Black Dod

Rising to 548 metres in the Culter Hills south of Edinburgh, this grassy summit forms part of a modest but satisfying ridge walk above the upper Clyde valley. The approach typically crosses open moorland, with the hill often climbed alongside nearby Culter Fell. A quiet corner of the Southern Uplands with good views across the surrounding sheep country.

• •The name 'Black Dod' combines a colour descriptor with the old Scots word 'dod', meaning a rounded hill or knoll, suggesting a summit that appeared dark either from vegetation, peat, or shadow when viewed from the valleys below.
• •Black Dod is usually ascended as part of a circuit with Culter Fell (748m), the highest point in the Culter Hills, making for a longer day that takes in the best of this quiet range.
• •The hill qualifies as a Donald Dewey, a classification for Scottish hills between 500 and 609 metres with a drop of at least 30 metres, placing it in that modest bracket of summits that reward effort without requiring a full day's expedition.