Mount Battock is the most easterly of the Corbetts and the highest point of a wide area of rolling moors. It provides a straightforward ascent from Glen Esk.
Summary
Excellent track for most of the ascent, rougher track for the final section.
Terrain
NO540789
Grid ref
15km/9.25 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. Just past the bridge at Millden in Glen Esk turn right onto a minor road; there is parking immediately on the right near the phone box. The walk begins by continuing up this side lane, climbing slightly to pass a derelict stone watermill. Pass the house at the Mill of Auchlean and then fork right onto a track which bends right to pass in front of Muir Cottage. Stay on this track towards the woods ahead; it bends left to continue above the tree-clad burn. The track soon fords a feeder stream but there is also a footbridge; beyond the track continues beside the Burn of Turret through more open ground.
2. Fork right through a gate, and then further on keep left at another junction; the right hand branch crosses the Turret and provides an alternative route of return - check the level of the burn if planning on taking this route back as the footbridge had been washed away at the time of our visit. Continuing on the left hand route, the track now veers left across the moor and reaches a junction by a sheepfold; turn right here and follow the main track as it climbs around the flanks of Allrey, giving grand views back over Glen Esk.
3. The track eventually comes close to the burn once more; keep straight on at a junction, ignoring the new track which branches right across the burn (this isn't marked on OS maps). Continue past a wooden shed and climb up onto the ridge of Black Craig, following a line of neatly built circular stone grouse butts. The track then swings left through a gate in the fence. Follow it gently up and across the hillside, but before it starts to descend look out for a much rougher track which turns off very sharply to the right. Turn up this which leads over the top of Wester Cairn. The views have by now become very extensive, with Mount Keen a whale-back ridge from this direction, and the corries of the more mountainous Driesh beyond to the left.
4. There is a slight dip before the track begins the final climb up to Mount Battock, soon reaching a junction of electric fences. It is necessary to open the fence across the route carefully using the plastic handles before continuing up to the summit cairn and trig point. The views now open up over Aberdeenshire, with Mither Tap on Bennachie prominent and the huge summit tor of Clachnaben visible to the east.
5. The easiest way back is to retrace your steps. If the Turret Burn looked crossable it is possible to vary the descent - assuming you can negotiate the electric fence - by descending over a brief section of peat bog on the Hill of Saughs; here good tracks can be picked up and followed, eventually rejoining the outward route at the junction near the burn mentioned earlier.
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