Heading down

You can see a good portion of the town from here too. Inverclyde hospital stands out a mile as a big brown building. I can also see my old school and house as well as braeside where my friend used to live. Nat semis factory plant is on the left of the hill too. When you do decide to retreat back down, head for the left hand side of the grey stones which mark out the embankment wall near the fence and stream. It's easy to lose the return trail in snow or fog. Keep the dry stane dyke on your right as you descend and you should be fine. After that retrace your steps on the obvious tracks you walked up on to the summit. All the pics for Dunrod hill were taken today on a new camera but they seemed to turn out ok. The sky was looking a bit ominous and grey to the west which probably means a change for the worse tonight or tomorrow.. We shall see. Thanks for looking in.

Dougs at summit

Dougs sits at the exact spot where I popped the question as if to acknowledge its significance.

View down the firth

You get great views in every direction from the trig marker.

The summit at last!!

Congratulate yourself as you arrive at the summit marker. It's not a mountain, nor a munro. It hardly grazes 1000ft. It's a moorland peak at a push, but it's well worth a visit and you will be lucky if you see another soul en route. The views north towards argyll and its mountains are spectacular on a clear day in summer and even better in snowy winter. Look west and left down the firth of clyde to see ailsa craig if you are lucky. On a dismal day you wont even see your own hands in front of you :-) I have been up here in both rain and shine. If you have any snashters in your pocket then you can take them out and devour them now whilst you enjoy the views. Alternatively you could take out the diamond ring thats been burning a hole in your pocket for the last 2 hours, get down on bended knee and propose to the girl thats walked up with you on a day as sunny as this...hey..I did it myself and got the answer I wanted :-)

Summit push

The underfoot conditions will be a bit more mushy now as you walk to the summit along a trampled grass track. In winter when the track is covered by snow you can reassure yourself by taking a compass bearing if you haven't been up here before and you want to make sure you dont't wander off the trail. You will lose sight of the summit marker for a bit as you approach it. Don't worry. You are on the right track. You can just see it as the darker tinged grass in the middle. The path will steepen up in the last 50 metres or so before the summit. A sure sign that you are almost there. You can see Dougs going mad in the right hand side of the picture. For some reason he goes bananas round here and wants to jump up on you and play? I haven't figured out why.

Stream fence and wall

The track comes to an end at this point. Cross the stream that flows out from the now drained and disused reservoir on the left. The stream lies directly in front of you. Walk up the embankment then cross the fence then the dry stane dyke wall right next to it. Walk to the end of the embankment then turn left to face the trig point obelisk which stands guard at the summit of Dunrod hill. You are nearly there!! You can just see it as the highest point mid shot. Word of warning here. If it's warm and damp with little wind then the midges can be nuisance at dusk. More likely to be a problem if you camp up here overnight. They are a special strain of midge known as the John Smeaton midge beause "they just set aboot ye". Without repellant or similar you will soon be "banjoed".

Left again

The trail splits once more. Keep left once again. Some nice views across the river should greet you once you get to this point. The right fork in this road takes you down to the cut waterway path and can be used as an alternative walk on a different day. You can descend by this route as well if you fancy a longer outing and you return to the watermans cottage via the cut path.

Turn left

Veer left after the tower and continue along the well defined track. The track dips down now and you weave your way round the right hand side of the hill. It would be difficult to get lost up here even in poor visibility because the tracks are so wide and well defined. You could easily take a mountain bike up here if you fancied it.

Thistles

Or how about this specimen eh? A fine example of a scottish thistle if ever there was one. They are there and you will find them if you look carefully enough.

Heather

If you look closely you will see bees pollinating the flowers among the heather up here in the summer.

The tower

The microwave or radio tower eyesore marks the halfway point of your walk. It is a proper monstrosity. A real alien invader in the moorland landscape up here. Everytime I walk past it I look over and expect to see a NASA shuttle bolted to it in preparation for a launch. It makes the most eerie wails and howls too as the wind rushes by it. Still...you get great mobile reception up here as a result. So if you feel the need to call the house and let a certain someone know that you fancy a 21 day hung and matured rib eye steak for your tea mid walk, then you can do just that.

Approaching tower

As you head up this road take a peek to your left for great views towards loch Thom and beyond. Dunrod hill shows up in view now as the highest point on the horizon in the middle of the shot. Dougs has obviously seen something of interest to the left of the frame. If he wasn't called Dougal then another appropriate name would have been Frank MacAvvenie....cos he is always chasing the burds! Boom boom.

Veer right at fork

The track forks with the left one going to the cornalees centre. Take the right hand fork and continue up to the radio tower. If you need a break there are concrete blocks just behind the gate which make convenient if rather rustic and unfussy seats. Scatter cushions are not provided so bring your own if your bum is used to a more forgiving and fluffy surface.

View of reverse route

Continue up the track as if you are heading towards cornalees. This is the view back down the track towards the dam as you head up the stony trail.

Dougs in the spring dam

Once he is in the water you have had it. You wont get him back for half an hour at least. Look at that wee scones face..Awww.

The 'spring dam'

The track continues at a reasonable angle before settling down to something more level. You pass by a small reservoir on your left and pass underneath some pylon cables. Take the right fork in the track and pass by a second reservoir called the 'spring dam'. I used to play and fish up here with my friends when I was a boy. There are still fish in here. A few lean pike but not much else. Now Dougs uses it as his swimming pond. He learned to swim and dive at this place. All these dams were used to top up the cut waterway and all of the waterworks up here are a collective marvel of engineering. The cut has recently had 1 million pounds spent on it in restoration. A wise investment and long overdue. The council round here have got themselves a pretty poor reputation. They have done very little to retain any of the areas rich industrial heritage (boo hiss!!!). Hopefully we will see more investment like this in the future.

Dunrod hill route description

Here's a nice walk that's worth doing. It's a fairly easy stroll and shouldn't take more than 4 hours to head up and back, even if you take your time. The views are good and there are paths for much of the way. I head up here with the dog a few times in the week but I still enjoy it because you can do it of an evening without getting kept out after sunset in the summer. Anyway.. start at the 'watermans cottage' at the end of the greenock cut waterway. It's up behind overton. Diane and myself looked at this place with a view to buying it recently. We both loved it but it was just tiny inside. Swing a cat? I think you would struggle swinging a small rodent inside it. I digress...Head through the gate in front of you and follow the track ahead.

Dougs the dog

Dougal or 'Dougs' is my pet dog. He is a labrador cross. He has a lovely playful nature and is very agile. He loves nothing better than a day out bounding over the heather. He is a total softie so he isn't the best guard dog but he is brave in other ways. He had a blemish free record until a fortnight back. We returned to find a gift voucher for a helicopter trip over the city of Edinburgh in a million bits cos hairy boy had shredded it :-) We got a replacement though. Dougal is a superb swimmer, retriever and jumper. He can scale walls and fences no fuss. He is my faithful companion in all weathers. He is very very smart so he is very trainable.

Climbing Jacob's ladder

We were up at the crack of dawn to get up here first so we could get it to ourselves. It was absolutely worth it! Mind you at 5am I had my doubts when I was stuffing my gear in the rucksack.

Lemmings on the plateau!

We came across this bunch of comedians as we made our way down from plateau. None of them had a map or a compass. None had basic safety equipment like ice axe or crampons. The guy on the right was stamping down on the snow ledge to see how sturdy it was before I took this picture?!? Sadly you see this kind of thing all the time. Eventually they did follow us down but not before a couple of them had taken a few good headers and tumbles on the ice.

Fiacaill ridge

A look back into fiacaill ridge from our reccy walk just to check the snow and ice conditions for the following day. You can see the ladder as a thin white line in mid shot. The goat track is on the far right hand side.

Ben MacDui

Perfect alpine conditions up on the cairngorm plateau with stunning views across to Ben MacDui which is probably another good hours walk or more from where this shot was taken. I wouldn't be heading there by this route unless conditions were good because it is really exposed up here and when it turns nasty there is very little shelter. I plan to frame some of these pics and more like them this coming winter.

Rooms with a view! :-)

We stopped by at 'snowhole avenue' for our lunch and helped do some work on them so that other folk could enjoy their dinner here on days when the weather was a bit more gnarly. The snowholes were v comfy. They had massive ice seats in them. Not quite en-suite mind. We didn't need to use them though as the weather was so good. We were very very lucky. We had our pieces in the sun and watched a few rescue dogs playing in the snow near us. Made you feel truly happy to be alive and healthy on such a stunning day. Fi took this pic. You can see Steve and myself as the red and black figures at the snowcave on the left.

The fall guy - Hee hee!

Me and Steve practice 'falling' down a hill. I know it sounds crazy but it's worth rehearsing this type of thing so that you can brake each other safely in the event you really do slip on steep snow or ice . Neither of us could stop laughing after the first few goes. Steve really got into it like some mad stuntman in a bond film and was tumbling like a demon.

The goat track

Breaking trail near the goat track. I can't hide my smiles in these shots because I knew that the weather was going to hold for us and give us a cracking day. Last time we couldn't get up here because the weather was so bad. The ski slopes were shut because they were stormbound and there were lots of frustrated and boozed up skiers in the aviemore pubs as a result.

Cheeser breather

Steve and myself stop for a breather. You can see the edge of fiacaill ridge in the background.

Me and Fi on the walk in

Myself and Fi (Fiona) share stories and laughs as we approach the cairngorm plateau. You can see coire an lochain with fiacaill ridge behind it in the distance. Last time we came up here we were creeping through waist high snow into the teeth of a blizzard. My juice and water froze up in my rucksack to provide an ice pole for my dinner break. A different story this time however. Fi was working as a high flying financial executive for the royal bank before taking a six year long career break. Since then she has been playing in the snow pretty much every day she gets the chance. It makes me think that if I write just one lousy cheesy hit and retire then I could do the same....Hmmm...tempting..Any ideas for lyrics gratefully accepted :-)

Don't slip now!

Topping out onto the cairngorm plateau. Ron holds the rope in case there's a mishap :-) .. He couldn't hide his big cheeser as he watched me trying to step up over the tricky cornice at the top.

Me on the cairngorm plateau

The next few photos are from my last trip up the cairngorms during easter 2007. Stunning blue skies and glorious sunshine made a welcome change. Last time we were up here the winds were hitting 140 mph on the plateau and the wind chill temperatures were -35 celsius and below! Visibility was nil in the whiteout conditions and a good number of folk were caught out. Another climber from Greenock was killed the same weekend in a tragic accident. The guy sitting down in the pic is my friend Steve from New Zealand.

Welcome

Hi. My name is Stephen. I am 33. I live in the west of Scotland around half an hours drive from Glasgow. The town where I live used to be famous for building some of the finest ships on the face of the earth. Now it is a shadow of its former self, awash with liggers, loafers and gangsters (or is it gangstaz?). The crime rate and murder rate here are soaring like the bloated overfed seagulls that foul on its pavements and residents as they shuffle to the nearest pharmacy for another dose of prescription methadone. The 'shell suit' shops are doing a roaring trade in all manner of synthetic polyester streetware. You could walk for miles before seeing a natural fibre on a human being. James Watt.. the father of steam baulks from his heavenly perch as he looks down on the detritous of his former home town that is now the wasteland of Greenock...Having lived here for much of my life I have become immune to the sights of the area. So what the hell am I doing here? I work as a secondary school teacher which kind of binds me to the area meantime though that may change if the crime rate continues to rise exponentially. I live with my playful pet dog and my wife to be. My father was a keen fisherman and hillwalker. He used to take my brother and myself out on trips with him when we were very young. We learned alot from our dad through adventure (and misadventure!) out on the hills. Every river you fell into or hill you got lost on gave you another near death experience from which to learn from... :-) These days I still head out to escape from the over planned, pasteurised, sanitised paper chase of my 9-5 mon-fri grind. So escape I do.. to the outdoors...the playgrounds of my youth and beyond and that's what the focus of my blog will be about..my outdoor adventures. These will range from balmy moorland strolls to hasty retreats from ice clad and blizzard bound mountains. So feel free to look in from time to time, whether it's to follow my footsteps in person or just to look at the pictures...Yours..Stephen....Ps..If you click on the photos they open to more detailed full size images.