Some Tumps behind Birkhall

[Gordon Ballantyne]

A wet start at Westhill, which fair'd up as we went west. At Ballater, although it threatened rain early on, it never materialised, so we had another great escape with the weather.

Parkup for the Birkhall trio near Loch Ullachie

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Strolled up the track until it emerged from the trees, then followed the track along the line of an old dilapidated fence until we reached the ridge up to Creag Phiobaidh. A wee bit of moose stepping between the patches of muirburn saw us to the top and a great view down the Dee valley to Ballater. Mosey'd over to the cairn at the edge of the top, just passed an old dried-out gnarly tree.

GC and Harvey at the top of Creag Phiobaidh

A gnarled tree at the top of Creag Piobaidh

Deeside from Phiobaidh

Meall Dubh & Coyles o Muick from Craig Phiobaidh

Reposed for a bit, soaking in the view and reflecting how lucky we were to be only a 2 hour drive and walk away from this shangri la.

Eventually we had to winch ourselves to our feet and head off to find a route to Meall Dubh.
Linked up patches of deer grazing linked by animal tracks to get up on to Craig Liath where we picked up the braw path along the crest of the ridge all the way to Meall Dubh. A tree blown over by Arwen had uprooted a wee bit of the path along with it.

A bit of the path upended with a tree on Carn a Bhealaidh

The summit plook of Meall Dubh from the path

On the way up the summit plook, GordonC found a wee shelter tucked in against the hill.

The shelter below the top of Meall Dubh

We lounged for some time on the top of Meall Dubh, soaking in the view to clag-topped Lochnagar, Coyles o Muick and round to Mount Keen and Morven. Quite a vista !

GC lounging behind the cairn on the top of Meall Dubh

Once we'd cranked ourselves up on to our feet again, we headed off for Craig of Loinmuie. We came across quite a bit of windfall, so had to re-enter the trees a bit further along, where we stumbled on a shooting huttie that had just escaped the windfall.

The shooting huttie on Loinmuie

Further along, after crossing the track we ascended the final rocky top of Loinmuie. By this time, the sun was poking through holes in the cloud and the warm air from the Azores was wafting over us and warming our wizened bodies.

Rocky top of Craig o Loinmuie

We descended to the corner of the track below and headed for home.

On the way back we passed some Primroses growing by the side of the track, which we thocht was unusual

Primroses by the track

Near the end of the track, after passing through a couple of gates with instructions on how to operate them, we passed some massive windfall pines had been cut up recently and we finished our walk in the lovely aroma of freshly cut pine. What more could a buddy wish for - eh ?

Deer fence gate with opening instructions .

Auld metal gate exit to the road

Walked along the road back to the car.

The cafe in Ballater opposite the recently refurbished rail station, furnished us with some braw coffee and bacon rolls - epic.
By now the sun was shining - and we didn't see any wind turbines - bonus.