On Sunday I linked together the 30 highest “hills” in the Pentland Hills in a continuous loop in a time of 12h07. Being a tad unsure on the definitive list of “hills” I chose to combine two, the UK Hillwalking list based on the named summits as they appear on the Harveys Superwalker Map of the Pentland Hills, and the list as compiled by Hill-bagging.co.uk which lists all summits with almost all conceivable definitions. This means that (depending how you slice it) I visited more like 37 “hills” in order to ensure the highest were scaled.
Starting at Dreghorn, the route took in most of the well-trodden summits on the Skyline before heading south and west past Baddinsgill Reservoir to the lesser-visited tussock mounds north of Dolphinton. An appeal to the route is that (Flotterstone aside) no road is crossed in the entire route, making it a quite solitary experience (indeed I met only 7 people in two groups over the entire day). Consisting of approximately 70km (40miles) and 4500m (15000ft) it is easily achievable in a 24hr period. In fact, I just missed out on a 12hr time, which I am attributing to the strong winds and reasonable wind-chill that I encountered early on.
Alex McVey