Auchencorth Moss Pillar and Carnethy Hill

A wild day to be out on the bike. Breezy in Edinburgh and Midlothian, rain south of Leadburn. I took quite a few images, but this one is one of the more dramatic taken from the Moor Road. Thankfully, the way home from here was reasonably easy, possibly because the wind was behind me.

The moor is Auchencorth Moss, a peat moor. Peat used to be dug from the moor, and taken away by peat train. In the foreground is one of the many pillars found on Auchencorth Moss, some used to be trig points, others are just used to judge distances on quite a flat plateau.

While Auchencorth Moss looks flat, the River North Esk snakes its way a full 45 to 30 m below the top of the moor, which itself is generally between 250 and 290 m ASL. As it is so high, in winter it can be icy and very snowy. In summer it is cool. It is very rarely windless, as any cyclist who has used the moor road heading south can tell you.

The hill is Carnethy Hill is one of the higher Pentland Hills. You can just see the remnants of Silverburn Quarry, which is on Grain Hill.