Tumps near the Moray coast

[Gordon Ballantyne]

Spitting with rain as we set off, but it never got worse than that....

Old Fir Hill

Parked up at the forestry gate near Rosebank.

Parkup at the forestry gate for Old Fir Hill

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Just past the gate at the side of the track we saw a lone wellie perched on a tree stump, like a sentinel guarding the track. Never saw anyone hopping around with only one wellie though........

The "sentinel" wellie by the track to Old Fir

Wandered up the track, chatting away until this multi-coloured lady jogger shot past us with a cheery "hello", giving us a wee fleg. The tracks had been cleared of all the windfall, so no problem there.
Found the firebreak leading to the top area, which was not too distinct at first. Animal tracks meandered up to the highest point avoiding the worst of the heather.

The start of the firebreak leading to the top of Old Fir

Cut off into the young trees and found the clear area at the top fairly easily.

The top of Old Fir Hill

Returned the same way. As we got near the car, we spotted some dog walkers approaching. One lady was in an electric invalid buggy with her two lakeland terriers jogging along merrily in front. Behind her was a guy trying to control a mighty Rotweiler with its birse up, who seemed to want to take a few lumps out of any or all of us.. We made it back to the car witth all our body parts intact as the dogwalkers disappeared over the horizon, much to our relief.




Hill of Maud

Parked up at the end of the track and headed up the hill.

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Walked round to the N side to avoid any fences, but the area had been clearfelled - including any fences. Wandered up throught the brash trying to follow fowarder tracks until we came to stacks of recently felled trees plled up around the summit area.

Ascending the brash on the way up Maud

Found the summit marked by a ring of stones with a big pebble in the middle, with a saltire painted on it. A few low denomination coins had been placed alongside. We half expected someone with a blue face to rush at us from behind one of the wood piles shouting "freedom" !

The "freedom" top of Hill of Maud

A great view over the Moray Firth from here, so we stopped for a wee while to admire it.
Thought we'd go straight back down to the track, but this turned out to be not a very good idea. The tree harvester had been working around the hill horizontally, so we were descending across the grain of the workings - making it harder going than it should've been . Eventually made the main track to meet a couple of dog walkers, exercising their charges. A few more vehicles at the end of the track when we got back to the car.





Little Bin

Parked up at the end of the track for The Bin - which was popular today .

A busy car parkup for Little Bin

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Wandered up the track but couldn't find the track that should've got us to near the top, so we continued to the bealach between The Bin and Little Bin. ( we'd done The Bin on a previous Marilyn campaign )

Plunged off the track through the trees onto a clearish area before re-entering more trees to avoid the deep heather and a lot of moose-stepping.
Eventually bumped into the summit cairn of a heap of quartzite. Another nice view to the Firth.

The white quartzite cairn of Little Bin

Returned the same way






Cotton Hill

Drove up the track a wee bit, as there was a notice at the entrance of the track asking folks not to park there. The farmer was ploughing an adjacent field and had to maneouver his implements in this area. Managed to tuck in at the side of the track about 100m further on.

Parkup for Cotton Hill

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Found a gap in the gorse bordering the track and wandered up through the forest. The top area had quite a lot of wind-fall , so we circled around it , declared a stump the top and made it back to the track a wee bit to the N which was easier ground.

Top of Cotton Hill

Gallows Hill

A wee tiddler at the back of the quarry.
Parked at the track at the S side of the quarry and walked up round the back through a gate.

Parkup for Gallows Hill

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Watch out for the steep drop on the other side of an earth bund on the RHS.
Ascended an earth ramp at the end of the track to a new BWF. Louped over at the corner strainer and dawdled up to the top area in the trees,

Top of Gallows Hill

Returned to the car as the sun set over the ruined lodge.. My - it sets quick at this time of year !

Sunset over the ruined Rhu Lodge beside Gallows Hill

Scuttled home down the main drag as the workie hordes streamed in the opposite direction.
Another great day with fine vistas across the Moray Firth - just like old times when we stayed in Findhorn !