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Mount Keen is one of those hills I've been putting off for ages, largely due to reading a lot of un-exciting stuff about it. However, being on holiday and having nothing to do yesterday, I decided i fancied getting it out of the way. I hadn't been expecting much beforehand, but thanks to a combination of nice weather, heather in full bloom and almost standing on a rather p***ed off adder, it was quite an interesting wee jaunt.
Having parked at Invermark, I took the short walk along the road, to the well signposted path, which makes it's way through Glen Mark. The glen looked quite bonny, with large swathes of heather looking resplendent in purple bloom.
- Heather
The path in is mostly excellent and makes for easy walking.
- Path through Glen Mark
I decided to take the wee branch off for the Queen's Well, and was too busy faffing around with my rucksack to notice a basking adder. I was about 6 inches short of planting my right foot on top of it, before i noticed it and almost jumped backwards. The adder was less than pleased and skulked off into the heather. I took a few photos of the Queen's Well and thanks to the adrenaline rush, the next stretch didn't seem to take too long.
- Queen's Well
Shortly afterwards, the path leaves the Glen and heads for high ground. The colours at this time of year really are excellent.
- Glen Mark
- Path up towards the plateau
Before long, the plateau is reached and the good path continues on, before a cairn marks the obvious jump off point for the final pull towards the summit area.
- Towards Mount Keen Summit
In just over two hours, I reached the summit trig point, and sat down for some lunch. The views around, although not of spectacular mountains, were lovely and i must say, it's quite a pleasant wee summit.
- Trig Point
After a wee while at the top, I headed back the same way. This didn't take long at all, and i was back at the car in a total of under 4 hours.
A brief report, for a brief munro