This article was written by Dave Hewitt for the Harveys Superwalker 1:25000 map of the Ochils.

The Ochil Hills

The steep extended escarpment of the Ochils forms one of the most striking hill-profiles in Britain, visible from anywhere within a broad arc from Stirling in the south-west, to the Kincardine Bridge in the south-east. There are few isolated, eye-catching summits, but the 20km line of 40( slopes never fails to impress. Stretching from Blairlogie to Yetts o'Muckhart, Dumyat to Seamab Hill, this frieze of hillside rears up to the 400m contour from almost sea level, all the more striking through being set against the flatness of the Forth floodplain beneath. Few if any British hill-slopes present such a sustained contrast; certainly other lowland escarpments, such as the Campsies north of Glasgow, or the Moorfoots south of Edinburgh, create a far less coherent effect.

Structure, shape, and sheep

The Ochils comprise the central, and highest, section of a band of medium-sized hills stretching the width of Scotland. The Campsie / Gargunnock plateau stands to the south-west, the Fife Lomonds to the east. The Ochils are more compact than these, feeling very much a range, carved off decisively on all sides bar the east, where a complex of smaller (but still interesting) summits spills across the A823 before petering out towards Perth. This road is one of only three to split the range in any way, and the main mass of high ground remains refreshingly inviolate. The Muckhart-Dunning B934 forms the eastern boundary, while the unclassified, unfenced Sheriffmuir crossing in the far west does little to intrude on the open, spacious feel of the area.

The abruptness of the southern escarpment is such that many assume, wrongly, that the Ochils are Highland hills. In fact, the geological boundary of the Highland Fault skirts well to the north, beyond Strathallan, with the Ochils comprising the last isolated group of non-Highland. Geologically, they are chiefly igneous, most obviously in the volcanic remnants of Dumyat, Abbey Craig (nowadays a basalt plinth for the Wallace Monument), and Stirling Castle rock. The igneous origins of the Ochils have produced rich soil at both high and low levels, encouraging a wonderful variety of flowers. This wealth of flora confirms their status as stunning summer hills, the snow-shedding smoothness of their upper slopes provides their all-season value.

The Ochils provide ideal walking terrain. The bulk of the land is under grass, with many good paths cutting through rampant low-level bracken. High up, these are rolling rather than rugged slopes, with an absence of high lochans (although to list plover, curlew, skylarks, kestrels and buzzards merely hints at the birdlife). The odd roe deer is spotted on the western reaches, but the chief, ubiquitous, mammal is, inevitably, the sheep. The Ochils are worked as hill farms, and this avoids the sense of barren remoteness found further north. It must be borne in mind, however, that April/May is the critical lambing time, when hillgoers should literally go out of their way to avoid separating ewes from lambs. At this and at all times, dogs, so often a hill menace, need to be kept under close control.

Hillfoots

The busy local villages, lying flush against the southern slopes, are known collectively as the Hillfoots. They offer an accessibility to the Ochils and a blend of lowland and upland life rarely found in Scotland. To leave the bustle of, say, Alva, and be alone on the hill within minutes is likely to bring to mind the Welsh valleys or the Lancashire mill towns. Mills provided much of the former work pattern here too, along with a tradition of mining stretching back even further. Only the big whinstone quarry at Tillicoultry operates nowadays, but the overgrown detritus of older, less extensive endeavours can still be seen above Menstrie (where the old Myreton calcite workings are worth seeking out), and at Alva (where the name Silver Glen remains on the map).

Access to the Ochils is easy hereabouts. Judicious study of rail and bus timetables can, for instance, allow a walker to stride on to the hill in under an hour from Glasgow city centre. These are user-friendly hills, ideal for an eco-friendly age.

Glens and Bens

Outwith the hub of the Hillfoots, the villages become smaller, quainter, more genteel: Dollar, with its private school and hill-hemmed castle; the pastoral cornier of Muckhart; the hotel and golf sophistication of Gleneagles. For all their celebrated southern aspect, by which they are instantly recognised and loved, the Ochils have other, very different, characters. The northern slopes, dropping to the villages of Blackford and Auchterarder, are more subtle, a tangle of tussocky shoulders conforming to the conventional lowland model of low-key gentleness. Then there are the dark, heathery, raptor-friendly moorlands of the Sheriffmuir road at the western end; and the tucked away reservoirs and green sided glens above Glen Devon in the east. Yet, just as the drawn-out line of the Ochils has approximate northern and southern edges, so first impressions tend to align in the same way. To the A9 motorist driving between Dunblane and Perth, the northern slopes, Craig Rossie aside, are so anonymous as to he scarcely noticed. To the motorist preferring the long straights of the A91 through the Hillfoots, it can be hard to keep eyes and mind on the road ahead, so distracting is the view.

However, these are from-a-distance generalisations. The Ochils deserve to he subjected to closer scrutiny than that of mere parking-place tourists. Just as the hills differ in aspect north/south, so they change dramatically when cross-sectioned in height, as hillgoers quickly discover. Again taking the southern steepnesses first, any approaching walker is immediately faced with a choice: a sneak through one of the gorge-like glens (which burrow into the range so effectively as to create a far-into-the-hills feeling only minutes after leaving streets and shops) or the immediately-steep option of tackling one of the shoulders, faces almost, which separate these glens. The majority of walkers seem, overall, to prefer gradual starts through the confines of the glens, perhaps because these contain fine waterfalls and impressive rock formations. But there is much to be said for taking a deep breath and striking straight up such slopes as Kirk Craigs above Tillicoultry, lovely Wood Hill above the Silver Glen, or the very steep Torry corner above the Alva Glen. These, to some, seem an overly abrupt start to an outing, but their quieter, short-grassed routes provide rapid height-gain, wider scope for weatherwatching, and a greater chance of seeing interesting wildlife immediately above the towns.

Whichever style of ascent is chosen, at the 400m-500m level the terrain changes markedly throughout the range. The steep-sided glens (or cleuchs) ease back, and the short-cropped, tenuous vegetation of the gorges - gorse and wiry heather - thickens to tussocky grasses and the occasional heathery bog (or "moss"). The high-level tableland of plateaux and moors begins. This is very different country to the claustrophobic confines below, and provides much of the contrast which makes the Ochils so intriguing. Grassy shoulders broaden and bulge upwards, fences straggle along skylines, sudden views open out. The Ochils may fail to qualify as Munros or Corbetts, but they retain a sense of aloofness and height.

Views from the Ochil summits reach out as far as the high Cairngorms, Angus and Fife, the Forth Bridges and the Lothians, the industrial Central Belt, round through the northern Borders hills, plus a southern and central Highland sweep. The Arran ridges jut - just - above the western Campsies, and even Ben Nevis pops up from the highest viewpoints, a dark wedge 102km distant, seen to the right of Beinn Heasgarnich. The Lawers range looks especially good, rising high beyond the first echelon of Highland hills, whilst the very top of Schiehallion is a stony isosceles peeking above nearer, browner ridges. The Ochils, on a clear day, feel wonderfully pivotal.

Lumps, bumps, and lists

Ben Cleuch, comfortably the highest summit, stands couple of kilometres back from the steep frontal slopes, not easily seen from the Hillfoots road (nor from the A9, for that matter). A decent sighting requires retreating to the Clackmannan area, or, better, a climb above the foothills to visit in person. At 721m, Ben Clench is the same height as sharp Ben Stack in the far north-west of Scotland, yet it is hard to imagine two more different hills. Ben Cleuch, at least on its upper slopes, is grassy and gentle: only the hillside immediately south-west of the summit, falling into the Daiglen, is at all steep, and even then should present no problems of terrain or angle. Broad ridges meander out to associated tops, although nothing comes within 50m in height. Hence its knuckle of summit rocks oversees the whole range. This, plus its well-balanced centrality, makes Ben Cleuch a lure from east and west.

Ben Cleuch appears in several classifications of hill list: Grahams (224 Scottish 610m-761m or 2000ft-2499ft summits with 150m all round drop); New Donalds (118 non-Highland summits over 610m); and Marilyns (1552 British summits with 150m drop). The undulating nature of the Ochils is shown in the absence of any other Marilyns, bar Dumyat, west of the Devon / Eagles road. Despite the central massif occupying 150km2, nowhere does the ground dip sufficiently. There are, however, seven more New Donalds, sometimes combined in a long outing, but better taken in twos and threes via their outliers and flanking glens. Aside from Ben Cleuch, these "2000ers" are: Blairdenon Hill, 631m, Ben Ever 622m, Andrew Gannel Hill 670m (note that The Law, routinely windy and persistently popular, lacks the drop to qualify), King's Seat Hill 648m, the eastern pair of Tarmangie Hill 645m and Whitewisp Hill 643m, and finally Innerdownie 610m, distant and adrift in dividing Glens Sherup and Quey, and clinging to its 2000ft status by the merest margin. Steele's Knowe, 485m, the highest point within the wedge of roads to the east, is a third Marilyn. Well approached by various lumps and bumps south of the Corb Glen, it also forms a good target on a long crossing from the Hillfoots to Auchterarder, with descent of the Cloan road idyllic in evening sunlight.

Traverses are, however, rare. The shape of the range. and the closeness of the surrounding roads, suggest an endless variety of circular outings, with start points regained via woodland paths, disused railways, and quiet backroads. The Hillfoot glens host three well-maintained walkways, of interest even to the walker with no intention of probing further or higher: Alva Glen, Mill Glen above Tillicoultry, and Dollar Glen twisting up to the tourist honeypot of Castle Campbell (aka Castle Gloom). These offer enjoyable, even adventurous, mini-expeditions, particularly when heavy rain fills the waterfalls, although caution is needed, especially with regard to footwear.

For ambitious walkers, the gorges provide interesting routes to higher ground. The more inquisitive will also seek out unsung and unsignposted mini-glens, such as Menstrie Burn round the back of Dumyat, or Harviestoun Glen, tucked into King's Seat Hill, or the intrepid Warlock Glen corkscrewing an unlikely-looking line up the front of Dumyat. This sense of exploration can be carried on to the highest ground: far too many walking guides (and far too many walkers) tread the Law-Cleuch Ever horseshoe on wide paths and tracks, disinclined to make even the slightest modification. There is much to be said for occasional diversions to summits in the 500m-600m range. Many Ochil aficionados regard the most interesting hills as lying in this height bracket, and certainly no-one can claim real knowledge before visiting Colsnaur, Bengengie, Mickle Corum, Craighorn, or distant Ben Shee. Likewise, the ribbon of Latrigg-like foothills along the front of the Ochils is too frequently ignored. Dumyat will always be popular, but to dodge crisp packets and crowds simply transfer east to the similar-height Myreton Hill. The Nebit, or the Commonedge / Auchlinsky / Seamab complex above Muckhart. These host much wildlife, but little of the human kind.

Dave Hewitt

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