A walk in the Pentland Hills

The Pentland Hills are very near Edinburgh and the eastern end of the massif (OK, it's not that massive but "range" doesn't sound quite right either!) is pretty busy with walkers, runners and cyclists. But the western end is much quieter, especially on weekdays.

My favourite naked route starts at the car park on the A70 just southwest of Little Vantage (GR1062). It follows the obvious footpath south, to the col between East Cairn and West Cairn Hills. From the col, either hill (or indeed both hills) can be reached. It's an old droving road but not much used now. It doesn't pass any houses and the ground is open enough to avoid surprise encounters with textiles. The path is mostly good (can be a bit wet for the first few hundred metres) and initially pretty flat but rises quite steeply to the col - and from there, up the two hills.

A grand walk in good weather.

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