Mount Keen from Glen Tanar
Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2018 3:22 pmWeather Conditions
Hot, hot, hot and Sunny, with growing clouds as we reached the summit. We've been so lucky with the weather so far in 2018 and it's been great to get as much experience in the hills in good weather as possible, pity about all of this sunburn though... well, I am Scottish after all...
Walk Experience
We arrived at the Glen Tanar estate around 08:30am, and after some confusion over which "Car Park at the end of the public road" the original guide refers to, we finally found a small and free car park (past the public, pay & display car park and up on the right past some stables). We booted up and headed off.
To be honest, the forest seemed to drag on a little, we passed two stone bridges on the left that ran over the River Tanar, before finding the smaller bridge over the Burn of Glendui, then coming up on the Halfway Hut.
We were glad to see the trees break and open up into the Glen, which itself is vast and rolling, and brimming of all sorts of wildlife - we saw an Adder basking in the sun! Cross around 3 bridges before coming to the foot of Mount Keen. At this point, we'd already walked for around 2.5 - 3 hours (with a small elevenses break) and the prospect of Mount Keen that we were looking up at at this point was pretty daunting, however on reflection it definitely wasn't as bad as it looked from the bottom once we'd popped up and then back down!
The path up is a little steep (more so in the latter stages) and made up of largely loose gravel as it works it's way around the Corrach. It gives great views down the Corrach to Cowie Burn and the rest of the vast glen. The path is also in the process of being reformed and is looking much better. It wasn't long until we were greeted with amazing views across to Lochnagar and the other surrounding White Mounth Munros.
We made our way back the same way we came. It was a long and winding path back through the glen and forest to the car, but all in all it was a great walk with some more excellent scenery.
Hot, hot, hot and Sunny, with growing clouds as we reached the summit. We've been so lucky with the weather so far in 2018 and it's been great to get as much experience in the hills in good weather as possible, pity about all of this sunburn though... well, I am Scottish after all...
Walk Experience
We arrived at the Glen Tanar estate around 08:30am, and after some confusion over which "Car Park at the end of the public road" the original guide refers to, we finally found a small and free car park (past the public, pay & display car park and up on the right past some stables). We booted up and headed off.
To be honest, the forest seemed to drag on a little, we passed two stone bridges on the left that ran over the River Tanar, before finding the smaller bridge over the Burn of Glendui, then coming up on the Halfway Hut.
We were glad to see the trees break and open up into the Glen, which itself is vast and rolling, and brimming of all sorts of wildlife - we saw an Adder basking in the sun! Cross around 3 bridges before coming to the foot of Mount Keen. At this point, we'd already walked for around 2.5 - 3 hours (with a small elevenses break) and the prospect of Mount Keen that we were looking up at at this point was pretty daunting, however on reflection it definitely wasn't as bad as it looked from the bottom once we'd popped up and then back down!
The path up is a little steep (more so in the latter stages) and made up of largely loose gravel as it works it's way around the Corrach. It gives great views down the Corrach to Cowie Burn and the rest of the vast glen. The path is also in the process of being reformed and is looking much better. It wasn't long until we were greeted with amazing views across to Lochnagar and the other surrounding White Mounth Munros.
We made our way back the same way we came. It was a long and winding path back through the glen and forest to the car, but all in all it was a great walk with some more excellent scenery.
