Tuesday, October 30, 2007

West Lomond
West Lomond is the highest point in the county of Fife, Scotland and the highest peak in the Lomond Hills. Its volcanic dolerite cone rises above an escarpment of carboniferous sandstone and limestone layers. The conspicuous cones of West Lomond, and its neighbour East Lomond, are visible for many miles around, which explains their name, the 'Lomond' or 'Beacon' hills.
West Lomond is usually climbed from Craigmead car park on the Falkland-Leslie road, as this sits at a height of almost 300 metres. From the car park, leave the trees by a wishing gate, and follow a broad grassy path roughly north-west which joins a track after about 320 metres. Follow this track and subsequent path, which has recently been re-laid to limit erosion, all the way to the summit cone of West Lomond. On reaching this cone, follow the path that skirts round the north side of the peak, which then climbs up the far side to the summit. On the summit are the remains of an Iron Age Hill fort.
Another route leaves from the Bunnet Stane and climbs diagonally up the steep north slopes of the escarpment to a gap in the cliffs, above which one gains the plateau a short distance from the summit cone. On this route there are more interesting features to the landscape, however the climb is steeper and begins at a much lesser altitude than the Craigmead car park.

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