Walk This Wayne: Pentland hills

To the south of Scotlands capital City of Edinburgh lie a range of hills steeped in history and rich in folklore. Covering an area of around 96 square miles and just 20 minutes drive from Edinburgh City Centre they are a very popular destination for hillwalkers, dog walkers, mountain bikers all manner of people. If you want to escape the grind of daily life but don't want to travel these are a great alternative to a trip up north.

There are plenty of walks on offer here, with various easy kids walks to more strenous 12mile 5 peak walks. There's something on offer for all, but here i'll be focusing on the 5 peak circular walk around Turnhouse Hill, Carnethy Hill, Scald Law, East Kip & West Kip then round to the Harlaw Reservoir and back to Flotterstone, covering 11.25 miles in total.

Park at Flotterstone car park and follow the road, soon you'll come to a sign pointing the way to Scald Law. Head through the gate and follow the path, you can now see Turnhouse Hill (around 1,500 feet) the first of the 5 hills. Follow the path up to the cairn at the summit and you'll see your first view proper of the Pentland
Range.

On the way up Turnhouse you'll notice a hill on the opposite side of the Glen, this is Castlelaw Hill. In modern times it's used as a firing range by the British Army, however there has been a human presence on the hill since at least 500BC, most notably there are the remains of an ancient Roman fort and earth house located on it's east side. When you climb in the Pentlands you'll immediately understand why a Roman fort was built as you have extensive views for miles around.

WARNING : If you choose to venture up to see the remains be on the look out for the red flags which warn that the range is in use!

Head down the path towards the 2nd highest of the hills - Carnethy hill (1,879ft). An impressive little hill with a huge cairn at the top with various shelters, which offer great respite if you need to get out the wind. Carnethy is a corruption of Abernethy, Abernethy who was previously a Knights Templar, later became the Prior of a Cistercian Priory of monks close to Rosslyn. The hill was named after him due to his part in the 1303 Battle of Rosslyn Glen between Scottish and English forces.

Looking down to Green Cleugh from the top of Carnethy

The Battle of Rosslyn is a lesser known battle in the Wars of Independance from England. The battle had it's seeds sown in 1302 when the English Nobleman Sir John Segrave was appointed Governor Of Scotland by King Edward I. Segrave soon became smitten with Lady Margart Ramsay who unfortunately for him did not feel the same and later agreed to marry Sir Henry St Clair of Rosslyn. When Segrave learned of this he gained permission from Edward I to rally troops and march on Scotland.

Segrave gathered a force of 30,000 men and marched onwards, it wasn't until he reached Melrose that his army was sighted and word was quickly sent to the Scottish forces by the Cistercian Monks mentioned earlier. The English forces had been split into 3, some sent to take Borthwick Castle, some to Dalhousie and some to Rosslyn. The Prior Abernethy guided to the Scot's to the location of the camped English troops. A fierce battle ensued at Bilston near Rosslyn Glen with the Scot's coming out victorious and Segrave captured.

looking out from Turnhouse Hill toward Rosslyn Glen

However, word of the defeat quickly reached the remaining English troops who immediately marched on the Scots. With the element of suprise gone they relied on their knowledge of the terrain, the tactics of William Wallace and the inspiring words of the Prior. Plus a little bit of "divine intervention". The Prior, without the troops knowledge had instructed his monks to build a huge wooden Saltire over at the Pentland hills, this they duly burned. Reminding the Scot's troops of their treatment at the hands of Edward I he pointed to the burning Saltire and firmly stated that the Lord was on Scotlands side. This incident would soon give name to the village of Glencorse or "Glen Cross" (more on that later)

The Scot's using their vastly superior knowledge of the terrain ambushed and defeated the numerically superior English forces in Rosslyn Glen, legend has it around 10% of the English troops made it back home.

Turnhouse (L) and Carnethy (R) from Maidens Cleugh

Enough of the History lesson (for now), from Carnethy you head towards Scald Law, the highest peak in the Pentlands at 1,899ft. From Carnethy you can easily make out the path as it zig zags up the side of Scald Law. The path up Scald Law is easy and should only take around 20 minutes.Views of Glencorse reservoir are excellent all along this route. The reservoir gets it's name (if you haven't already guessed) from the old village of Glencorse which was flooded (after the people had been relocated !) church and all by the building of an earth dam in around 1824.

Nothing can be seen of the village any more, but local legend has it that during the driest spells the church tower can be seen to break the surface and on the stormiest nights, when the water is at it's choppiest you can still hear the bell ring . . . .

Heron's, not Church towers !

After Scald Law you have the two little side by side hills of East & West Kip, both with steep climbs to the summit. Luckily you are pretty much at the top anyway.

Follow the path down and round to head over some pretty flat moorland until you reach Bavelaw. From here you can either cut back towards Glencorse or head towards Harlaw and the final part of the journey.

The difficulty level of this walk is the toughest in the Pentlands and the hills, although none are over 2,000ft, are tougher than they first seem. The Pentlands are a great day out with plenty to do and family friendly.

My 4 yr old son has even managed Turnhouse Hill, even if it did take us 5 hours ! I'd whole really recommend a day out here, it's like having the highlands on your doorstep.