📌 Barrhead, East Renfrewshire
★★★
Duncarnock is a prominent volcanic plug just a few miles beyond Glasgow‘s southwestern suburbs. The hill isn’t much to look at from most sides… except to the north, where it displays an impressive sheer cliff overlooking the reservoir of Glanderston Dam. Happily this is also the easiest side to approach from, by a path along the water’s edge (with large fish leaping high out of the water when we passed by) which turns into a very short but interesting scramble on the north face of the hill. If you don’t want to use hands, just climb the hill by the gentler eastern side which we returned by. Views from the summit and trig point extend far beyond the reservoir: all of Glasgow and much of the lower Clyde can be seen, backed by the Campsie Fells and Kilpatrick Hills respectively. Great views often go hand-in-hand with decent defensive qualities: indeed, the summit features faint remains of an Iron Age fort.
📷 Chronological photo guide
🌍 Location
📌 Start / finish at entrance to Glanderston Mains, minor road 1 mi east of Neilston
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NS 499565
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 55.778596,-4.394797
🚌 St Luke’s High School, Barrhead (1 mi) | 🚆 Neilston (1.5 mi)
🚗 Layby for a couple of cars only – don’t block access
📝 Key info
▶ 2 km / 1 mi | ▲ 70 m | ⌛ 45 min
Features: 💧 Glanderston Dam reservoir; △ Duncarnock (204 m)
⬤ Moderate | Mostly grassy footpaths with some rough & boggy parts. Short scramble on very steep final ascent (hands needed).
Download file for GPS➡️ Anticlockwise lollipop circuit: start – Glanderston Dam (northeast shore) – Duncarnock by north slope – descend by east side, curving north to rejoin outward route
🥾 On our last visit
Wildlife: Sheep and lambs, lots of noisy birds, fish leaping in the reservoir!
Weather: Sunny overhead but windy on the summit, heavy showers nearby.
May 2016
