Walk: Tinto – Hill of Fire

📌 Tinto Hills, South Lanarkshire
★★★★

If you live in southern Scotland you’ll probably already be familiar with Tinto. Standing tall amidst low ground, this is a great spot to pick out many of the country’s hill ranges. The Pentlands, Moorfoots, Lammermuirs, Campsies, Trossachs, Cheviots and Galloway Hills are just a few, and that’s before you include the peaks beyond the Scottish mainland: the English Lake District and Arran should both easily be visible on a clear day. This is the most popular ascent route: the path is wider than some roads, and leads past a double-walled Roman Fort directly to the 43 metre-wide, Bronze Age summit cairn – adding four metres to the hill’s height and visible from the car park. The path splits at one point, but it doesn’t matter which branch you choose.

📷 Chronological photo guide

🌍 Location

📌 Start / finish at Fallburn, minor road 1 mi southwest of Thankerton

🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NS 964375

🛰️ GPS coordinates: 55.619653,-3.645539

🚌 Bus to Thankerton (0.5 mi)

🚗 Car park – gets full

📝 Key info

▶ 7 km / 4 mi | ▲ 490 m | ⌛ 2.5 hr

Features: 🏰 Fallburn Fort; △ Tinto (711 m, “Torbett” / Donald)

⬤ Moderate | Obvious dirt path, some bog lower down, gravel higher up – steady ascent.

➡️ Out-and-back walk: start – Fallburn Fort – Totherin Hill – Tinto – return by outward route (slight variation possible across head of Maurice’s Cleuch)

Download file for GPS

🥾 On our last visit

Wildlife: Red grouse.

Weather: Sunny, light to moderate breeze. -5ºC at start, remaining subzero at all levels.

January 2025 (some photos less recent)