A good walk near Croftamie is up to the TV mast. The walk is easy and the views stunning. However much of it is over private land and care must be taken to close any gates, etc. and respect any notices. For the most part the walk is dry but walking boots or wellies could be a good idea after rain to navigate some puddles around the gates. Just over a mile south from Croftamie on the A809, where the road from Killearn joins at Finnich Toll is a good place to park the car. There is a disused bit of road at the junction and usually not too many vehicles.
From this point we crossed the A809 and walked up the single-track farm road heading west. This road is gated after about fifty yards but there is a pedestrian “kissing gate” which is open. It was a beautiful day and already we were getting great open views of Killearn, and the ridge along the Campsie Hills with the very distinctive volcanic plug of Dumgoyne rising to 1400ft at the end of the range. We continued up this road for about half a mile until we came to another gate on the right hand side on the other side of which is a track leading across a field up the hill to the TV mast which is clearly visible in the distance. A word of warning at this point. The day we took this walk the field was full of happily grazing sheep. On another memorable occasion however cows and their calves occupied the field. We hadn’t realised this until we were well past the point of no return and were surrounded by a herd of large beasts protective off their young. Cows can be dangerous when with their young, particularly at dusk, and especially if you have a dog with you. So, if you chose to do this walk check that there are no cattle in the field before going through the gate.
We went through the gate and continued up the track to the TV mast. At the top of the track is a trig point structure and the view from this is stunning. Looking right up Loch Lomond the Luss hills on the left, Ben Lomond centre, Drymen, ben Ledi and down the carse towards Stirling are all visible.
We had come to take a photograph of Appletree Cottage for this website, and what a day for it! The angle of view was certainly beneficial for showing the cottage’s proximity to Loch Lomond, although the lens might have slightly foreshortened the relationships of certain objects. Returning to the car we could see outlying Glasgow in the far distance. The tree covered hill to our immediate left is reported to be the site of an iron age hill fort. On a previous walk we were quite clearly able to identify surviving earthworks.
The walk from the car took us about twenty minutes. A friend described it recently as having an excellent effort-to-view coefficient – i.e. little effort for a terrific view.