Menstrie Hookups: Menstrie Women Want to Meet

Menstrie hookups in the shadow of Dumyat

Dumyat and Myreton Hill climb steeply behind Menstrie to around 400 metres, split by Menstrie Glen, and the burn that runs out of the glen goes straight through the village on its way to the River Devon. Usually it's a quiet little stream. Every so often it floods.

Menstrie is one of the Hillfoots villages, the string of settlements along the foot of the Ochils in Clackmannanshire, and it has somewhere near 2,900 residents. The old village grew up either side of the burn, which is still crossed by the Auld Brig from the 1650s or 1660s, and Menstrie Castle turns out to be a three-storey castellated house rather than a fortress; it's homes now, plus a small exhibition on the village's link with Nova Scotia that opens two days a week.

In a village this size, a hookup on your own street is a risky business, because everybody's cousin is somebody's neighbour. The answer is Stirling, a few miles along the A91, and the much bigger circle of members beyond it.

Easy ways in and out of Menstrie

By bus

Services run to Stirling by way of Stirling University, to Alloa through Alva and Tillicoultry or through Tullibody, and less often to St Andrews. Since late 2010 buses have also gone to Clackmannan and to Forth Valley Royal Hospital.

By road

The A91 from Stirling to St Andrews runs through the village. The old station on the Alva Line has closed, so it's the road or the bus.

On foot

The Hillfoots Way follows much of the old King's Highway along the base of the Ochils, from Logie Old Kirk to Muckhart; charters from the 1300s mention that road, and royal parties may have used it between Stirling Castle and Falkland Palace in the 1500s. A path through the Menstrie Community woodland runs to Blairlogie House.

So a first meeting is simple to arrange without anyone driving. Somewhere public in Stirling or Alloa will do, a friend should know the plan, and our hookup safety tips are worth a read before you set off.