Once over the high point of the road it was then a very slow descent before I met the gritter a few miles further North at Strachan. Plenty space to park the car at the side of the B9002 just under 1km south of the A941 junction.
- Room for 3/4 cars by the side of the road
- Gate on the right 0f the road 100 yards from the parking area
Once over the gate there is a faint track first through the grass and then the heather heading more or less directly for the hill. It's just a case of following the track until a line of old fence posts can be seen heading straight up The Buck then heading directly for them. It's a bit damp in places but there are plenty of grassy tussocks to do a bit of bog hopping on.
- A boggy track
- Time to follow the fence posts
I was probably half way up the line of fence posts before the track dried up and was firm underfoot. One small frozen bit of snow to walk through and fairly quickly the top was reached.
- Target for later - Tap o' North
- An ever improving track
- A small dollop of snow
- Approaching the top
- Trig Point at top
The boulders at the top were frozen so a bit of care was needed for the last few feet to the trig point. A bit cloudy today, looked like there would be great views on a better day.
- Ben Rinnes (I think?)
- One of the stones near the trig point
- Heading back down
After a few minutes at the top I retraced my steps back to the car. At the bottom of the hill I didn't find the feint track I had followed on the way up so the going was a bit harder and definitely wetter. Back at the road I got a big wave from a farmer on his tractor (would this have happened in Angus I wonder???).
Fair to say this isn't my favourite Aberdeenshire hill but a decent walk none the less. Only took about an hour and forty minutes as the hill is fairly close to the starting point on the B road.
