307 APRIL 2020 - Gryffe Advertizer

Easter Egg rolling
at Dunrod Hill
by Rona Simpson
Start/Finish: Greenock Cut Visitor Centre
OS Map: Landranger 63
Grid Reference: NS 227 738
Grade: Strenuous
Distance: 5km, 3 miles
Time: 1.5 hours
Route Overview: A short steep grassy climb or decent for hilltop
vistas over the Firth of Clyde. Route uses old reservoir gravel
tracks over open moorland. Potentially boggy in places!
Easter picnics were a staple in the Simpson household when
I was growing up. Each year we’d be given our boiled eggs to
decorate in the morning then be wrapped up in our hat and
scarves (standard Scotland in spring attire) and frog marched up
to a precipice on the Campsie Fells - clinging on to boulders to
avoid being blown off the side of the hill - to roll said eggs back
down. And, I bloomin’ LOVED it. It was great fun! My partner is
from the south of England. Picnics down there are pretty Enid
Blyton-esque affairs. She was not ready for the endurance test of
picnicking in Scotland at Easter and has never really got into the
swing of this tradition, preferring sandwiches being consumed
by burbling brooks under endless blue skies at temperatures
that won’t give you frostbite. I can’t think why. Anyway, if you are
looking for a good hill to climb with the sprogs armed with eggs
this month, give this one a go.
route
The Route: Start at the top left corner of Clyde Muirshiel visitor
car park and go over the stile; follow the informal trail up the
hill. There is the option to go straight up or follow the zig zag
trail to the right. At the top of the slope turn right to reach the
summit cairn of ‘Hillside Hill’ (297m). From this carin head ‘west’
to the gate in the fence line before heading up to the trig point of
‘Dunrod Hill’ (298m). Now a Site of Special Scientific Interest at it
is part of the Clyde Plateau Lavas*. From the trig point head north
east downhill to the metal field gate to join a wee path, then jump
the burn to follow the reservoir track. At the junction, go straight
on to the telephone mast at Scroggy Bank. Keep the mast on
your left. At the lay-by there are great views of all the big named
reservoirs in the area. Follow the track downhill, taking a sharp
right onto the loose gravel of the ‘Overton Track’. Loch Thom will
be on your left and the Visitor Centre straight ahead. Enjoy!
Special Scientific Interest
Dunrod Hill is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). It is
nationally important because it contains outcrops of volcanic
rocks that belong to a sequence of lavas. A volcano erupted
during the early part of the Carboniferous Period, about 340
million years and the lava rock remains. These are known as
the Clyde Plateau Lavas.
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CRAFTY easter egg IDEAS
How to ‘Dye’ Your Eggs:
• Fill a container with a cup of water, one teaspoon of white
vinegar, and about twenty drops of any food colour. You will know
that you’ve used enough liquid if the egg completely submerges in
the water.
• Fill several containers if you will be using different colours.
• You can dye the egg two colours by dipping only one section of
the egg in at a time. Hold one half of the egg so that only half of it
is submerged in the dye. After about five minutes, submerge the
other half of the egg in another colour.
Other ideas:
• Acrylic paint is ideal for eggs because it covers them well and
adheres nicely. You can use any brand and colour of acrylic paint
that you’d like. Use a paintbrush to create fun designs – ladybirds,
pigs, spiders – the list is endless!
• Painting eggs with glue solution and dipping and rolling in glitter
then leaving to dry creates a snazzy sparkly egg!