It’s rather rare for us to venture south of the River Clyde for a day in the hills, but with a fine day forecast for today, Ian suggested a trip down the M74 to Tinto, a hill we had last visited eleven years ago almost to the day on Wednesday 18th February 2015, when, along with Alan and Laurie we completed a fine round of Tinto, Scaut Hill and Park Knowe, no snow that day, but a bitter cold, windy and rainy day.

Tinto is a popular hill, with good parking and a clearly defined track leading directly from the car park and up the north shoulder of the mountain so no navigation problems and certainly not today as the snow covered track was clearly visible throughout the climb. No problems route finding, however, the frozen snow and ice on the track made walking somewhat difficult over some sections of the path, we coped well with the conditions underfoot, but not so for some others we met on the track, slipping and sliding and a few tumbles on the way, especially on the return downhill leg.

The north shoulder route has a climb of just over 500m, yet the gradient of the path ahead never looked more than a fairly shallow ascent, and so height is gained at a very steady pace, great for a day such as today when the air is crisp, snow underfoot and visibility in excess of 50kms, a day of leisurely walking to be enjoyed for all that is on offer. As stated earlier, Tinto is a popular hill, and so it was today, with the usual variety of walkers and their varied modes of dress; and this is where being prepared pays dividends. The climb up was sheltered, calm and sunny, yet on reaching the summit there was a sudden changing of the temperatures as a fairly cold wind suddenly hit you. Others, slightly ahead of us, turned and scampered off the top enroute back downhill passing us and warning of the cold winds. But we were prepared, no problem, and why would you rush away, the views were stunning and it was simply a matter of digging out that extra layer of warm clothing from our rucksacks and finding a nice spot to sit and enjoy the break and hills around us, warm and cosy in our extra layers, simple!

We had left our options open as to whether we would continue from the summit of Tinto and do the round via Scaut Hill or just return back down the way we had climbed up to the summit. Initially we did cross the fenceline and head over the open hillside towards Scaut Hill but we were soon in snow which at times was almost knee deep in places, and given the uncertainty of the ground underfoot ahead we abandoned Scaut Hill and returned to the main track, diverting a little to visit the minor top at Totherin Hill, from where we again took to the open hillside for a direct line downhill to once again rejoin the main track back to the car park.

A fine day on a great little hill, it may not have been a full on winters walk, but the shallow covering of snow gave it a wonderful feeling of winter walking. Brilliant, thanks Ian.