2023 Fife Hill Challenge

It’s been a tough few years but things are pretty much starting to improve now. In early April I was pleased to complete the not insubstantial task of relaunching the Fife Walking site with a brand new refreshing look. Since then there has been a slow trickle of new routes published on the site (not as many as I would like but these days other aspects of life keep me away from the site).

So, the start of a New Year is when people traditionally like to set themselves a challenge. If you are looking for something for this year, here are a couple of ideas for you based around the Fife Hills.

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Fife’s Highest Hills

Everyone (well almost everyone) likes to reach the highest point. There are nine hills in Fife above 300m. Whilst some of these are very much “tourist hills” with constructed paths others are a wee bit more challenging and entail crossing pathless moorland.

Name	Height (m)	Prominence (m)	Relative Hill classification
West Lomond	522	405	Marilyn
East Lomond	448	155	Marilyn
Knock Hill	364	112	Hump
Saline Hill	359	104	Hump
Benarty Hill	356	228	Marilyn
Easter Cairn	355	32	Tump
Park Hill	339	33	Tump
Wether Hill	335	61	Tump
Outh Hill	324	36	Tump

If that seems too easy then why not set the lower limit at 250m and add in the following five hills.

Name	Height (m)	Prominence (m)	Relative Hill classification
Largo Law	290	196	Marilyn
Norman’s Law	285	209	Marilyn
Lumbennie Hill	284	139	Hump
Pitlour Hill	275	53	Tump
Cult Hill	264	63	Tump

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Fife’s most Prominent Hills

Absolute height is only one way of measuring a hill’s significance. We also have the concept of prominence (drop) i.e. the amount of height difference between it and neighbouring hills (relative hills).

The Seven Marilyns

These are Fife’s seven hills with a prominence of 150m or greater and are classified as Marilyns. These hills make a good challenge and all have paths / tracks to their summits

Name	Prominence (m)	Height (m)	Relative Hill classification
West Lomond	405	522	Marilyn
Benarty Hill	228	356	Marilyn
Norman’s Law	209	285	Marilyn
Largo Law	196	290	Marilyn
Mount Hill	163	221	Marilyn
East Lomond	155	448	Marilyn
Cairnie Hill	150.4	228.9	Marilyn

Cairnie Hill being somewhat marginal in its marilyn status was treated to accurate surveying in 2012 to determine its true status. Fortunately it made the grade by 40cm!

The 14 Humps

A Hump is a hill with 100m or upward of prominence. In addition to the seven marilyns listed above, there are a further seven Humps (plus two sub-Humps for the really keen) that can be added to the challenge.

Name	Prominence (m)	Height	Relative Hill classification
Lumbennie Hill	139	284	Hump
Lucklaw Hill	117	190	Hump
Knock Hill	112	364	Hump
Cowden Hill	112	204	Hump
Saline Hill	104	359	Hump
Black Hill	104	213	Hump
Ormiston Hill (Black Cairn)	103	236	Hump
Sub-Humps
Dunearn Hill	98.7	223.6	Sub-Hump
Clatto Hill	91	248	Sub-Hump

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So there you have it, challenge yourself to explore more of Fife’s wee hills in the coming year. Work your way through the above and then when you’ve done all of them, there’s still plenty more to keep you occupied. Have a look at the Uplands of Fife for inspiration.

If you successfully complete any of the above please do post a comment to say so. And if you want to keep a record of your hills why not use the Hill Bagging website to log your ascents.

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All hill data taken from the Datbase of British and Irish Hills version 17.5

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