Weather/Conditions: Sunny winter day
Distance/Ascent/Time: 2.8km / 200m / 45m
Accompanying: Alone

I continued my Appin 'bagging marathon' here on this coastal hill. Airds Hill rises directly over Appin, and although a hill of no great height, it rises off sea level as the high point of an area of moor and forestry.

The previous day I was on the hills around Gleann Salach, and now I had just a couple tops left unclimbed in the Appin area. I was also aiming to reach 250 hills before the year's end - the most I've ever done bar 2013. The other thing was there was a limit on my day as I was working in the evening, so I could not stay out all day.

The roads were wet and shining from overnight rain, but come the morning the hills and sky were bright. I parked up by the minor road through Appin, but with forestry works going on here I'd pick my route carefully; very much off-trail. The forestry works also mean that the summit has been cleared of Commission plantation, and the route to the summit is probably a lot easier than it used to be. Old comments on the Hill Bagging website attest to some pretty horrific forest bashing; indeed, this hill gets traffic from the Marilyn baggers who find their way to it as a quick coastal top. And it is this diversity of terrain that gives the Marilyns (and HuMPs, etc) their interest - the lower the hill list goes, the more rediculous it might seem, but the diversity of terrain increases greatly.

And so I tramped up the fields to the foresty, to then slither and fall over a minefield of slick slippery branches and holes where the trees have come down. It's not the easiest terrain but I think it's a damn sight better than what used to be. I took a panorama on top, a walk across to the trig point, and then I was to head back.

Working in the evening I found I couldn't relax throughout the day, and at that moment was deciding against thoughts for another small hill; Na Maoilean, which is on the west side of Gleann Salach, and a similarly small top.

Evening: Glen Coe

360° Panorama

Airds Hill