Stronend
Height – 511 metres. Map – OS Landranger 57.
Climbed - 30 January 2011. Time taken – 2.75 hours.
Distance – 9.5 kilometres. Ascent – 490 metres.
Trip Report Details:
With a poor forecast for later in the day I decided to climb this Sub 2000 Scottish Marilyn. My map indicated a track part of the way up the west side of Stronend and beyond that some broken contours between the cliffs.
I parked in the village of Fintry, crossed the bridge over the Endrick Water, and walked along the icy tarred private road to Culcreuch Castle Hotel. On reaching the Hotel I followed the signposted vehicle track to the farm. There was no movement here other than a few dogs in their kennels. At the rear of the property I located the track that would give me access to the hill.
Beyond the farm I came across an open gate with a polite sign requesting no dogs due to grazing cattle and sheep. Not a problem for me as I was on my own. The track zig zagged uphill until it came to second gate which this time was closed. At the side was a stile constructed from a ladder.
The track now levelled out but as I considered leaving it I came across another track, not shown on my map, that headed uphill and led to a third gate, again with a stile. The field beyond had loads of sheep and I followed various paths, some probably animal trails, as I aimed for a fourth gate I had observed at the top of the field.
This gate required clambering over as there was no stile. The ground here had a light covering of snow and became quite steep but there were paths to follow which took me onto the summit plateau without any difficulty. It was now cold and windy so I put on my down jacket before following the path, for over a kilometre, to the large summit cairn and trig point.
I was still below the cloud base but the views weren’t good although I could make out the Lake of Menteith and to the east some wind turbines. After a coffee break in the shelter of the cairn I returned to the village of Fintry by the upward route.
Photos taken on walk.