It might be raining / sleeting / snowing today but things are set to improve over the next few days. So time to think about getting outdoors more and being active. How about setting yourself a challenge / target based on the Fife hills? Whilst you may have done the touristy hills of the Lomonds, Norman’s Law etc, there are many more mini-hills in Fife to explore. There are 114 of these wee Fife hills listed on the Database of British and Irish Hills. This covers the main hill lists of Marilyns, Humps, and Tumps (yes, seriously this is what they are known as). Add in the Sub-Tumps and TumpBeags and you get a grand total of 130 mini-hills in Fife that appear in recognised hill lists. Enough to keep you occupied for quite some time.
Set your own personal targets for the year. Here are some examples:
- The 7 Marilyns (hills with 150m or more all round drop/prominence)
- 14 Humps (hills with 100m or more prominence – includes the 7 Marilyns)
- The 15 hills over 300m in height
- Hills in a particular topographical area e.g. all the child hills of a chosen Marilyn
- Hills within a defined radius of your home or other start point.
The mini-hills of Fife are varied in character and there is something for everyone regardless of ability. For the hillwalker, the Lomonds and Cleish Hills offer moorland walking with the Cleish Hills in particular having a hill-like feel to them. Some hills lie in woodland and forest with obscured views whilst others, due to the flat nature of Fife, offer expansive views of coast and farmland. Some are easily accessed on paths with short walks from a road. There’s even one in a housing estate! Others though, require a bit more ingenuity to negotiate fences, livestock and other obstacles. Some are the sites of hill-forts, others have modern cairns marking the summits, whilst others are completely unmarked and you will have to decide for yourself which tussock is the actual summit! Three hills are on islands out in the Firth of Forth with one not having a regular boat service.
There’s lots more information on all of these hills, including suggested routes to their summits, on the Uplands of Fife page of the Fife Walking site. And don’t forget to keep a log of your achievements. The Hill-Bagging site is perfect for this though it doesn’t list the Sub-Tumps and TumpBeags.
Get out there and explore! Which Fife hills are on YOUR list for this year? Leave a comment and let us know.
Fife Walking 
I’m currently ticking off the Iron Age hill fort sites that are within striking distance of Edinburgh with my black lab Tiggy (we are on 57 at the moment). Your website has been a great help, but there are still a couple to do in Fife e.g Craigluscar…
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