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Another day in the hills just up the road from us and the weather was perfect:D
When we were on Morven July '23 we could see some rather interesting hills in the distance, not knowing what they were I thought I'd have a look at a map to see if I could identify them. At the time I thought Morven was the furthest east Corbett, it soon turned out I was well and truly wrong, serves me right for not doing my research.
On our way down we stopped to have a natter with a gent from Aberdeen, he was a seasoned hillwalker and, as you do, we talked mountains and our past conquests, the Munros more than anything, I told him we were based around Ballater and wanted to do the furthest east Corbett before we went home so we were happy now we'd managed it
"Ahhh, he said, that's Mount Battock, not Morven"
"Oh, said I, where's that then",
Pointing south east towards those rather interesting hills, he said
"It's one of those over there, look, it stands out, nice hill, worth a visit"
"Oh, well that saves me a job, I was wondering what that was"
We continued to chat a bit more then parted company. I said to Denise as we descended that we've got to do Mount Battock now but wasn't sure how to combine it with our next visit to the area so it was reluctantly consigned the backburner
How things change over the course of a year, now residents of Angus, Mount Battock was back on the agenda. Since arriving the weather has been really good, we've done the cliff walks around Arbroath, they're recommended
we've been wildlife spotting around Lochs Kinnordy and Balgavies, had a look at Montrose, Brechin and Forfar and we did Ben Tirran the other day, it's great
The weather was forecast to be good on the 14/8 so it was time for Mount Battock
It's about an hours drive up to the starting point at Millden so, to make sure we could get parked, we set off reasonably early, there no problem on arrival, we were the only ones there.
While we were getting ready there was a lot of activity, 4WD pickups, RangeRovers and jeep type things the sort of vehicles you associate with a shoot kept passing us, we were hoping the Grouse season wasn't going to impact us today, we came to the conclusion that somebody would have stopped to ask what our plans were and warn us not to go into the hills today if there was something going on.
The Rowan trees have plenty of berries on them
We set off towards Muir Cottage, at the Mill of Aucheen all the vehicles were parked there, it looked quite a gathering.
Nice views towards Bulg from Muir Cottage
After Muir Cottage the track heads towards and enters a pine wood where we saw a couple of Red Squirrels and loads of female Pheasants running all over the place.
The track leaves the wood behind and the view back towards Bulg makes me start planning a trip to explore
and ahead to Mount Battock, I kept mistaking Hill of Saughs for Mount Battock at this stage but soon realised which was which.
On the way we spotted an Adder on the track, in full view, it must have been camera shy because by the time I'd managed to get the camera out of it's case it had disappeared into the heather
This is a very steady route and easy to follow as it ascends the slopes around Mount Battock, I think some of the best views are looking South towards Bulg and Hill of Wirren
and to the SE I'm sure we could make out Ben Tirran as we gained height.
We were getting a better idea which hill was Mount Battock as we traversed the slopes around Allrey, we stopped several times to watch a Red Kite gliding above the hillsides.
As the track climbs Wester Cairn it gets quite a bit steeper, a bit of a shock to the system
At the top of Wester Cairn the remainder of the climb can be seen, I think it took us about fifteen minutes over a grassy track to do the last bit to the summit including a climb over a fence next to a locked gate, strange, but it must be for a reason.
On the summit there's the trigpoint and two really well built wind shelters which we took full advantage of to have lunch.
The views are great, the sun was shining and it was warm so we spent a good half hour on the summit just absorbing our new local surroundings
From the summit we followed the fence down towards Hill of Saughs, there's a reasonable path to follow on the left hand side of it and it joins the track beyond, we were lucky today because it's been dry, the peat hags were easy to cross so no bog hopping, I can imagine it's a different tale after a wet period.
Once on the track the descent down the slopes to the ford over the Burn of Turret is very easy to follow, you can take your mind off any navigation errors and enjoy the views
The ford was easily crossed without using the stepping stones on the left hand side of it, on the outward track again the views were still as nice as they were in the morning.
Back in the trees the pheasants were still charging about, there was no sign of any Red Squirrels this time.
A last look towards Mount Battock from the road
And Bulg, we're going to have a day out on Bulg and Hill of Wirran sometime in the near future.
Back at the car, four and a quarter hours after setting off, we both thought that this was a very enjoyable day out, perhaps the weather helped, we were in the sun all day and the breeze was just enough to keep us comfortable, we'll definitely be doing this hill again over the next few months:D
