On track for Sidlaw summit

Newtyle Hill, Newtyle, Angus

My quest to stand atop all the summits in the Sidlaw Hills took me most recently to Newtyle Hill, a sturdy wee peak rising above the Angus village that shares its name. I had, for a while, been musing on the best way to access this hill, a route that would lead to the top without getting caught up in woodland, fences and ankle-clasping heather, all of which feature large in the landscape here.

Jacob’s Ladder, a set of steps rising from the Dundee road, just south of the village in the Glack of Newtyle, appeared to be a good option and, to reach them, I would let the train – or rather what remains of a former railway line – take the strain.

Sections of the trackbed around Newtyle, originally linked to Dundee by one of Scotland’s earliest railways, survive as part of a local path network, a map of which can be found on the wall of the Post Office, in North Street.

I set off from the nearby war memorial, passing Newtyle Parish Church, built in 1872 to replace the previous church, destroyed by fire five years earlier, before following Kirkton Road towards Bannatyne House.

The way curves round the northern perimeter of the 16th Century mansion’s grounds to a metal kissing gate from where a grassy path leads along the edge of a field, below mature beeches, the wooded slopes of Newtyle Hill in view up to the left.

The old railway lies across the next field, a slim trail to a stone bridge spanning the leafy cutting, a signed path descending to the permanent way.

Once on track, I headed under the bridge and up through the cutting, the line carving a deep, rocky channel through the land.

Above Bannatyne House, the way opens out, Newtyle and its prominent parish church in view below, as it rises steadily into the Glack of Newtyle, a sign for Jacob’s Ladder keeping me on track.

The steps lie within forestry, just beyond a gate, and offer access to the Polish Priest’s Cross, a simple memorial to a wartime chaplain, Father Karol Bik, who died while walking in the woods here. It stands half a mile off the route which, from the top of the steps, climbs to the remains of a wooden kissing gate on the edge of the plantation before

thecouriermagazine weaving up through scattered trees, over a stile and on to the eastern slope of Newtyle Hill.

Crossing the hillside above me, I picked up a trail curving right, passing through a shallow valley between two knolls. Peppered with gorse, the summit affords a fine view across the valley towards Kinpurney Hill, topped with its landmark tower, while Newtyle is visible below.

Happy I had found a way up, the time had come to ponder my descent and, sticking with the heathery track, I wandered west over Auchtertyre Hill, dipping towards pasture where I spotted a gate at the top of the plantation below me. Avoiding the temptation to make a beeline for it over what looked like rough, reedy ground, I looped down, entering the forest unscathed, an initially muddy track descending through the trees and over farmland en-route back to Newtyle.

ROUTE

1. Follow Dundee Road to church and go right along Kirkton Road to white gate of Bannatyne House.

2. Curve right then left, pass through metal kissing gate and follow field edge path west. Cross bridge over stream and continue ahead across field to former railway.

3. Go through gate and descend right to trackbed. Turn left and follow trackbed 1.5km to Jacob’s Ladder.

4. Ascend steps (signed Polish Priest’s Cross) then path. Approaching another sign for Polish Priest’s Cross, bear left up to broken wooden gate and ascend grassy slope to stile.

5. Cross stile and ascend faint path to point where it flattens off. Bear right, veering south up and across slope.

6. Bear right on rough track through dip between knolls to summit of Newtyle Hill.

7. Continue ahead on track, descending over northern slope of Auchtertyre Hill before looping down over pasture to metal gate on edge of plantation.

8. Go through gate and descend track.

9. Go through gate and follow track halfway down field then go right, through gate, to return to Newtyle.