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We drove past Burgie Hill many times, never giving it a second though. We knew it was a Sub'2 Marylin and we always wondered, could it be the one with the least of ascent from the nearest tarmac road? Officially it's just 45m up and 2km of walking distance. The top has two communication masts (complete with accompanying buildings) and is covered with mature forest. Hardly any views and very little effort - no wonder we never bothered
In the first days of January, we both came down with a mild cold. Mostly sneezing, a bit of sore throat, nothing we couldn't handle. COVID tests came back negative so we decided, it would be appropriate to start the new year with a hill. Even if it was going to be the easiest Sub in Scotland.
We actually felt all right after visiting the summit and prolonged the walk, adding a few km of forest wandering.
Believe me or not, but Burgie Hill has its own plane crash site! Sadly, I couldn't find the exact location anywhere, all I know is that it is somewhere in the woodland on Heldon Hill, which means roughly 10 square km of forest. So good luck searching! The plane was an Avro Shackleton T.4 number VP259 of RAF. On the 10 January 1958 it took off the Forres-Kinloss RAF Station, as part of the Maritime Operational Training Unit night training flights. During one of the circuits around the area, the plane flew into Heldon Hill, which was obscured by low cloud. Both crew were sadly killed.
The
aviation-safety webpage has a photo of the crash site taken shortly after the accident. I bet that the forest around the site has since been felled and replanted at least twice, so there are probably no traces of the Shackleton left to find and without the detailed location, we didn't even try.
We parked Black Arrow in the wide entrance to a forest track at the top of the tarmac road crossing the hill:
The track leading to the summit is situated on the other side of the road:
"Conquering" Burgie Hill required some strenuous maneuvering among muddy puddles:
Very soon, the summit masts came into view:
Some of the forest has been felled recently and the views south towards Ben Rinnes are now open (well, sort of):
The track takes a couple of turns before leading up and into the woods again:
Summit views - not impressive!
The track ends by the masts. The trig point marking the highest spot is hidden behind the buildings:
![2022-01-02 burgie hill 020.JPG]()
- Lucy's 26th Sub!
We returned the same way and because it didn't really feel like a proper outing, we opted for more walking in the forest on the other side of the main road. The recent tree felling left Heldon Woods badly scarred, with fresh, wide track everywhere:
We noticed some damage done by Storm Arwen:
Not a very impressive start to 2022 but better a Sub than nothing!
I was worried that our cold might develop into something worse, but luck was on our side. We repeated the tests the following day - negative again. Which for us meant, we could go out again on Monday and try another local Sub. We made this one more difficult by using less popular approach. TR to come soon.
