whizzed by.
At Ben Cleuch we faced a cold wind although for much of the rest of the route it seemed quite mild especially as it was a damp November Sunday.
As we fast-hiked up and ran the flats and most of the downhills, we chatted and laughed and caught up on lots of topics and subjects.
From Ben Cleuch, we ran downhill into the centre of the top of the heart shape and then up again to reach Andrew Gannel Hill.
After this, we considered “popping up” to King’s Seat Hill but the cloud was low and there didn’t seem to be much point because we were not going to enjoy a view if we did. Instead, we continued to wind downhill.
Some of the paths were enjoyably runnable and others were too rutted, stoney and slippery to run confidently so we walked at a fast pace (and stayed mostly on our feet).
The total ascent for this route is almost the same as the height of a Munro. If you can choose a day of clear weather, you will enjoy some lovely views.
Route details of Heart of the Ochils
Distance: 12.5km
Total ascent: 905m