Craigmore (hill)

Craigmore
Craigmore
	Craigmore seen from the town of Aberfoyle
Highest point
Elevation	387 m (1,270 ft) [1]
Prominence	40 m (130 ft) [2]
Parent peak	Ben Venue
Listing	TuMP
Coordinates	56°11′14″N4°24′09″W / 56.187331°N 4.40258°W Coordinates: 56°11′14″N4°24′09″W / 56.187331°N 4.40258°W
Geography
Location	near Aberfoyle, Stirling, Scotland, United Kingdom
OS grid	NN510020

Last updated March 21, 2019

Craigmore is a prominent hill, 387 metres high, above the village of Aberfoyle in the council area of Stirling in Scotland.

Aberfoyle is a village in the historic county and registration county of Perthshire and the council area of Stirling, Scotland. The settlement lies 27 miles (43 km) northwest of Glasgow.

The Stirling council area is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and has a population of about 94,000. It was created under the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994 with the boundaries of the Stirling district of the former Central local government region, and it covers most of Stirlingshire and the south-western portion of Perthshire. Both counties were abolished for local government purposes under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Sharing a border with England to the southeast, Scotland is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, by the North Sea to the northeast and by the Irish Sea to the south. In addition to the mainland, situated on the northern third of the island of Great Britain, Scotland has over 790 islands, including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.

Geography

The summit of Craigmore rises about a mile northwest of the centre of Aberfoyle. The top of the hill and much of the upper southern and eastern slopes are open moorland with a few scattered trees. At its southern foot, the River Forth, accompanied by the B829 road to Loch Ard and the village of Stronachlacher, runs from west to east. To the north and northwest, a line of increasingly higher peaks runs all the way to Ben Venue about 3 miles away. To the east, the A821 climbs up to the Duke's Pass. On the other side of this road is the David Marshall Lodge, a visitor centre for the Trossachs region.

The River Forth is a major river, 47 km (29 mi) long, whose drainage basin covers much of Stirlingshire in Scotland's Central Belt. The Gaelic name is Abhainn Dubh, meaning "black river", in the upper reach above Stirling. Below the tidal reach, its name is Uisge For.

Loch Ard is a loch in the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park of the Stirling District in Scotland.

Ben Venue is a mountain in the Trossachs area of Scotland. The name Ben Venue is derived from the Scottish Gaelic words meaning "the miniature mountain". The summit lies approximately 2 kilometres south-west of the pier at the southern end of Loch Katrine. At the foot of the mountain close to the shore of Loch Katrine is Bealach nam Bò meaning the "pass of the cattle", a reference to the lawless days when Highland cattle "lifters" used the pass to drive stolen herds to their land.

Although it is not particularly high, Craigmore appears prominent due to its location on the fringes of the Trossachs range and its steep southerly slopes that drop sharply down to the valley of the River Forth and the Scottish Lowlands beyond.

The Trossachs generally refers to an area of wooded glens and braes with quiet lochs, lying to the east of Ben Lomond in the Stirling council area of Scotland. The name is taken from that of a small woodland glen that lies at the centre of the area, but is now generally applied to the wider region. The small town of Callander and the village of Aberfoyle lie at the edge of the Trossachs.

The Lowlands are a cultural and historic region of Scotland.

History

On the steep, south face of the hill is an old quarry that once supplied blue-grey dolerite for the traditional buildings of Aberfoyle. About a kilometre north of the summit are Aberfoyle Quarries, disused slate quarries that were used to supply roofing material for the railways and for much of central Scotland. The route of the old tramway, which transported men and material from the quarries to the local branch line, is still discernible.

Slate A fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, weakly metamorphic rock

Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. Foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering, but instead is in planes perpendicular to the direction of metamorphic compression.

Tramways are lightly laid railways, sometimes worked without locomotives. The term is not in use in North America but in common use in the United Kingdom, and elsewhere, where British Railway terminology and practices had large influences on management practices, terminology, and railway cultures such as Australia, New Zealand, and those parts of Asia that consulted with British experts when undergoing modernization. In New Zealand, they are commonly known as bush tramways, while in parts of Australia where American experts were influential, the term is less common. They generally do not carry passengers, although staff may make use of them, either officially or unofficially—and are often not meant to be permanent.

A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. David Blyth Hanna, the first president of the Canadian National Railway, said that although most branch lines cannot pay for themselves, they are essential to make main lines pay.

Ascent

The Lodge Visitor Centre is the easiest start point for an ascent of Craigmore, a path branching off the A821 and heading up to the line of the old tramway. From there the route follows the top of the ridge to the summit. Craigmore can also be tackled from Aberfoyle itself, passing near the visitor centre on the way. There is a cairn at the top.

Views

From the summit there are views of Loch Ard, Ben Lomond and the Arrochar Alps as well as the Scottish Lowlands.

Ben Lomond, 974 metres (3,196 ft), is a mountain in the Scottish Highlands. Situated on the eastern shore of Loch Lomond, it is the most southerly of the Munros. Ben Lomond lies within the Ben Lomond National Memorial Park and the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, property of the National Trust for Scotland.

The Arrochar Alps are a group of mountains located around the head of Loch Long, Loch Fyne,and Loch Goil, near the villages of Arrochar and Lochgoilhead, on the Cowal Peninsula in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The mountains are especially popular with hillwalkers, due to their proximity and accessibility from Glasgow. They are largely within the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park and in part also extend into the Argyll Forest Park. Glens which go into the heart of the range include: Glen Croe, Hell's Glen and Glen Kinglass.

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References

↑ Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map series, no. OL 46, The Trossachs, 2015.
↑ Craigmore at www.hill-bagging.co.uk. Retrieved 22 May 2017.

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[OS25-1] Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map series, no. OL 46, The Trossachs, 2015.

[2] Craigmore at www.hill-bagging.co.uk. Retrieved 22 May 2017.