Conic Hill January 2011

So we tackled the first real hill today.  Not a mountain yet but a reasonable hill.  Conic hill is behind Balmaha and we actually left pretty late to get there due to a slow morning in the McAllen household…

The trip from Cumbernauld to Balmaha is only about 40 mins but we got there after 1pm.  I was worried that it was a little late in the day but it was actually fine as the walk was pretty short (though not too short).  I had asked people on Facebook and Twitter for recommendations for hills for beginners and this one came from a twitter connection, Elaine Mullen.  It was an excellent call though as it was perfect for the kids.

We started out in thick fog and we were concerned that the day would be ruined by the weather but actually the weather made the day.  We parked at the main Balmaha car park and the first part of the hill was a gentle climb up to the top of the tree line and the fog was pretty thick at this point but when we came out of the trees and into the main hill we hit some stairs and by the time we got to the top and stopped for our first rest the mist had parted and we had a clear view of the hill for the first time.  The kids loved this as it was like curtains being opened and we could see most of our goal.  Once we reached the top of the first ridge the mist had come back in behind us and it added to the atmosphere.

The peak is in the middle of three ridges and it is a small scramble to the top but it is not very difficult.  Once at the top the views are spectacular.  We were joined by Ben’s friend Mark so we had three kids at the top.

The walk down was a little treacherous at times as Ben and Mark insisted that the boys had to take the hard way down which you can see on our GPS page here.  We walked up 1193 feet and it was about 2.5 miles so a reasonable walk overall.  It was Carol and Sophie’s first real hill and they enjoyed it so it was mission accomplished.

More photos are on the GPS link above.

Next we’re going to tackle Tinto Hill I believe in a few weeks time.  Enjoying the smaller hills just now.  The guy who recommended Tinto, my friend John Anderson, has just dropped off Band Hero for us this evening so the kids should sleep tonight with the hill and the rocking!  😉

First walking outing – Twechar-Bar Hill Fort-Underwood Lockhouse

So our first walking outing was almost scuppered by the weather.  It snowed very heavily on Friday and Saturday so we were not hopeful for getting to go out on Sunday for a decent walk.  Examining the snow early on Sunday we thought we’d try a ‘short easy’ walk as it’d be a good start.  What I had forgotten was that short and easy for an adult is extremely difficult and hard for a child of 5!

Sophie’s friend Niamh joined us with her parents Brian and Lorraine so we had 3 kids and 4 adults.  My bright idea was to copy a walk I’d previously done (in the summer time) which started at Twechar and involved climbing up Bar Hill to the Roman fort at the top down the other side and then straight along the canal to the Underwood Lockhouse which is a nice Indian restaurant sitting on the canal.  An easy plan obviously…

Only it was actually an 8.5 mile hike in pretty heavy snowy conditions.  As it turned out though it was a good day.  The weather was sunny and we set off in bright sunshine and the kids were soon removing layers to keep cool.  I debuted a new app on the iphone for the day called SprintGPS and it turned out to be an excellent addition as the GPS signal throughout was excellent.  The first part of the walk was all uphill and for the first 15-20 mins the kids were not happy about the (small) hill, which doesn’t bode well for the future!  When we got to the top we had a wander round what we could see of the old Roman fort but really most of it was under deep snow so we could only make out the outlines.  Walking down the other side we started to encounter wildlife and along the way we saw Deer, Kites, Buzzard and all sorts of other birds it was very tranquil.

We got to the bottom of the hill and walked along the completely frozen canal.  With hindsight we would have gone a lock or two then stopped but although it was hard going (especially for myself and Brian who had 5 year olds on our shoulders for the second half of the walk) it was a lovely day.  Niamh’s favourite bit of the day was the Roman fort…my kids…the food at the end!

In the summer time with slightly older kids this would be an excellent walk but in the deepest winter with 5 year olds…stop at the Boathouse!

SprintGPS was very useful and geotags all your photos and adds them to your route.  A full breakdown of the walk and some pictures along the way are here.