Dumyat

Sheila Grimston

30 July 2026

10 of us – Mike, Robin, Sarah, Willie, Bob, Stuart, Crawford, Moira, Sheila and Keith … and Cosmo, met at the Pendreich car park, above Stirling. The outing destination had changed the day before from Ben Ledi to Dumyat in the Ochils due to the weather looking fairly grim with low cloud and wind on Ben Ledi.

Dumyat is pronounced “dum-eye-at” (/dəˈmaɪ.ɪt/).

The walk began from the car park through birchwoods. There was a sudden heavy shower so waterproofs were quickly adorned. We then crossed the road and followed the broad hill path across the open slopes on the western side of the Ochils. The sky cleared and soon the waterproofs were off again as it warmed up. Continuing to climb gently towards the top, we admired the views across the Forth and over to Ben Ledi in the west.

The path then descended slightly before ascending more steeply all the way to the summit. The views were superb in all directions but the top is slightly cluttered by a trig point, a metal beacon and a monument to the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. This little hill seems very popular with visitors as a stream of people and dogs passed us throughout the morning (we felt slightly over dressed in all our hiking gear!)

The weather was dry, clear, but quite windy, so we had our very early snack tucked down on the north side of the hill.

Descending back the same way, we took a detour across to the ancient hill fort. Its name derives from Dun Mhead or Dun Maeatae meaning the fort of the Maeatae, an Iron Age tribal confederation that clashed with the Romans around AD200. The ground to the south of the fort falls away very steeply.

The overall walk was around 5½ miles so we were back in time for a leisurely lunch/coffee at Blairmains Farm Shop, a favoured place by Willie.

Unfortunately, it seems most of the population of Stirling had chosen to go there, as it was packed. We were lucky to find a table in the express cafe and relief, got our coffees and cake!