Overtoun House to Doughnot Hill

I started from Overtoun House, grid ref 424782. To reach this I took the minor road, Milton Brae, heading north off the A82 one kilometre west of Dunglass roundabout. I continued for a mile and passed through the gateway of Overtoun House to park. The house is 19th century and built in the Scots Baronial style. It has extensive grounds laid out with exotic trees and flowering plants. Then I walked over the bridge that spans the gorge of the Overtoun burn. The burn itself has been altered in places to make it more romantic, introducing extra pools and little waterfalls. The hydro system which supplied Overtoun with electricity was one of the first to be built in Scotland.

Then, I left all this quiet charm behind and set off towards the enticing rounded knoll of Doughnot Hill. I walked over fields, climbed stiles, passed below crags and carried on across wet moorland, finally to climb the grassy slopes to arrive on the summit. The unexpected, sudden, splendid view was an incredible reward. It embraced all points of the compass; Loch Lomond and its hills to the north, the Arrochar Alps, the Luss Hills, Cowal, the Clyde along to Dumbarton with Arran just peeping over the Renfrew Heights and Ailsa Craig showing through a gap, then the Galloway Hills, on round to the Campsies and the Forth Valley, and yet more mountains. The view from Doughnot Hill, known locally as The Doughnut, is stunning. Why not visit it?