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An Angus selection - Mile Hill, Hare Cairn and Crock

An Angus selection - Mile Hill, Hare Cairn and Crock


Postby malky_c » Sat Jul 02, 2022 8:52 pm

Sub 2000' hills included on this walk: Crock, Hare Cairn, Mile Hill

Date walked: 23/06/2022

Time taken: 3.3 hours

Distance: 16 km

Ascent: 860m

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Sub 2k Marilyns: Mile Hill, Hare Cairn, Crock.
Date: 23/06/2022.
Distance: 5km + 11km.
Ascent: 240m + 620m.
Time: 1 hour + 2 hours, 40 minutes.
Weather: Warm and sunny. Lots of flies.

I have been known to complain in the last 5 or 6 years that my work no longer throws up opportunities to travel to the far-flung corners of the Highlands, but it isn't entirely true. Granted my trips these days are more likely to be to the Central Belt or the Borders, but that still opens up plenty of opportunities to go for a walk somewhere I haven't been in a while. This week I had a double whammy - a site visit in Dundee on Thursday followed by one at Turret Dam on Friday.

I was finished before 3 on Thursday (left Inverness early so counted as a full day as far as I'm concerned :wink: ) and it was warm. I managed to escape Dundee before the schools started emptying, and headed for the Angus glens. Although once a regular haunt, I haven't had any cause to come to Dundee or the surrounding area in the last few years, so the drive out past Alyth was a trip down memory lane. There were still a handful of Marilyns in this neck of the woods that I had intended to pay a visit when previously in Dundee, so now seemed like as good a time as any to do some of them.

First up - Mile Hill - a fairly inconsequential bump of farmland separating fertile Strathmore from the heathery southeastern Grampians. After twisting around the roads north of Alyth and past the Loch of Lintrathen, I parked on the verge slightly short of my intended route.


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I passed Roadside Cottage then went through a gate into a field. The path marked here disappears into a maze of gorse so it is easiest to just walk through the field. Another gate and I was heading for the col between Brankam Hill and The Carrach.

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The Carrach and Wellton Hill

At this point I left the track and headed towards The Carrach. I had to climb an electric fence but fortunately there was a wooden slatted section to make this easy. Beyond that it was rough grassland grazed by the cows that were lolling around. Just south of The Carrach is a small pond, and a circle of trees that hem in these couple of summits. Mile Hill itself is behind these, and there are more fences to climb.

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Mile Hill comes into view

A stile took me into the trees but the fence on the far side was another electric one which I was able to cross at a corner without frying myself. I then had to drop down briefly towards the hill and climb another fence before I could get onto the final dome. Then it was an easy pull to the summit. Good views of Cat Law (a handy quick hill when I used to live in Dundee) and the Loch of Lintrathen.

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Cat Law from Mile Hill

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Loch of Lintrathen

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Balintore Castle

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Sidlaws from Mile Hill

I manged to find a way back to the pond that was slightly better underfoot (although nothing was that bad really as it was mostly fields) but I still had to climb the same number of electric fences! It was quite breezy but warm and muggy as I retraced my steps to the car. If not for the electric fences then a pleasant hill to while away an hour or so.
_______________________________________________________

A short drive round to Kirkton of Glenisla brought me to the Freuchies forestry carpark. The glen felt lovely and secluded this evening - easy to forget how close to Dundee you are here. I'd looked at other people's routes for this pair as they are cloaked in forestry and the obvious circuit along the ridges wouldn't necessarily work. I set off with a rough idea in mind, following the good track towards Glenmarkie Lodge. Some of the western slopes of Hare Cairn had been felled in the last 10 years so I hoped to find a way up. I continued until I was out of the forest on the right hand side, and dropped down over rough ground to cross the Newton Burn. Climbing up the other side, I entered the edge of the forest over a wall.


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First proper look at Hare Cairn

Fortunately there was a track above me, unmarked on my old 1:50,000 map. I reached this and followed it rightwards for a short distance until I was at the edge of the felled area. This didn't look very promising as new trees had been planted in the intervening years and there was a fair amount of windfall among the older trees. A classic Scottish jungle!

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Way up doesn't look too promising

As it turned out, once I was up the initial bank the going wasn't awful. Not what you would class as a pleasant walk either, but it got me up onto the ridge without too much bother by following an old wall in part.

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Not the worst route...not the best either

The heather wasn't too long up here and there were nice views down to the Backwater Reservoir. I decided to go back the same way - unlikely that my luck would hold long enough to find another reasonable route...

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Meall Mor and Mount Blair from Hare Cairn

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Backwater Reservoir from Hare Cairn

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Cat Law

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Glas Maol, Mayar and Driesh from Hare Cairn

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Mayar and Driesh

Once on the track, I decided to follow it to where it joined the main Glanmarkie Lodge track. I used the bridge on this to get me back over the Newton Burn then crossed into some rough grazing to find my way onto Crock. The cows in the field seemed to panic at my presence despite being miles away. At the far side of the field, it was over another wall and into some rather messy part felled/part replanted stuff. Fortunately I crossed another track before too long in this.

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Glenmarkie Lodge

I planned to use a similar ploy on Crock to what had worked so well on Hare Cairn, again following the edge of the felled area. I eventually got up but it wasn't as easy going as the last lot. The new trees were thicker, there were more brashings and there was the odd fallen tree in my route. As I got sweatier the cloud of flied round my head got bigger and bigger. Initially I had been trying to capture them in a photo; now I was finding it extremely difficult to take a photo not dominated by flies!

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Glen Isla from Crock

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Hare Cairn from Crock

After a final steepening of the ground I was free of the trees. The heather was thicker on this side of the glen and I picked up a couple of ticks on my arm. Eventually I arrived at the summit cairn - a relief! There was a bit of a path along the ridge too which was good. Views west past Mount Blair were good.

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Corwharn, Cat Law and some serious flies

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Flies on Crock

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Meall Mor and Mount Blair from Crock

I had originally thought of dropping down to the west and picking up the track in the next glen above Loch Shandra (someone else had done this before), but I decided to follow the ridge south first and see where the path led me. After climbing a couple of fallen trees I was able to follow a dank firebreak south into the woods - zero views but so easy underfoot that I wasn't going to refuse it!

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Crock descent

I would have been quite keen to finish in a different glen to the one I started in but in the end, getting off these hills in one piece without being completely shredded and impaled by forestry ends up being the main aim. I entered another felled area but was able to follow breaks in the forestry which led me back nicely onto the track I started on - I was happy with that by now.

No classics in amongst this lot but some good views and interesting places visited. I was going to camp somewhere initially, but a few days before the trip had realised that I would either get drenched or eaten alive by midges - possibly both. In the end I had booked myself a hotel in Perth. I was glad of that now as I really fancied a shower. So I ambled through to Perth via Brewlands Bridge, Bridge of Cally and a chippy in Blairgowrie.
Last edited by malky_c on Sun Jul 03, 2022 11:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
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malky_c
 
Posts: 6342
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Joined: Nov 22, 2009
Location: Glasgow/Inverness

Re: An Angus selection - Mile Hill, Hare Cairn and Crock

Postby rockhopper » Sun Jul 03, 2022 11:08 am

Reminiscent of past efficient walking malky - some nice views there as well. Reminds me that I've to get up there some time for the Grahams - cheers :)
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rockhopper
 
Posts: 7445
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Joined: May 31, 2009
Location: Glasgow

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