Lewis Hill
Distance: 2.5km/1 mile
An easy walk to the summit of Lewis Hill (266 m), with magnificent views on a clear day.
Park 50m south of a small bridge over the Bannock Burn. Follow the obvious path rising up a steep bank through beech, larch and oak trees. Views of the reservoir and the cliffs can be glimpsed on your left, but watch where you are going - you will have to duck under the branch of particularly imposing oak tree. Join an obvious track, which winds its way up the back of the crags, leading eventually the triangulation point.
The view from the summit is stunning. Moving clockwise it takes in Ben Ledi, Stuc a’ Chroin, Ben Vorlich, Ben Chonzie, Ochils, the Lomond Hills in Fife, the Forth Estuary and bridges, the Pentland Hills, and the summit of Meikle Bin in The Campsies. Note the little valley of the Bannock Burn as it meanders down from its source in the Touch Hills opposite.
North Third reservoir was originally constructed in 1931; when the water level was raised in 1931 a Bronze Age battle-axe was discovered. This is now housed in the Royal Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.
Return the way you came, or if you have time and energy spare, continue for 700m to point where the cliffs start disappear. This spectacular setting was the site of an Iron Age fort. Like most such structures it was heavily defended, with cliffs on one side and two earth ramparts, separated by a ditch, on the others.
