Knock of Braemoray

A short visit to the North-east, Day 1.

27 September 2011.

Participants - Neil and Ben
Where - Knock of Braemoray, 456m/1,495', Sub-2,000' Marilyn, Map 27, NJ 011418

At long last the forecast promised a few days good weather so it was an opportunity to go further afield. The best of the weather was supposed to be in the Moray Firth area so I booked a few nights in Elgin. It was overcast when I left home, chucking it down at Drumochter (where have I said that before!), dry again by Aviemore and the sun was out when I reached Grantown. The Knock of Braemoray looked as though it would provide a good, short walk so from Grantown I headed up the A940 to Forres. The hill came into view when I reached Dava.....

I carried on to the highest point of the road where I turned the car and parked in a layby on the east side, which proved to be almost directly below the summit....
.

 It was straight on to the hillside from the layby; the angle was easy and the heather mainly short so there was not much effort involved. The best of the view was behind me looking west to Lochindorb.....

So it wasn't long before I reached the top- here is Ben cooling off in a lochan with the trig behind and a rainbow providing a backdrop as the last of the rain disappeared into the east.....

According to the map, the highest point is a few yards south of the trig in a boggy area although it wasn't evident from looking around where exactly it was. So after a bit of wandering about and taking a final photograph looking towards Lochindorb it was back the same way to the car and on to Elgin.....

 The actual walk was less than 2 miles with about 160m of ascent and only took an hour. A good way to break up a long journey.