Bishop Hill

Crawford Macnab

27 March 2024

A few call offs for this one with the wet weather forecast but the team assembled at Holl Reservoir for the start were Willie, Pamela, Alistair, Isabel, Crawford, Moira, Stuart, Mike and Mike’s friend Bob Ness.

Everyone was kitted out in full wet weather gear from the outset expecting to endure an hour or so of rain with the expectation (hope!) of sunshine to make an appearance in the latter part of the walk!

What we didn’t expect was there to be much in the way of snow but after a bit of a temperature drop overnight this started to appear as we headed north west past the Ballo and Harperlease Reservoirs.

The marker stone indicated the point at which the three ancient parishes of Strathmiglo, Falkland and Portmoak came together.

This was not a day for extensive views but more one for testing the waterproofing on jackets!

Before reaching John Knox’s pulpit we left the track and headed south west to gain height. With the snow making this steeper part a little tricky there was a convenient wire fence to hang on to.

As we reached 330m a discussion was had on whether to continue higher on the planned route to the summit of Bishop Hill or whether to go off piste and take a more direct route south to rejoin the path. With the direct route looking to be across boggier ground the team agreed to continue up to the summit.

With slippy conditions underfoot, care was needed as we trudged the further 100m ascent to eventually turn south to reach the top of Bishop Hill.

After we dropped off the top a brief lunch was taken at a sheltered spot.

The descent from this point was straightforward with the sunshine finally breaking through as we passed through the trees on Munduff Hill.

With everyone safely making it back to the start, we all headed to the Lochend Farm Shop for some well earned tea, coffee and cakes!

Crawford Macnab.