On the bench you will see carvings of green woodpecker tracks. Their distinctive laughing call can often be heard from here. Despite their name, they are mainly ground-feeding birds and they search the short acid grassland under the Craigs for their favourite food – ants!
From the bench you’ll get fantastic views the Craigs themselves, formed by lava from volcanoes like the one whose plug is now Dumbarton Rock. During the Ice Age, a glacial wore away the rock – then when it melted the rock collapsed, leaving the impressive Craigs that you now see. Beyond Dumbarton Castle is the Clyde, and to the north the hills around Loch Lomond.
If you look carefully along the base of the Craigs you can see an old pathway built into the hillside – this is Lady Overtouns Walk – Lady Overtoun occupied the house until 1931. Legend has it she was drawn along here in a dog cart to take the air and the Woodland Trust hopes to clear and restore this route one day.
Please note - although you are quite close to the GCPEJ2 “Long Crags” cache, it is not recommended to access the cache directly from this point - as you will see the hills are quite steep.