Fintry Hills new rambling ground for me

Hill: Stronend
Category: Sub2K
Height: 511m
After two weeks of the flu lurgy I was fair looking forward to getting out this weekend hopefully both days. Then, on Thursday, the good lady announced that the girls were coming on Sunday. Five weekends in a row, excepting my ill one last weekend, are we being taken advantage of?
So Saturday it had to be and coming off the flu effects I opted for a new Sub2k that shouldn’t be over challenging.

The descent crags

I had never walked on the Fintry hills before. Like most walkers I had intended to do this as a double with Carleathern and from a different starting point. 
Today it was just the one hill, but the highest and started from Fintry itself.
Never having been here I followed my sat nav into the small village. Drove through to the end but no sign of the village hall where we were meeting. So drove back through again and parked at the Kirk. Luckily a local appeared who told me it was a village of two halves and the hall was half a mile down the road in the other half!! Can they not just give it a separate name?
Still the crags looked impressive from down here, that is when the low cloud let you see.

Muddy!!

A walk through village part 2 and up to Culcreuch Castle Hotel before heading though a farm and up a very muddy track to enter the fields. Farmer taking no chances here warnings for bull; calves; cows; sheep; horses anything else?

Follow the dyke

A short climb gets us up to the dyke which we then follow along a narrow eroded sheep trail, very awkward walking as we contour below the crags. 

Rainbow

Conic Hill and Loch Lomond open up through the gloom, a rainbow appears nice one.

Rolling landscape below the crags

Looking along the crags the terrain down below was an odd looking scene, small humps dotted all over. It did not look natural, I wondered if there was some mining hereabouts. Apparently natural, a quote from the Edinburgh Geological Society...The Fintry Hills are part of the Clyde Plateau Volcanic Formation to the south-west of Stirling, and show good examples of varied basaltic igneous rocks that formed close to eruptive centres, in a landscape of craters and cinder cones

Stronend Cairn

A final push up through the crags and out onto the open moor where before long the large cairn appears out of the gloom. 

Trig

It is a very large stone construction encircling the trig. No point in hanging about nae views in the low cloud.

Descent crags

We then followed the ridge eastwards across the moor along to Double Craigs. You certainly wouldn’t want to fall of some of these crags, steep drops.

Fintry on the left

I had anticipated a much boggier walk up here but actually it was pretty good going. The weather had improved so good local views down to the village(s).

Lochan with its winter coat

Off the crags and headed down to the farm before heading along past the pretty Lochan before meeting up with the out track and back to the cars.
Just what the doctor ordered an excellent short walk with plenty of good chat helped the time fly by.

Wildlife: Crow, Rooks; Blue Tit; Grey Heron.
Time: 4.27
Ascent: 1746ft 
Distance: 7.17m