Ben Tirran has a flat and rather featureless summit but is redeemed by its fine corries above Glen Clova. This walk visits both to make a circular route up Clova's only Corbett summit.
Summary
Superb path up to Loch Brandy but pathless and very boggy going across the featureless plateau. Improving path on descent.
Terrain
NO326730
Grid ref
14.5km/9 miles
Distance
Grade
Safety warning: Hillwalking when there is snow or ice lying requires ice-axe, crampons and the ability to use them. Some featured routes can become technical ice climbs. Check out our Winter Skills information provided by the Mountaineering Council of Scotland.
Users'
rating
Public transport
1. The walk begins beside the Glen Clova Hotel but the car park is for patrons only; there is a public car park just over the bridge in the direction of Glen Doll. Start by heading up through the hotel car park and past the bunkhouse; following the footpath sign for Glen Esk. The path climbs past some new log cabins and then crosses a footbridge before leaving the woodland at a gate to reach the open hillside. The route has been superbly constructed in recent years and enables height to be gained quickly, soon giving good views back down to the hotel and Glen Clova. Seen from here the glen is split into two contrasting halves, with woodland and a softer landscape down the glen and barer, rockier slopes above its upper end. The steep prow over to the left from the path is known as the Laird's Chamber.
2. The path continues to climb with the Snub now promiment ahead. At the foot of the snub is a cross-roads of paths and Loch Brandy is revealed ahead. A popular objective in its own right, Loch Brandy is a suprisingly spacious hill-loch cradled in a steep-sided mountain corrie. Turn right and follow the path, still well constructed; it descends a little to cross the outflow of Loch Brandy.
3. The improved path ends but the route up the Broom Shank gives a fairly gentle ascent compared to the alternative of climbing the Snub. Another reason for going this way is the views across Loch Brandy, rendered all the more dramatic by having the broken cliffs of the Craigs of Loch Brandy as its backdrop. Whilst a faint path curves left to make a circuit around the rim, head for the two cairns on the plateau of Green Hill. There are good views looking back towards Driesh and Mayar.
4. From here to Ben Tirran the route crosses a fairly featureless plateau - tricky for navigation in poor visibility - and crosses several areas of peat bog. Head east southeast towards point 857 metres. Although the plateau is wide the distant views are quite extensive, with Mount Keen prominent and the erosion scar of its path obvious. Avoid the worst sections of peat bog on the left and eventually aim just right of Stony Loch. Beyond here is a new electrified fence; luckily there is no need to cross it; instead climb southeast, parallel to the fence, to reach the broken stone-windshelter and trig point on the Goet - the Corbett summit of Ben Tirran.
5. The start of the descent is equally pathless; aim southwest at first, crossing a very slight bealach and reaching a cairn before heading west southwest. There is a path once the descent begins in earnest if you are lucky enough to find it. Soon there are excellent views of Loch Wharral - an only slightly inferior twin to Loch Brandy. The path soon joins another older route at a fork; continue the descent ahead, enjoying the prospect down Glen Clova to Strathmore. Well below the level of the loch, continue ahead where another path joins from the right by a prominent stone cairn.
6. The path reaches a t-junction with an initially faint and wet grassy track by a wooden fencepost; turn left here. Follow the track downhill until a path leaves it on the right. Take this, crossing the Burn of Loch Wharral and then stepping over a low fence near a television aerial. The path then descends, keeping a hundred metres or so west of the Adielinn Plantation, to reach the road at a gate. Turn right here and follow the minor road back up Glen Clova to the hotel and the start of the walk.
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