Introduction
The hills in the Central belt of Scotland are geologically not part of the highlands but part of the Southern Uplands. These hills are characteristically rounded but rise up straight out of the central belt plain. Because of the proximity to the big cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh and the commuter belt in between, they are popular with Sunday afternoon excursions.

West of Stirling

The Ochils seen across the Forth Valley from the Fintry Hills.

The hills can be separated into three groups: The Campsies, The Ochils and The Pentlands. All are easy to get to by car/bus with the Pentlands and Campsies right up behind Edinburgh and Glasgow respectively. Of the three, the Campsies are probably the most dramtic with some escarpments on the north side but the Ochils is the highest group with Ben Cleuch rising to 721m.

The Ochils
The Ochils look most dramatic from the south - here they present a steep escarpment rising steeply straight out of the Forth Valley. The western extreme starts with the Wallace Monument and it stretches eastwards out in ever gentler undulations to merge in with the hills around Kinross.

Above the south facing Ochil Escarpment

On the Ochil Ridge

The Wallace Monument

A classic walk is the Round of the Nine that starts at the town of Dollar and ends in Menstrie. I haven't done this walk but have done Ben Cleuch on its own starting from the town of Alva. It's a popular walk that folows a track halfway up followed by a well worn path up to the plateau ridge. It's an ideal place to practice winter navigation - not many steep drops but featureless enough to make a challenge in a whiteout.

The Campsies
The Campsies lie directly north of Glasgow and west of Stirling. They can be split into various groups including the Fintry Hills and the hills south of Fintry. I've only cycled through here and so can't say much more about it.

The northern escaparpment of the Campsies

Meikle Bin

The Pentlands
Never been there, so no comment I'm afraid.