Friday 14th December 2018. An ascent of Dunsinane Hill 310m/54m, Black Hill 360m/81m and King’s Seat 377m/219m, Western Sidlaw Hills, Perthshire, Central Scotland. 8.6km, with 480m of ascent. 2 hours 50mins.

I was in Scotland for a weekend Advent retreat at St Mary’s Monastery near Perth (see at https://www.kinnoullmonastery.co.uk/) and, unexpectedly, had a few hours to spare after a good journey up from North Wales that day. I decided, on the spur of the moment, to head to the village of Collace for a few hours hiking in the Sidlaw Hills (see at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidlaws).

I parked just south of the village in a small area at the bottom of the trail that heads south-east to the summit of Dunsinane Hill. This hill has a certain fame (see at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunsinane_Hill), as it is the reputed site of the last battle of Macbeth, King of Scotland - at least according to the English playwright William Shakespeare, following his source Holinshed. The facts of the career of this early Medieval Scottish king are rather different (see at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macbeth,_King_of_Scotland). He met his end in a battle in north-east Scotland, nowhere near this hill. However, it is possible that an earlier battle was fought on this hill by the king against Siward, Earl of Northumbria.

A good path, starting at a stile by an information board, headed up the north-west flank of the hill through cattle pasture, skirting a stand of trees. It was a fine cold sunny winter’s day, and the low-slung sunlight bathed the landscape in a soft glow. The ground was mainly frozen after a hard frost. Towards the top the trail got steeper, but it was not long before I stood by the summit cairn in the midst of a small Celtic hill-fort. It was a fine viewpoint. I lingered for some minutes taking in the view, before the chilly south-east wind spurred me again into movement.

I descended in a series of zigzags down the steep slope to the bealach on the east side of the hill. There I met a friendly local hiker out enjoying the rare afternoon sunshine. I continued on a slight path up the south-east flank of Black Hill to its western top, where it began to peter out. A short hike around a deep notch in the southern flank of the hill brought me up onto the heathery summit. Sunset was not long off, so I pressed on to King’s Seat, the highest in the Western Sidlaws. I made my own route down through the heather, as the path was now not evident.

Keeping to the highest driest ground, I worked my way around the steep southern side of King’s Seat, and then north to the summit, sporting both a large cairn and a trig point. Sunset was now only half an hour away, so I did not linger long on this fine viewpoint. I took a straighter course south-west down through the heather to the bealach. There I picked up frozen cattle tracks along the south flank of Black Hill that took me down into a field by the B 953 road. Here there were bogs and barbed wire fences to negotiate, but I eventually struggled with some gratitude onto the tarmac. There followed a hike on the roads of some two kilometres back to the car past the Collace Quarry. It was not the best of routes, but the roads were quiet and navigation in the gathering darkness simple.