free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
Date. Saturday 23rd January 2010
Completed by. Dave and Wilson
Weather. Persistent rain and sleet all day higher up, poor vies
Distance. 21 km
Time. 9hrs 10mins
Hunt Hill the long way round
Starting from Glen esk car park
This was to be be 3rd time lucky, the 2nd time in 3 weeks. So my main priority was less snow!!
For a change I dragged myself out of bed pretty sharpish for me, 6.25 am, and were sitting at glen esk car park ready to rock
.
Still really dark at this time, so the head torch got an early appearance, heading east we head for loch Lee passing the ruined castle and the remains of an old Kirk on the way, (not that they could be seen mind you) but I knew that were there.
The track was pretty icy in parts, but once reaching the Loch the track was much easier going.
Passing the entrance to Inchgrundle the track heads WNW for about 1.5 km where a bridge is crossed and then a very sketchy path is picked up for about another 1.5km before heading up towards The Falls of Damff.
Since crossing the bridge 3km back, the snow has been pretty deep in parts, and mostly, was not frosted enough to support my weight and on reaching the part where you cut back and head NNW to head for the summit of Hunt Hill I was pretty much exhausted and did not feel that great at all. At this point I thought about just reaching the summit then heading back the way I had came or cutting of at Inchgrundle and making for the Track. ( decisions decisions ).
The Rains and sleet followed by the poor visibility had already long started and that last 1km to reach the summit was very tough going indeed.
Summit reached eventually, I don’t linger and head back down to The falls of Damff where I decide to just head for Cairn Lick and either head for Inchgrundle or head east along the tops.
I decide to head for Inchgrundle, and then later change my mind. Deciding instead to sledge down the shank of Inchgrundle, with the dog chasing me and barking like a dafftie.
……. much fun indeed……
But trying to get out of the shank was a total nightmare, and heading up the south flank was near impossible with the energy sapping deep soft snow. Eventually im back on track and decide to head for Skuiley and pick up the rather undefined ridge and head for Burnt Hill and then onto the Trig Point at Cairn Caidloch.
From here I head east for about 1km on what looks like a 4x4 track I think, but due to the snow its hard to tell, before cutting off North and heading off down the east side of, The Burn of corriehausherun and then crossing the river via a very shaky bridge leading in to a horse field.
A gate can be found at the northwest end of the field near the house that leads to the outward road. From here it is only about 300m East back to the car.
PHEWW.
