Kinross Walks - Bishop Hill

Scottish

Towns

Bishop Hill

Length: 4 miles
Height climbed: 1100ft./340m
Grade: B
Parking: At the start of walk
Toilet facilities: Kinross

The shallow Loch Leven and its surrounding farmland lie in a natural amphitheatre with the Ochil Hills, the Cleish Hills, Benarty Hill, Bishop Hill and the Lomonds providing an uneven screen around a small, flat plain which comprised the old county of Kinross. Of all these hills, the range of the Lomonds and Bishop Hill are perhaps the most memorable landmarks, their abrupt western ridge rising from the farmland to the east of Loch Leven to a height of 1700ft/522m (West Lomond) in one grand sweep.

To reach the walk from Kinross, leave the town on the A922 and turn onto the A911 at Milnathort. The walk starts at Scotlandwell - about 6 miles from Kinross, at the junction of the A911 and the B920. Parking is a little difficult in the village itself, but there is a car park by the church at the start of the walk.

The path to Bishop Hill (1500ft/460m) is signposted, leading up the hill from the north end of Scotlandwell - steeply at first - before running along the face of the hills for about a mile to the summit. It is not necessary to keep to the path if you don't wish to. The tops of these hills are easy walking terrain - open, springy grassland, spread across an assortment of rounded peaks and hillocks. It can be an enchanting place, especially on a clear day, when the views are magnificent: east into Fife; south across the Firth of Forth, to Edinburgh and Lothian; north to the Ochils and the Grampians beyond; and west across Loch Leven to Kinross.
From here you have a fine view of Castle Island on the loch below, where Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned in 1567-8.

You can leave the hills either at Easter Balgedie, immediately below Bishop Hill and 2 miles from where you started the walk - or you can return to Scotlandwell by the route you came.
The village takes it name from a spring which bubbles up into a 19th century cistern - once highly esteemed as a curative.

If you wish an alternative way back to Kinross, take the B920 road and turn right onto the B9097 when you reach the junction. Turn right onto the B996 at the next junction to return to Kinross.