KYQ4: Ochils: Ben Cleuch

Ben Cleuch from Ben Ever

25 September 2020

Ascent: 955 metres

Distance: 11 kilometres

Time: 3 hours 31 minutes

Ben Ever 622m 1hr 11mins

Ben Cleuch 721m 1hr 37mins

The Law 638m 2hrs 20mins

John had phoned and suggested a walk in the Ochils. He was trying to complete the Donalds, all the hills and their tops between 2000 and 2500 feet south of the Highland boundary fault. He had not climbed The Law during his previous outings in the Ochils because it was only a top but since 2018 the completion of the Donalds has required the tops to be included in the round. Keith Adams was to join us but his car had been assigned to the scrapyard and he was unable to get out from Glasgow. We met at the Ochil Hills Woodland Park. John observed that it was our first walk together in 2020. It would have been the first year we had not climbed together since we had climbed Ben More and Stob Binnein in 1978, starting at Crianlarich and finishing at Inverlochlarig by Balquidder.

There is a footpath from the Woodland Park back to the Silver Glen where it joins a well-made track that zig-zags upwards and then follows the Silver Burn climbing quite steeply, as is the way in the Ochils. At 370 metres we left the track and followed a wide grass path directly to the summit of Ben Ever. The bright skies with a loose cover of high white clouds made for an enjoyable ascent but towards the summit, the strong northerly winds chilled us. The visibility was excellent and Ben Ever was a good viewpoint for the familiar skyline from Ben Lomond round to Ben Chonzie. Tinto Hill was visible to the south, the Forth Estuary to the east and the links of the River Forth with the vast expanse of bonded warehouses at Manor Powis and former MoD site at Bandeath also prominent.

It is an easy saunter across to Ben Cleuch, although another 140 metres of ascent. We passed a group of four hill runners, two men and two women. We reluctantly admitted that now in our seventies, we would not be doing that again. I had run from Dollar to Bridge of Allan on a few occasions twenty odd years ago and that will remain as part of the happy memories of hill running days. At the summit of Ben Cleuch, three women had seven dogs with them in the wind shelter that surrounds the trig point. It would have made a remarkable photo but we retreated down to a sheltered position to sit and have some food, One of the dogs followed us down carrying a large stone that it dropped in front of me. I threw it and the dog retrieved it. This went on for ten minutes or so, John had finished eating and we were still playing. I sat down to have a drink and was promptly barked at for being a wimp. Fortunately, the women were about to leave with the pack of dogs so I finally had some peace.

We continued the walk over to The Law and passed a dozen or so other walkers, mainly groups of what I assumed were students from Stirling University; skipping their house parties, online lectures and tutorials, and why not. Covid is not just for freshers week! On the steep descent from The Law, we passed the dogs again and I did get a photo but it lacked the group dynamics of the summit shelter. As we entered the Mill Glen and crossed the footbridge we discovered that the footpath back to the Woodland Park was closed owing to a landslip. It meant a diversion to Tillicoultry where we picked up the Hillfoots Diamond Jubilee Way back to the car park. It had been a good, if short, hill walk and a reminder of the well-tended, grassy but steep paths that abound in the Ochils. Looking at the way Covid cases are rising again, we will soon be in lockdown again, I doubt there will be many chances to get further afield this year.