Glencourse Reservoir

One of those magical days in the hills in the company of two wonderful people who guided us through 10 miles of the Pentlands that were new to us and provided such enjoyable hospitality on the day before such hospitality was banned under new Covid regulations in Scotland.

We had coffee and cake when we arrived before setting off on circuit of the eastern part of the Pentlands beginning with a relentless ascent of Allermuir Hill (439m) which took no prisoners and was very, very windy on top.

The planned route was changed owing to the strength of the wind which persuaded us that further tops were inadvisable so we kept a little lower, passing by the amazing Castlelaw Fort which was an iron age settlement for hundreds of years.

We contoured around above Glencourse Reservoir before passing over the col at the head of the valley and dropping down back to Colinton with extensive views over Edinburgh, the Firth of Forth and Fife (extra)

We then spent an extremely enjoyable evening with tea and biscuits, dinner, cheese and much reminiscing about shared favourite places and interests. They’re great fans of the Dolomites, as are we and also fitness fanatics, as are we (not in the same league)

They have a beautiful old house with a large garden and massive greenhouse which made me very envious. We were invited to pick raspberries but also came away with a huge bag of apples, some pears and garlic.

It really was a day to escape and will linger long in our memories on a day which brought the inevitable greater restrictions to our lives for the foreseeable future.