No Mercy on Hill of Persie

[Johnny Corbett]

Right from the start this was a tough wee wee walk. I parked next to the old Inn on the A93 and took the track next to the Cottage, this track being ankle deep in snow making progress slow and tiring. As i continued i looked for a break in the Forest to get off the track so see if it would be easier going. I left the track not long after it bends round to the right, making my way through the forest until i reached a large cairn. From the cairn i changed directions and headed over to the left which was roughly south to get out the Forest and follow the tree line to the summit. Getting out of the Forest was a bit of a chore, firstly the Forest then a wee burn and drystone dyke wall to get over. At one point i thought i'd have to have a lie down like Mountain Thyme but i'm way tougher than her. Once over the wall would lead to the summit but it was an undulating route so i firstly headed over a bit to avoid all the steep ups and downs before returning to follow the wall. I then came to a sheer drop, which if i'd climbed the fence i could have made my way down steeply by the edge of the trees but i opted for a safer route. It was here i saw a walker behind me, which i was later to find out was Walkhighlander,The Rodmeister. He caught me up at the bottom of the steep rocky section just before the summit and after the introductions we continued to the summit. We returned to the start via the Forest and reached the large cairn, albeit from another direction then made our way down to the track back to the finish. The weather was quite calm and not the winds that had been forecast. We had lunch then drove round to walk Mile Hill from Balintore. We followed the track to Gairlaw with this walk being slightly easier the Persie, althoughmost of the track was still snow covered and the steep climb to the summit in the wind now as forecast was tough going. We returned by the same route.

Start of the track

The snowy track

I left the track here

The large cairn

Blue sky Mountain Thyme

Mount Blair

Undulating to the summit

Rocky section

Knock of Balmyle

The Rodmeister at the summit

Summit view

Summit view

Back at A93

The start for Mile Hill

Track a bit easier

Mile Hill

Rod leads the way

Gairlaw

Creigh Hill

View east

South

North

[ChrisW]

Some lovely photos there JC, I feel your effort for this one, its bloody hard work walking in the snow when it's not frozen. Ours never freezes and it gets to be a pain in the ass after a while

[The Rodmiester]

Hi there JC, some cracking photographs there, and thank's again for your company, hope to meet again soon. I think Mountain Thyme will be a gunning for you I don't know about you but my boots are still soaking! Good effort though!

[Graeme D]

Looks like I got it easy staying at home and trying to sort out the plumbing problems!

[Bod]

Inspiring stuff Johnny and cool to bump into the Rodmiester. I had that pleasure last summer up in Glen Shiel

[Stuart Angus]

More sun.........son!

[Johnny Corbett]

Cheers. Rod, boots dried out after one night which was suprising as my socks were quite wet when i took them off but boots were not too bad. Cheers again for the company

[mountain thyme]

Your hill fitter and didnt need to lie down....because you do a lot of lying doon at work

[mgmt!]

Well done johnny, good to see you are still getting out and about, Just a tad worried about you wanting a snooze ! Think somebody's bad habits rubbing off on you !

[mgmt!]

Well done johnny, good to see you are still getting out and about, Just a tad worried about you wanting a snooze ! Think somebody's bad habits rubbing off on you !

[hills]

Thats amazing, fancy meeting Rm on this hill, on a wednesday, eee its a small worls indeed. Both looked great with a layer of snow, but cant have been easy.... I mind the House of Persie being quite a stunner, bit of money here like... Good stuff.

[rockhopper]

Lovely day for it Johnny - even if it was tough, looked a good day out. Seems odd but "non munros" can often seem to be more challenging, harder going, steeper etc than munros - cheers