Walkhighlands

I started from Aboyne at 10:30 am and headed out to Glen Tanar on foot, reaching Glen Tanar visitor centre an hour later. I continued walking using the Walkhighlands description as my guide, stopping at the Half Way Hut for lunch en-route.

I arrived at the base of Mount Keen at 3:40pm and began my ascent to the summit which took me about an hour 20 mins. Conditions were good, a little windy at the top. Came straight back down, had planned to camp on the grassy area at the bottom but there was a group of kids there so I just went back to the half way hut, had Supper and wild camped by the river Tanar. The following day I walked back to Aboyne and caught the bus back to Aberdeen.

It took about 11 hours in total, that included stopping for lunch for an hour and doesn't include the camping.

Shame you didn't carry on a little past the bothy ruins - there is a cracking wee camping spot next to a bonny waterfall I have always been meaning to utilise
There are so many routes to mount keen from Deeside - I got a bit overly obsessive about finding new ones for a while. Ballater start is definitely best for the pies

I don't think I remember seeing a waterfall, are you talking about the ruined building in the forest near the halfway hut?? Did that used to be a bothy? I think there is a really good spot to camp by the river Tanar some miles between Glen Tanar and Aboyne (where there is parking next to the road), I saw a group of folk on the other side of the river having a campfire while I was walking back to Abyone, really wanted to go and join in.

I was going to take the signed path to Ballater the second time I came down Mount Keen from the Glen Esk side, last year but I wasn't sure if the route would be easy to follow so I just carried on to Aboyne then too.

andrewl7642 wrote:I don't think I remember seeing a waterfall, are you talking about the ruined building in the forest near the halfway hut?? Did that used to be a bothy? I think there is a really good spot to camp by the river Tanar some miles between Glen Tanar and Aboyne (where there is parking next to the road), I saw a group of folk on the other side of the river having a campfire while I was walking back to Abyone, really wanted to go and join in.

I was going to take the signed path to Ballater the second time I came down Mount Keen from the Glen Esk side, last year but I wasn't sure if the route would be easy to follow so I just carried on to Aboyne then too.

The bothy used to be next to the big patch of grass (where you were originally going to camp) just below the hill - you would have to go a few hundred metres upstream from there to find the waterfall - just a wee bit off route.

The signposted route over to Ballater isn't that defined - there are a confusing labyrinth of paths and tracks in the area, but most of them lead to round about Ballater eventually

Never done mount keen from Glen Esk - I heard it was dullsville?

Oh right that's a shame, what happened to the bothy exactly??
I'm going to have to go back there now to camp at this waterfall it sounds great... and try to navigate myself on the Ballater path. I'm guessing I'll find the path I'm looking for on OS MAP OL53 and OL54.

I wouldn't say it was dull from Glen Esk but it took me a long time starting from Banchory lol.
That's a report I should really get round to writing about! basically I used Mount Keen as an escape route to get back to Deeside!!! I don't even want to think about that day

andrewl7642 wrote:Oh right that's a shame, what happened to the bothy exactly??
I'm going to have to go back there now to camp at this waterfall it sounds great... and try to navigate myself on the Ballater path. I'm guessing I'll find the path I'm looking for on OS MAP OL53 and OL54.

I wouldn't say it was dull from Glen Esk but it took me a long time starting from Banchory lol.
That's a report I should really get round to writing about! basically I used Mount Keen as an escape route to get back to Deeside!!! I don't even want to think about that day

Sounds brilliant - all the best adventures are the ones where it all goes a bit pear shaped but you still manage home somehow