By The King's Highway

BOTH the smallest and the second smallest counties in Scotland – Clackmannanshire and Kinross-shire – share as their northern boundary the rolling green hills of the Ochils.

There are lots of fine walks in the Ochils and this morning I’m setting my sights on revisiting one of their most westerly tops, the prominent wee hill of Dumyat.

Pronounced Dum-ay-at, the hill is only 1,373 feet high. One of the most popular routes to its summit begins from the Auld Brig in the town of Menstrie. It’s nothing difficult, although fairly steep. Each time I climb it, I’m convinced it’s getting steeper!

Today, my starting point is a bit further west as I want first to visit the old kirk of Logie. It’s a lovely February day – such a change from the wind and rain that seems to have plagued us since early November.

There’s always something special about the first decent walk of the New Year, trying to make up for a month’s over-indulgence of eating chocolates!

Close to Blairlogie, just above the car park off the Stirling road, stands Logie Kirk. It was built in 1805 on land gifted by Sir Robert Abercromby after the Auld Kirk was pretty much condemned for being in a “poor state of repair”.

The Auld Kirk is still there, 500 yards further up the road, although it’s in an even poorer state now, and roofless.

Entrance to the kirkyard is through an attractive stone-arched gateway.

There’s a tremendous atmosphere within the ancient kirkyard with dozens of fascinating 17th- and 18th-century stones carved in English and Latin. I find one from 1620 with skull and crossbones – how much the world has changed since then.