free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
- Sunrise en route
I'd hoped that Mona Gowan and the Slacks of Glencarsie would provide for a fine, early-autumn afternoon in a quiet corner of Donside. I didn't expect an exposed scramble along a knife-edge reminiscent of Glencoe or the Cuillin!
Fuelled up with a steak slice from the Spar shop in Bellabeg, I left the end of the public road near Birkford just before noon, sunshine and blue sky overhead. The track curves through a small birch wood, before passing cottages and farm buildings along with the obligatory angry barking dogs. After a kilometre, the sedate Water of Carvie was bridged, from where I cut up a grass slope onto a track from Lynemore heading onto the ridge above.
- Farm buildings at the start of the walk
- Mona Gowan from the track before crossing the burn
- Mona Gowan from the burn
Woodland on the map had been “cleared”, leaving the usual, tatty mess of stumps and branches, before which a procession of well-built grouse butts lead through the heather towards the summit. A buzzard wheeled overhead, the sun was blinding, low over the horizon, and eventually the spoungy, spaghnam carpet led to the mountain top.
The massive summit cairn was a scramble in itself, erected in 1887 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria, and afforded wide open views; Ben Avon dominating to the west, Lochnagar a hazy silhouette, but the northern panorama restricted to hills manning the River Don watershed. The finely named Braigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain was the limit of my gaze, 32 miles away according to the WalkHighlands trusty route planner map!
- Colour contrasts, from the north ridge of Mona Gowan
- A lochan on the east ridge of Mona Gowan, Morven in the background
- Approaching the Slacks of Glencarvie, Morven looming behind
- Cowberries
I bounced off across the mossy turf, lime green around an unexpected lochan, towards the dome of Morven, pausing for a good crop of cowberries en route. The highlight of this walk was always going to be the intriguing The Slacks of Glencarvie, and they did not disappoint. I dropped into the boulder-strewn, v-shaped gap, and was amazed at size of the rock pinnacle labelled on maps as Castle Wilson. I'd later read that there was a cave where whisky was hidden amidst the boulders by smugglers.
- Lime green moss around a lochan, entering the Slacks of Glencarvie
- The rock tower, Castle Wilson, marking the north side of the Slacks
- Castle Wilson from the north
I set about dropping my rucksack to scramble steeply up it, finding on closer inspection the “pinnacle” was actually an elongated crest of rocks. I hadn't expected much vertigo but i found an exposed razor edge, along which legs could be placed either side to edge along - short but sweet! My memory jumped back to past ridges - recalling the Cuillin, Glencoe, the slab along the Saddle - not bad for Donside!
- A face in the rocks?
I descended through the Breacon hillocks, glacial moraines deposited by the melting events that probably led to the creation of the Slacks above. My route followed the line of the burn, jumping back and forth to either side of the meandering stream, across numerous small bath-sized pools that might have tempted on a warmer day.
- Descending through the Breacon Hillocks
Some old ruined shielings were passed, and an unfortunate sharp-toothed stoat fallen victim to one of numerous traps spanning the burn. Eventually I left the rough grass and the sparkling stream water to enjoy the sunshine in a more leisurely amble, back past the barking dogs, to the birch wood and the car.
- Love the colours
