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Corbetts: Corryhabbie Hill
Grahams: Cook's Cairn
Sub 2000's: Knockan
Date walked: 10/04/2012
Distance: 65 km (cycling), 13 km (walking)
Ascent: 800 m (cycling), 770 m (walking)
Time: 7 hours 30 minutes
Weather: Cold and showery, mainly in cloud
I had intended to do Corryhabbie Hill and Cook's Cairn with Carn Mor in a big circuit from the Braes of Glenlivet. Having done a short walk up Carn Mor last November, other possibilities opened up for these two. I was surprised to find no walk reports approaching from Glenfiddich, as it would seem an obvious route (to easterners at least). It also fitted quite nicely with the public transport available, so I decided to cycle over from Keith station.
The 9am train from Inverness got gradually busier as we headed towards Aberdeen, so I was quite glad to be getting off in Keith. While rather grey, the weather was pretty benign around here, and the cycle over to Dufftown was'n't too strenuous. The rain started on the descent to Dufftown, and I almost fell off the bike skidding to a halt at one point (I had borrowed my wife's road bike, which was nice to ride but had much less grip on the wet roads than my mountain bike).
Cycling part:
Bypassing Dufftown to the east, I was soon on the Cabrich road, climbing towards Achindoun Castle. I got a brief view of this before turning off up the private Glenfiddich Estate road. This was mainly good cycling on old tarmac, but there were areas of massive potholes every so often.
Achindoun Castle, Glenfiddich:
This section of Glenfiddich was pretty - rather like Glen Avon and Glen Tromie. The lodge had seen better days though, with only a small bungalow still inhabited, and most of the windows of the main building smashed.
NE down Glenfiddich:
Walking part:
Beyond the lodge, I passed a mountain biker - one of the very few people I saw away from the public roads. Turning off the main track (which lifted out of the glen and over a shoulder), the going got rougher and steeper. Before long, I abandoned the bike, as the narrow wheels weren't coping too well with the soft sections of track. It would have been easily rideable on an MTB. I walked a bit further up the glen, then crossed the river and started up the NE spur of Corryhabbie Hill. The weather was nothing to write home about, but at least the cloud had lifted a bit and the rain was off again.
Corryhabbie Hill:
Lower down, the going through recent muirburn was a little sore on the legs (nothing that a pair of trousers wouldn't solve), but the heather thinned as the gradient steepened, and the route was a pleasant one. I joined Morton's way at the top of the steep section and followed it to the summit. I seemed to be on the boundary between indifferent weather to the west and really appalling stuff to the east. At least this allowed some views towards the mid-section of Glenlivet as I walked along the ridge. At this point, Cook's Cairn was actually completely clear of the cloud.
Hill of Clais nan Earb from the ascent. Bad weather in the east :
Cook's Cairn and Carn na Bruar:
NW across Glenlivet:
The summit ridge took longer than expected, and the bad weather had caught up with me by the time I arrived. I had a quick break for lunch, then descended in the sleet towards Cook's cairn, cutting most of the corners of the track which climbs up this hillside. I ran a lot of this to try and warm up after my break, so managed to get to the col in about 10 minutes. Here I encountered the only peat hags of the day - otherwise the going was exceptionally good.
Summit of Corryhabbie Hill:
The climb through the heather to Cook's cairn took a fair bit more than 10 minutes, and the views were long gone by the time I reached the cairn. I had planned to stay up high on my return to the bike, but with the uninspiring weather, I dropped back down to the track in Glen Fiddich fairly soon. I passed an estate shelter on the way down the glen, whose inside seemed to be completely filled by a large table.
Shelter in upper Glenfiddich:
Back at the bike, I had spent little more than 3 hours on the hills, and felt pretty fresh. The cycling was almost all downhill back to Dufftown, where I took a small detour through the town centre.
Return of the girly bike (last seen in an August round of some Perthshire hills):
Un-named lochan in Glenfiddich:
Glenfiddich Lodge:
I was rather early for the train, so I decided to make a detour on the return via the insignificany Marilyn of Knockan to keep the hanging around at the station to a minimum. I seemed to be back on the weather boundary again, cycling into the rain, but with clearer conditions behind me. Turning off the Keith road, there was quite a climb to the high point of the minor road. Ben Rinnes even appeared at one point.
Ben Rinnes makes an appearance:
I discovered that my hill now had a windfarm on which wasn't shown on the map. This was actually a blessing, as the hill was covered in deep heather, and would have taken me ages to ascend had the windfarm access tracks not been there. These took me to within a 2 minute walk of the summit, an indistinct cairn in the middle of a flat heathery plateau. While this Marilyn was clearly much less interesting than the adjacent Ben Aigan, it was pleasant enough, and gave me my only summit views of the day.
Ben Aigan from Knockan:
The Convals and Glen Rinnes from Knockan Windfarm:
Towards the Moray Coast from Knockan:
NW from Knockan:
It was an easy roll back down to the public road, then onwards to the A road back to Keith. A short section of avoiding the busy A96 on the pavement brought me back to the station with 40 minutes to spare.
A pretty miserable day in all, but enjoyable in a masochistic sort of way. It was also nice to do a bit of cycling around Moray, and Glenfiddich was worth a visit. On the downside, it took me about 20 minutes to clean all the grit and dirt off me and get changed into some vaguely acceptable clothes for the train!
