Scottish winter hikes

View over the firth of Forth

Last winter has been very rainy here in Scotland, so sadly we only managed to go for walks only twice.

For almost all of our Scottish walks we find the itinerary on the brilliant Walkhighlands website. They provide very detailed itineraries of walks & hikes for all levels all over Scotland. I highly recommand to check this website if you want ideas where to walk across the country.


Our first walk was a short historical walk around the beautiful Royal Burgh of Culross in the Kingdom of Fife. At about 25 min drive from Stirling, we climbed up a path along fields, offering us a great view over the firth of Forth, passed by the remains of  the 13th century Culross Abbey and wandered through the medieval village of Culross. 

Culross Abbey

Thanks to the work of the National Trust for Scotland, the 16th and 17th century buildings of the Royal Burgh have been very well preserved, and taking a stroll in the streets of the village feels like travelling back in time.


This village featured in a lot of film productions, the most famous being the Outlander series along with Captain America: The First Avenger.
 
 




Our second walk took us up to the top of the famous Ben Lomond. Ben Lomond is the most southerly Munro (mountain in Scotland over 3,000ft/914m), and the first one we ever climbed up.

 View of the North of Loch Lomond
 

The walk starts pretty steeply through a forest, but we passed pretty quickly the treeline allowing us to get a magnificent view of Loch Lomond.
The higher you get, the better the view. 



 


The weather that day was pretty good, for a Scottish winter day, and we really hoped the summit would be clear. It did seem that way in the morning but unfortunately clouds decided to get lower and cover the top of the mountains...  
The promise of an incredible view from the top made us all very disappointed.  
Nevertheless it was a great day hiking, and I'm looking forward to do it again on a clear weather day.


 
Last glimpse of Loch Lomond and its islands 


 
 This is not even a view of the actual summit...

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