Meikle Bin

Crawford Macnab

29 August 2025

A small group of 6 walkers - Sarah, Joyce, Mike, Bob, Crawford, Moira and Cosmo met at the Todholes car park at the west end of the Carron Valley Reservoir.

The weather forecast had improved but it was still showing thunderstorms later in the day and it certainly felt cloudier the further west we headed. Our walk started at the end of the Carron Valley Reservoir which was constructed between 1935 and 1939 in response to severe droughts in 1931 and 1933, which highlighted the need for increased water supply for industrial and domestic use in the Falkirk and Stirling areas. It is now operated by Scottish Water and serves as a vital water source for roughly 135,000 people in the Forth valley, while also being a popular destination for cycling, walking, fishing, and bird watching.

The initial walk was quite straight forward with a gentle sheltered climb up a good forest track eventually emerging to more open countryside as we passed the west side of Little Bin. We then turned south east to start the climb up the grassy slope towards the summit of Meikle Bin. Mike couldn’t resist posing for a photo next to a small toppled tree at the edge of the path.

The shallow roots / soil of this tree was an interesting backdrop for our first team photo.

An initial short steep section was soon tackled and we progressed up to the summit of Meikle Bin at 570m. There were good views across to the Ochils, West Lomond with Berwick Law and the Bass Rock visible in East Lothian.

By this point the wind had picked up and the clouds were coming in, so we dropped off the summit to find a sheltered spot for lunch. As we finished lunch the rain came on and we donned waterproof trousers in preparation for the descent. The lunch spot was on a bit of a slope and apparently Mike did a few forward rolls accidentally as he stood up. (Good practice for the Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling!) No harm done.

Now in light clouds we started our descent taking a small detour to view the wreckage of a Fairey Firefly FR Mk 1, an aircraft, operated by 1830 Squadron of the Royal Naval Air Service (FAA), which crashed on January 8, 1950, while en route from RNAS Abbotsinch (now Glasgow Airport) to the same base. The crash occurred due to a radio signaling error during a stormy winter day, resulting in the deaths of both crew members: Lieutenant Arthur Robertson, the pilot, and Naval Airman J. Smith, the observer.

As we descended down out of the cloud we encountered a young family flying a fancy kite in the good wind that was blowing. Well actually it was the father having all the fun with the two kids waiting patiently for a shot!

We were soon down off the grassy slope to then follow the track briefly east until we left our original track to take the south east path that passes between Little Bin and Meikle Bin. Although a bit muddy in places the path had been well cleared and good progress was made before we joined another forestry track that headed north east towards the reservoir. My interpretation of Mike’s planned walk was to continue down to the edge of the reservoir and follow this back to our starting point. However we reached a junction where the official path back to the Todholes car park was signposted and the group decided to follow this through the forest.

A few ups and downs along the track and rucksacks had to be taken off to get under some fallen trees that blocked the track.

By this time the rain had stopped and the sunshine was threatening to break through, so off came the jackets.

We rejoined the original track and with the bright sunshine breaking through we thought we better take a final group photo just in case.

A further 30 minutes and we were back at the car park just before 3pm.

Lacking in any local knowledge of coffee options, I had searched on Google and spotted that Cafe Anton in Denny was open till 4pm. As it was only 20 minutes away the group all agreed this was worth a try. Unfortunately the advance parties initial assessment of Cafe Anton wasn’t very promising. (Not very inviting and nae cakes!)

Not to be deterred we managed to get a table for 6 at the bustling Greggs a few doors down, where everyone enjoyed their tea/coffee and sticky buns!

Given the poor weather forecast this proved to be an excellent walk with only some very brief periods of light rain to contend with.