Beinn Dearg (Glen Artney)

27 March 2012

Participants - A solo expedition
Where - Beinn Dearg (Glen Artney), 706m/2,316', Graham, Map 57, NN 697197

A March heatwave! The temperature hit a new record for the month on 3 successive days at Aboyne and temperatures in the area round the central belt got over 20C. Unusually for these temperatures in a prolonged good spell, it wasn't particularly hazy so I decided to take the opportunity of tackling Beinn Dearg in Glen Artney which would be a new Graham/Marilyn for me. It didn't look too long a day looking at the map but it turned out to be a different story on the ground! Certainly, it looked a fair way from the road to the summit.....

I parked in the big car park opposite Glen Artney church and walked back along the road to the house at Dalchuirn, A track skirted the farm buildings, crossed a bridge over the Water of Ruchill and continued to another bridge over a tributary that wasn't named on my map. I took the left hand branch of the track just over this second bridge and followed a rough path/sheep track alongside the burn and a deer fence for about half a mile past a small gorge. This is looking to Beinn Dearg over the gorge.....

Shortly after passing the gorge I came across a gate in the deer fence; although it was heavily wired in I was able to get over it easily. I immediately crossed the burn, no problems today, there was hardly any water in it. The ground between the burn and the start of the climb up the south-east slopes of the hill was the worst of the day- tufty grass which is always difficult to walk across. I headed in the general direction of an old quarry with my objective now straight ahead.....

I was now on grassy slopes and the views were opening up as I gained height. Mor Bheinn and Ben Halton were in view on the other side of the valley, they seem an entirely different proposition being covered in heather......

Another two walkers had set off just behind me and they looked as though they were heading for Mor Bheinn. Then they suddenly changed direction and headed for Beinn Dearg as well. I met one of them at the summit and he confirmed that they had intended to do Mor Bheinn but that they had been stopped by a new deer fence which apparently surrounded the hill.

Beinn Dearg turned out to be one of these hills where you think that you are just about to see the top when another bit comes into view. It was a bit of a struggle in the heat and I was having lots of pauses as I trudged up the grass slopes.....

My Landranger map wasn't particularly helpful when it came to looking for the highest point and I had of course forgotten to check where exactly it was before leaving the house. A 705 top about a mile further on is marked on the map and looked higher than where I was but I was pretty sure that that wasn't it. In fact the top I was on was a metre higher and I knew that the highest point was on the eastern side of the hill. The best of the view was to Stuc a'Chroin and Ben Vorlich......

and this is a slightly zoomed shot of Stobinian and Ben More.....

I made much better progress on the way back but it was certainly a tougher hill than I had anticipated. But its nice country and it was only a short drive from home.

Meall Tairneachan

22 March 2012

Participants - Neil and Ben
Where - Meall Tairneachan, 787m/2582', Corbett, Map 52, NN 807544

I'm not sure why but I really, really struggled on this one today. The ground wasn't particularly rough, it wasn't overly steep and it was a relatively short distance. Its definitely getting harder to crank my body into action at the start of a years hillwalking!

The only time I did this hill before- with Farragon Hill- I walked up the road to the baryte mine that sits between the two Corbetts. A poor route and I had been meaning to do this hill again for ages via something a lot better. There was some activity going on near the start of the walk in connection with the building of the Beauly to Denny power line but it did not affect access to the hill. Anyway, I parked at the old Tomphubil Lime Kiln at the highest point of the B846 Aberfeldy to Tummel Bridge road. There was an information board that told me that the Kiln was built around 1865 to meet a growing demand for lime to improve land for pasture and crops. The Kiln went out of use in the early 1900's.....

After a look at the Kiln, I got my boots on and set off up the hill. The views around here are dominated by Schiehallion.....

An old wall and a new deer fence went up the hill from the car park and the best going was between the two; a path of sorts has started to develop.  This is looking up to the first top of Meall Odhar Mor.....

and looking back down to the road with Schiehallion in the background. I could make out both the new path and the remains of the one it replaced up this popular Munro.....

After Meall Odhar Mor the ridge got a bit knobbly with a few downhill sections but at least the westerly tops of the Corbett were now in view.....

I ground my way on still following the old wall to the steepest section of the day, the climb to the 780m top. Up that and the main top was in sight. Thank goodness!

It was only a further 10 minutes to the trig, following the high ground as much as possible. This is the approach to it with Farragon Hill in the background.....

and this is the view back the way I had come with Schiehallion dominating the view as usual.....

There was no question of carrying on to Farragon Hill today; anyway, I fancy trying a southerly approach to it if I ever do it again. So it was back the way I had come. On the way back I spotted a truck on the road from the mine so it must still be operational. It had been a fine day- the first really warm day of the year- but I was nevertheless glad to see the car!

Millstone Hill

14 March 2012

Participants - Neil and Ben
Where - Millstone Hill, 409m/ 1,342', Sub-2,000' Marilyn, Map 38, NJ 676202

It looked as though the weather was going to do a repeat performance of the day before- cloudy early with sunshine breaking through in the afternoon. So I took my time getting started. I had climbed Bennachie a few years previously but it has a southern outlier, Millstone Hill, which is a sub-2,000' Marilyn in its own right. Just right for a short day before doing the drive home. I took this picture of it- with the river Don in the foreground and the Mither Tap to its right- later in the day.....

The start point was the Forestry Commission's  Donview  car park. No problems route finding today, there was a signposted trail all the way to the top.....

The trail headed steeply up through a dark bit of forest with wooden steps to aid progress; higher up it became a stone staircase.....

The trees gradually thinned, it became less steep and we were soon approaching the top.....

The main reason for climbing this hill, apart from getting the Marilyn "tick" of course, was for the fine view of the Mither Tap of Bennachie that you get from the cairn.....

Bennachie is another one that I will have to go back to on a future visit. But that was it for this wee trip; a few days sunshine and some more interesting small hills visited in what I think is very pleasant countryside.

Lord Arthur's Hill

13 March 2012

Participants - Neil and Ben
Where - Lord Arthur's Hill, 518m/ 1,699', Sub-2,000' Marilyn, Map 37, NJ 513 198

The clouds were breaking up and the sun was starting to appear when I got back down Benaquhallie. It was only a short drive to the next sub-2,000', Lord Arthur's Hill just west of Alford. A search of the internet suggests that the hill might be named after Lord Arthur Forbes, a local landowner in times past. This is a view towards the hill taken later in the day.....

According to the map there are lots of tracks on the hill but I decided to approach it from the A944, from the houses at Littlewood Park. There wasn't really any space to park the car at the entrance to the driveway to the house but there was a handy quarry area about 300m back along the road so I parked there. The only problem was having to walk with the dog along a main road but fortunately the traffic was very light.

After passing the big house, I came to some more buildings. A track, not marked on my map, headed left from here and seemed to head directly up the south ridge passing to the left of a wooded area so I took that. In fact, it met one of the tracks marked on the map not that far from the top.....

This was another hill with a big cairn, again in a strategic position overlooking the surrounding countryside. Maybe Lord Arthur surveyed his lands from here, although the cairn looks as though it might be quite modern.....

A few yards further on the highest point was marked by a trig. This is looking west towards The Buck (there was a lot of heather burning going on).....

Morven dominated the view to the south-west with Lochnagar beyond, this pic is zoomed.....

The estate seemed to be burning heather on the east side of the hill quite close to the summit so rather than go back by a different route on that side of the hill I just returned the same way. From the way down, there was a good view across the Howe of Alford with this morning's hill, Benaquhallie, in the distance.....

Benaquhallie

13 March 2012.

Participants - Neil and Ben
Where - Benaquhallie, 494m/ 1,621', Sub-2,000' Marilyn, OS 37, NJ 606087

It had clouded over during the night and looked as though it might take a few hours to shift. I had spent the night in Ballater and was now heading for Alford and this Marilyn was only a few miles off route. By lunch time, the cloud had shifted and it was back to sunshine but by that time I had climbed the hill; however here is a view of it from the south under the better weather conditions.....

I found space to park the car at the end of a minor road before the houses at Upper Dargie. It was a straightforward case of climbing the south slopes, firstly through a field and then through some thick heather. There was no path. I could see from a distance away as I approached the hill that it sported a huge cairn....
.

It wasn't at the highest point but the trig was only yards further on. This is the view east to Bennachie.....

and west to Morven.....

Although it had been a bit of a plod through the heather this one only took 40 minutes to get up. I spoke to the landowner when I got back to the car; he thought that the cairn had been built as some sort of watch tower but he didn't know who had built it or when. It certainly commands wide views of the surrounding countryside.

Meall Alvie

12 March 2012

Participants - Neil and Ben
Where - Meall Alvie, 560m/ 1,837', Sub-2,000' Marilyn, OS 44, NO 203919

Sunshine has been in short supply in the west of Scotland this year and I was starting to feel deprived. The forecast for the North-east was much better so I decided to spend a couple of days in that area on a Marilyn bagging expedition. Meall Alvie is a tree covered hill just east of Braemar, it is not a big enough hill that you would travel to do it specially but it is one of these that is a handy stopping off point for a couple of hours on the way to or from somewhere else. Fortunately, the trees were mainly Scots Pine rather than Sitka Spruce so the going was not too bad, although the heather was a bit tangly underfoot in places. As promised, the weather was much better in this neck of the woods, blue sky and warm sunshine and it was extremely pleasant walking along the track from the car park at Keiloch. This is the view of the hill from there.....

It was only about 0.5 mile to the restored cottage at Felagie which was where I took to the hill. An old wall headed up hill and I followed that; there was no path but there were grassy gaps in the heather so it turned out to be not too bad an ascent.....

The trees thinned out a bit higher up although it was not obvious where exactly the highest point was.....

I didn't know if there was a cairn but after a bit of searching I found one, actually quite close to the wall.....

With all of the trees there wasn't much of a view. The best of it was towards the snow covered corries on the east side of Beinn a'Bhuridh.....

It was back the same way. Going down, a herd of about 10 deer crossed the hill below us, I think that Ben either saw or smelt them but after a short chase he returned to praise for responding to my call. Back on the track, there was a good view towards Lochnagar, a hill that is on the list for doing again some day.....

Blath Bhalg

5 March 2012.

Participants - Neil and Ben
Where - Blath Bhalg, 641m/ 2102', Graham, OS 43, NO 019611

Blath Bhalg is the high point of the moorland east of Pitlochry and south of the A924. It's not the most exciting of hills but as I had done virtually nothing since about last November it was enough for me today. Hopefully the weather will now start to improve and I will get out every week but the forecast for the rest of this week is back to being grim. Oh well, at least I saw real hills again today! There was a dusting of new snow on the higher summits but I guess that that's it for this winter now.

I started from the radio mast just past the highest point on the road where there is lots of parking. A track crosses the moor from here and goes almost to the top of Dalnacam Craig. The views opened out from here, this is to Ben Vrackie (the left hand point)....

and there is a fine view of Ben a'Ghlo. I remember it as being every bit as long as it looks.....

The estate has very helpfully cut a strip in the heather from here to the foot of the west ridge of Blath Bhalg- for grouse shooters rather than hill walkers I suppose but welcome nonetheless. At the end of this stretch we picked up a fence and followed it all the way to the summit. This is a multi topped hill and the highest point sits out on a ridge to the south. It was marked by a small cairn.....

I managed to snatch a quick cup of chocolate at the cairn; Ben never stops being active and pesters me whenever I stop and sit down. So it was only a short stop before setting off back the same way. There was just time to take another pic of Ben Vrackie before leaving the summit area.....