Some Tumps near Gartly

[Gordon Ballantyne]

Ma buddy GordonC had an appointment wi Dr Death at the dentist on the best forecast weather day this week, so Friday looked next best bet.
Rose to a pink dawn......enhanced by Maria's fine display of begonias in our back garden

Brief pink dawn at Westhill

It's possible to do this from the main A96 road, but being a lazy git, we drove round the back and hippocrtically drove up the Fannery road to Turbine No2 and a spacious park up.

Ordiesnaught

our_route.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

Parkup at T2 for Ordiesnaught

A wee walk up the grassy hill through a double gate. Fortunately for us, the sheep were grazing on the other side of the hill so they didn't see us - or Harvey.

Grassy top of Ordiesnaught with a fan background

Hill of Broback

our_route.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

Parked up at the end of the road up to Birkenhill beside some smelly dustbins.

Parkup for The Broback

There was no gate into a cereal field that had been hairst'd, so we just walked up the stubble to the top - nae bother.

The stubbly top of Broback

One the way back, we passed a trailer parked at the entrance to the field, and when I keeked over the side, discovered the source of the smell - some dead pigs waiting to be picked up by the knacker - presumably.
We quickly mounted up and escaped to Risque.



Tor Hill
There is an alternative parkup opposite the entrance to Risque House. The fields around the house had horses grazing and E-fences, so we moved further along the road a wee bit.

our_route.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

Tried to find the path through the wood that leads to the track up this hill. - without success.
Parked in a layby beside a section of wooden fence, which we hopped over. Threaded our way through some broadleaf trees to the fence behind Risque house and found the grassy track leading up Tor hill. The track was overhung by trees initially, which we didn't object to, as it had begun to rain.
Followed the track to where it changed direction, which necessitated a juke through some pines to pick up the fresh track.

The bend in the track up Tor

The track opened out a bit at the top where some broadleaf trees had been planted. Wandered around to find a high point in the wet grass,thistles and nettles, then scurried back to the shelter of the pines and thence to the car.

Top of Tor Hill at the end of the firebreak

Wishach and Corskie
We'd been here before on a previous Hump foray, so parked up in the rain.
Delayed our start for a bit by having early lunch to allow the rain to mitigate somewhat.

Parkup at the forestry car park for Wishach and Corskie

our_route.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

In the end we got bored and tooled up.
Just by the gate across the track to the NE,we spotted a path disappearing into the forest - uphill. After a few paces into the trees, we found ourselves on a dogwalkers path going straight up Wishach - bonus. Just before it reached to top of the forest, it turned around and headed back downhill - obviously to avoid windfall ahead. We plugged on up a faint mossy animal track to emerge beside some of the rock outcrops.

The faint animal track up Wishach from the dogwalkers track

A bit of moose-stepping through the heather saw us on the summit area - in the clag. We wandered around testing a few prominences until we were satisfied we were at the top, but didn't tarry.

Claggy top of Wishach

We ploughed on along the ridge until we reached the clearfell to the south, then followed an old planting track where the young trees abutted the heather, until we stopped to review our position.

Negotiating the wee pines at SW end of Wishart

Dropping off Wishach to the main track via the forwarder track

I mentioned that I'd seen a forwarder track descending somewhere ahead. Five paces on - hey presto - a forwarder track leading us down to the main track along the S side of the hill. What epic ( lucky) naving ! Down on to the track along to a "concordia" junction then on to Corskie.

Along the track on the S side of Wishach to Corskie

Wandered around the Comms site to "walk the spot" then settled down on the terminal building steps under an abandoned swallows nest - stuck to the wall with a lot of swallow spit !

Top of Corskie near the pole transformer power supply

The paltry wee mast of Corskie

GordonC sizes up Corskies big mast

The abandoned swallows nest on Corskie

A quick snack, then back along the track past a heap of horse manure annointed by a supporting dog - nature's ways, eh !

Natural art !

The clag began to clear when we arrived at Corskie and the sun broke through on the way back to the car, which raised our spirits markedly. A great end to the day !
We contrived to return via Alford for our - now traditional - coffee stop on the way home.

Coffee at the Alford Bistro.....

Another grand day.......