UKH

Any recommendations for nice hill walks < 2.5hrs from Edinburgh with my other half? I'm under strict instruction for it to be 'relaxing' without any more than a whiff of scrambling...

Ben A'an or Ben Venue look pretty - would appreciate any thoughts...also looking for possible less-likely-to-be-rammed options!

Before the masses suggest outings north of the Central Belt, I’ll nominate the round of Loch Skeen over White Coomb and Lochcraig Head starting from the Grey Mare’s Tail car park on the A708 in the Borders. Big car park.

Pentlands take some beating.

The round of Glen Corse has 12 tops and 5000feet of uphill to keep you busy.

The heather is amazing just now.

2 and a half minutes from Edinburgh. Roughly.

Depends on what you want I guess. East and West Lomond are a gentle pootle with decent views. Whereas 2 hours will get you to Glen Clova and all the hills with in reach from there. 

Take your pick in the Ochils. 

I ran a lovely route last week from Alva glen car park, up the track which passes round the bottom of the Nebit. Up Craighorn, over to Blairdenon, Bengengie and down the Torry to the golf course and the car park.

Or, park in Glen Sherrup and go over Ben Shee, Scad Law, Tarmangie, Whitewisp and Innerdownie.

Many other options, these are two that I enjoy.

Google says Edinburgh -> Altnafeadh is 2h24min. That’s the car park for the Buachaille Etive Mor. High start, short day, stunning viewpoint. Won’t be quiet though, get there early....

I'd agree with girlymonkey that any list of good routes in the Ochils should include Bengengie-Torry, although while there's no scrambling in the Ochils (unless you seek out a few small bits/bobs), the steepness of the southern approaches might put the OP's other half off. Having said that, it's hard to argue against Torry being the best summit in the range, and the whole section over Mid Cairn to Bengengie is lovely and also very quiet - it being below 2000ft helps in that regard. The section between Bengengie and Blairdenon is squelchy in a few places however, and there's a notorious boggy stretch between Blairdenon and Ben Buck / Craighorn. But if wanting a very good and varied (and quiet for the most part) longish Ochils day, then starting in Alva and going Torry-Mid Cairn-Bengengie-Blairdenon-Buck-Cleuch-Ever-Wood Hill would be pretty good. At a steady pace, and including lunch somewhere along the way, that's probably around a five-hour job.

The Innerdownie to Ben Shee circuit (I'd do it that way round, as the gentle Scad Hill section can feel quite long in ascent) is also good - and shorter/easier than the Alva circuit - but has become quite popular in the past couple of years, presumably because it's appeared on a website or in a guidebook somewhere.

Scrub out Ben A'an then. While popular it does have a hint of scrambling about it.

It depends on how long a walk are you looking for ? 

Ben Ledi, just north of Callander, is a fine viewpoint. A lot of people will just go up and come back down the "standard way", but you can make it into a nice circuit if you carry on northwards and back down Stank Glen ( which is a lot lovelier than it sounds like it it would be with a name like that !! )

If that looks a bit short for you, you can extend it NW from top of Stank Glen out and back to Benvane to bag your 2nd Corbett of the day

Pleasant, relaxing, quiet and no scrambling can be found in lots of Border hills. Nothing too high or hard, but lovely countryside and always were very quiet in the past. Been getting more and more popular over the years.

Only 30 mins from Edinburgh to Peebles as one of many towns or villages is a good starting point esp if food/drink stops are required. 

White Coomb area been mentioned though Peebles as a starting point provides a fantastic base for a large number of easy walks in the lower hills of the Borders with rolling countryside views. Generally west and south if starting at Peebles are the ones I’ve done.

With other transport, car/bus/bikes I’ve done ones starting further out and doing a one way back to car left in Peebles. Can be as long or short as you want.

Thanks a lot for all the recommendations! Definitely got a lot of good ones to get at. 

Ended up taking @Jack Frost's recommendation for a fantastic (and mildly boggy) round of Grey Mare's Tail -> Loch Craig -> White Coomb this morning, looking forward to getting out to the rest.

https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/perthshire/ben-vrackie.shtml

Pleasant stroll on a good path with a fine view from a proper summit. Only 1.5 hrs away and a bit of uplift to the the car park to boot. Finish off with tea and cake in charming Pitlochry.

Did this last year after driving past dozens of times. Good views all round. The chippy in Pitlochry was my post-Vrackie call in. Nice. The little walk up to Edradour distillery by the Black Spout fall is good too.

don’t know how far away from edinburgh it is but pinacle ridge on st sunday crag is a nice hill with a good little scramble assuming u are fine with exposure it’s grades a grade 3 but i done it as my first grade 3 and found it easy it’s more of a grade 2

If you want easy stuff right next to Edinburgh the Pentlands are your place.

Are they still busy. They are my local hills too but I tend to stick to the evenings.

What about the Cheviots? Lovely rolling hills with huge views. Think they fit the scramble free bill

I think Pinnacle Ridge counts as a 'whiff' of scrambling though it being the perhaps te most celebrated scramble in the Lakes! 

Watch out for coos!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-53984845

Don't know I'm afraid, been a few years since I visited.

The Cheviot from Alnwick is great, fantastic views and about 90 minutes from Edinburgh.

the pentlands are only really busy in a couple of honeypot areas, primarily anywhere near the front ridge facing edinburgh, and glencorse resevoir / turnhouse hill area.

There's a nice walk I've done in the Lammermuir hills that is pretty quiet, park in East Hopes, go across sting bank from west hopes on farm tracks to Lammer law. then back around via hopes reservoir. Some of the open source maps on your phone have all the farm tracks on (MapOut is good on IOS)

This is actually for real! I think one of the cows is overly protective.

We were were running around the hills (as per recommendations, really nice terrain) and as I crossed the very same bridge pictured in the BBC article, I was charged by a cow. Luckily I had some pace going, and waltzed over a nearby gate. I warned some walkers who were about to pass about the aggressive behaviour and they passed without issue.

However, a few minutes later (I had gone back over the bridge to collect my partner who doesn't love docile cows, let alone a cow chasing me), the blooming thing ran at an older walker, who was either pushed or fell into the ground.

In hindsight, had I noticed the calves, I would have walked by on the first instance, as the cows were grazing between two bushy areas and the bridge, with no easy route to meander off. Note that I was not between the cow and calf, and at least a couple meters away from either.

I shot an email to the Pentland Hills convener mentioned in the article. Hopefully they can graze the cows in a less well trodden/hemmed in area. 

Loads of good local-ish suggestions already, without having to venture too far into the Highlands (2.5 hrs gets you to Glen Coe or the Cairngorms after all, which opens up worlds of choice).

Here are a few Route Cards that may be suitable:

Lammermuirs:

Lammer Law https://www.ukhillwalking.com/logbook/r/?i=711

Pentlands:

Central Pentlands (you can easily make it shorter than this if necessary) https://www.ukhillwalking.com/logbook/r/?i=306

Mount Maw and East Cairn Hill - a quieter bit of the Pentlands https://www.ukhillwalking.com/logbook/r/?i=1264

Ochils:

Ben Cleuch from Dollar Glen (you don't have to do the full circuit described here) https://www.ukhillwalking.com/logbook/r/?i=505 

Fife:

Benarty https://www.ukhillwalking.com/logbook/r/?i=451

West Lomond and Glen Vale https://www.ukhillwalking.com/logbook/r/?i=140

A bit further afield you've got loads more to go at of course, like these obvious Trossachs walks...

Ben Ledi https://www.ukhillwalking.com/logbook/r/?i=91

Ben A'an https://www.ukhillwalking.com/logbook/r/?i=1256

Ben Venue https://www.ukhillwalking.com/logbook/r/?i=436

Less likely to be busy in that general area are things like...

Beinn Each https://www.ukhillwalking.com/logbook/r/?i=1238

And north/east a bit... 

Beinn na Gainimh https://www.ukhillwalking.com/logbook/r/?i=1297

Deuchary Hill https://www.ukhillwalking.com/logbook/r/?i=1225