Meikle Bin

Meikle Bin - approaching from the East

I had planned to climb up Meikle Bin in the Carron Valley in the summer. I’d set off with Sam with the intention of climbing the 1300 ft peak but I could see that the dog was flaking out before we got to the steep final climb. I had wondered whether it was a case of whippets not being exactly mountain dogs but I think the real problem was that the gravel forestry commission track leading up to the peak was causing gravel to get into his pads. I still wanted to get up to the top so I went on my own last Friday. The one thing with walking with dogs is that you do enjoy the company. For the whole time I was out I didn’t have a sole to talk to apart from one chap from Southern England making his way down from the peak.

Carron Valley Dam

I actually based this walk on an article I saw in the Scotsman last year. The Scotsman suggest starting the walk at Todholes car park on the B818 but I actually started at the main Forestry commission car park near the dam. This makes for a longer walk but made slightly more sense to me as I was driving from the East. Either way the route is well signposted although I did have to take something of a detour due to forestry works on the day. The car park has a small fee and as it took me 3.5 hours even at my fast walking rate I’d recommend paying the £3 for all day parking.


Carron Valley Dam from the other side.



The paths are well signposted

It wouldn’t be a successful trip out for me unless I’d managed to find some artefacts. Meikle Bin is known as a hazard to aircraft and the remains of a Fairey Firefly can be found on the hillside. This dates back to an accident on 8th January 1950 (and not a WWII crash as I had been previously told). In fact when I was approaching Meikle Bin I could see an airliner circling the hills so I was rather hoping he was aware of the hazard. As it was this plane was genuinely in trouble or, at least, the pilots instruments were indicating as such. There are various bits of the Firefly lying around - these are shots of what appears to be a wing section:

The view from the top can be quite spectacular – at least on a clear day. It was all rather hazy when I reach the summit and the wind was phenomenal – a full on Atlantic blast. I did try to take a selfie at the top but the result didn’t look pretty – in fact I’ve seen boxer dogs with their heads out of a car window on the motorway looking more elegant. Still the views from the trig point made it worthwhile.

Meikle Bin trig point

 

Carron Valley from Meikle Bin trig point