On yer bike.....Keogh Rig & Dugland

Hill: Keogh Rig (611m) & Dugland (608m)

Type: Donald Tops

I wanted a bike ride today with the attraction of the 1^st time in weeks the wind was light and there might even be some blue skies. I was bored cycling from home, same old route starts etc so got the notion to cycle up Windy standard and tick off two of the Donald tops still on my to-do list.

When I arrived in Glen Afton the Blackcraig side was gloomy and dark whereas the Windy side was a mix of blue sky and white clouds, which would prevail.

I parked at Blackcraig farm to make the ride a bit longer but annoyingly the beasties were already buzzing about my head, hopefully cycling would keep them away. 3 or 4 agitated Jays were calling and moving in the nearby trees. A pair of buzzards were gliding slowly over the tree tops, maybe the Jays they fancied for breakfast.

I joined the wind farm track to find workies erecting a new substantial gate that did not appear to have a side gate for cyclists/walkers. They said they were told to just leave a wee gap at the side!!

Windy Standard but a weaving route to get there

Not a lot to say about a cycle ride. I was glad I was on the bike as it is a fairly boring walk up the construction road all the way to Windy Standard. I was however glad I had the ebike as some of the ascents were distinctly tough for my fitness level and now not fit enough to do them manually.

Follow the grassy track

Keogh Rig high point of the hump

From the turbine Cairnsmore of Carsphairn & Beninner

Looking over to Windy Standard from the 'impressive' summit marker, a feature of the Donalds

Nicer view Deils putting stone and a nice grasst valley, what once was!

At Windy Standard it was windy and cool enough for me to don a light jacket. I secured the bike to a pylons stairs and set off on foot to Keogh Rig. I had originally planned this as a bike hike from the Moorbrock Hill side but as I was up here anyway it was vjust as easy from this side. I followed a grassy ATV track beside a fence descending to the lower turbines, a bit wet and boggy but fine going. At the turbine I followed the construction road to another pylon and crossed the rough ground to find the single wooden stake marking the top of Keogh Rig. The view was nice if the turbines were omitted. Excitement over I retraced my steps back up the same way and spotted the Deil’s putting stone which I had missed on the descent.

Bike still attached, Windy Standard behind

Dugland between the two pylons on the left

Dugland cairn looking back to Windy Standard

View from Dugland cairn to Moorbrock Hill on left & Green Hill on right

Glad to find my bike still attached to the turbine I set off to the up and down roller-coaster ride to Dugland. More turbines to find the correct turn to take. From the viewpoint above I thought my target of Dugland Hill was beside the turbine not moving and I was correct. Chatted to a maintenance worker who was trying to get it moving before making the short crossing to the top of Dugland, marked by a small cairn.

On the way back to the Windy Standard track I missed the turning but thankfully realised my mistake before I had gone too far. There is definitely more climbing this side and my legs were feeling the efforts.

Then it was the mainly very fast descent back to the start. Eyes popping, vision blurred, it was fast and fun, adrenalin was running. I remembered just in time two drainage ditches which I had to bunny hop, could have been a nasty incident if I had rode into one of them but got down safely. On another fast descent a beautiful chestnut brown roe deer stag jumped across the track, another one further on, female this time. Definitely did not want to hit them. It was not all downhill as a few uphill stingers are thrown in, I was trying to ride the bike as a normal MTB as often as I could but the battery power was certainly turned on quite a few times.

Back to find the workies at the much more sturdy gate than its predecessor. There was a small area to pass it, fine for walkers a bit more awkward to push a bike through.

Overall it was a blast, two new Donald tops bagged and a real adrenalin high that walking alone cannot give. There was still plenty of time to take in the views. But the bike meant I was not out for a long day, I will be doing more of this.

Interesting anecdote. Back at the car I checked my watch for the stats and was surprised to find the distance in kilometres as I always have it set to miles. Back home I plugged my GPS into the PC to find the distance was also in kilometres when it is set to miles, weird!!

Ascent: 949m

Distance: 22.61m

Time: 3.21

Wildlife: Buzzard; Jay; Meadow Pipit; Tree Pipit; Chaffinch; Roe Deer: Orange Tip,

In search of another Donald top.....Meikledodd Hill

 Hill: Meikledodd Hill/Blacklorg

Type: Donald Top/Donald

Height: 630m

After postponing my Saturday group walk I still craved some hill walking exercise so I decided to tick off one of my Donald Tops on the Sunday. The weather was much improved from yesterday and as it was a local hill I put it up as a last minute ramble for ADRC and half a dozen joined me.

I wasn’t sure if I had been on this top before but as I could not fully remember it was time to formalise the tick. During preparation I had noticed that the OS maps aerial view showed a track beside the newish electricity pylons that was not shown on the standard map.

So I took my group alongside Afton reservoir hoping to find said track. It was no big deal as we could always take a short backtrack and do a circular via the traditional route over Alwhat.

A wide muddy track

As it turned out we found the track, well not exactly a track. It was a machinery gouged wide area of deforestation and churned up peat, muddy in places but it did exist and it took us uphill.

Meikledodd over the grassy hump

The slow group

Classic Donald summit marker, Blacklorg behind

For no reason other than it looked right I took the group off piste and took a more direct route towards Meikledodd. The map suggested we would find a fence and indeed we did, superb navigation! Followed the fence up to the high point where we spotted a single wooden stake on the moor across the other side of the fence, a true Donald summit marker.

The mast beckons

Back to the fence where we stayed this side and followed a grassy track to the mast at Littledodd Hill, a food and water break stop. As I enjoyed my sannie one of our members began pulling at the cables attaching this large structure to the ground. He was surprised at the flexibility of the cables, I was too for different reasons. Thankfully it did not come crashing down but I assume these things have CCTV cameras attached so look out for the polis to ADRC committee.

Blacklorg top

We wandered up to Blacklorg and down to Cannock Hill. As we descended I spotted a figure coming our way, my vision a bit blurred these days but I had a sense of deja vu. Surely enough it was Lorna who had joined us nearby on a similar walk.

Craigbranreoch Top

View down Glen Afton

So friendship group acknowledgements completed we walked on and most continued up Craigbraneoch Hill for what is arguably the best view from these hills.

Afton reservoir

Ringlet

A steep and rough descent back to the reservoir then back to the cars.

I bagged myself another Donald top, the weather stayed good and everyone got a bit more exercise, a good enough short ramble.

Ascent: 546m

Distance: 13.2km

Time: 3.59

Wildlife: Meadow Pipit, Chaffinch; Ringlet,