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Our traditional March holidays brought us some unsettled weather including the officially named storm Freya. It was probably the windiest week of 2019 so far, so how we managed to visit 7 classified hills is still a mystery to me. We just went for it (within reasonable limits), picking maybe easier routes and lower tops, but still had a couple of real crackers, also faced some challenging conditions. Winter is back, if only for a short time, so Februjune didn't turn into Marchaugust. After our final trip last Saturday, when my digits nearly froze solid on mere 700m, I'd rather say, it was Marchcember
Sure, I'm not complaining. This is one more reason why I love Scotland - the local weather can be so unpredictable and it guarantees that you'll never be bored!
Our first trip was on Sunday the 3rd of March. The western front was cloudy and wet, with much better forecast for Aberdeenshire and Moray, even if wind gusts were to reach 50mph. Too windy to our taste for Munros, but a few lower hills, why not. Since we had already climbed all Corbetts and Grahams in the north-west, we found a trio of nice Sub'2000 Marylins, each of them taking less then 2 hours to climb on its own. Each one of these offers lovely views, especially Ladylea Hill, which used to be a Graham before its cruel demotion in 2016
The stats given above are for all 3 walks combined. Time, distance and ascent for each walk will be added before each walk description, respectively.
PART 1.
Ben Newe
4.2km, 254m ascent, 1.5 hrs
The morning was cloudy and rather depressing, but by the time we drove to Strathdon,weather on the eastern front has brightened, though it was quite blowy. We didn't worry about the wind, we were not going anywhere high enough and steep enough to be in any serious danger. The first hill we tackled was Ben Newe, situated between Strathdon and Glenbuchat, with good views to the Buck, Ladder Hills and hopefully, as we thought, to the Cairngorms in the south.
This wee hill has its own WH walk description, which is very helpful. Without the exact map, it would be tricky to find your way through the forest, especially when doing the full circuit, some stages of the path are not very obvious!
One word of warning for drivers. The access road to the small car park for Ben Newe is not in very good condition. When we drove up it, the bottom of our car grazed the ground for a short distance. Thankfully, it was all soft soil so we got away with it. No damage done, apart form a lot of filth under the bonnet
. Just as well as Kevin had MOT booked for the very next day!!!
We decided to do the walk anticlockwise, up the less obvious route. The track was grassy and wet in places:
We passed a couple of path markers early on, but later we just followed existing paths, access tracks and firebreaks. There is a lot going on in the forest here and some trees have been felled already, a few new tracks not shown on 1-25k map. This is the main firebreak to follow, along an old fence:
Higher up, we entered the felled area and we could see the summit:
It's always sad to see dead trees, but it's all commercial forestry. At least, the views were opening up nicely:
The final ascent to the summit goes up a narrow path through the heather:
Looking south/east from near the summit, it was very sunny but the strong wind had a cold edge:
I was hoping for some nice views towards the Cairngorms, but they were still in cloud at the moment:
Mains of Glenbuchat and River Don below:
The Buck on the northern horizon. As soon as I saw it, it thought it would be nice to re-visit this Graham, we never did the justice to this hill. We did indeed go back to explore it a few days later:
A wider northern pano from the summit:
Morven:
With Lucy on the summit of Ben Newe. There are a couple of wooden "benches" to sit here and a shelter with the trig point inside. Our 38th Sub
Zoom to Glenbuchat castle. It is still closed to the public due to falling masonry, but hopefully it will be repaired soon and open again. We have been here before, but it's always lovely to re-visit! Ahh and it's free.
The path leading down:
The descent was on much better tracks:
We were back to the car park in just 90 minutes
PART 2.
Ladylea Hill
4.6km, 200m ascent, 1.25 hrs
The demoted Graham, Ladylea Hill, was on my to-do list before it got demoted, then it slipped my mind for some time, only to be included into the Sub bagging day when weather was too windy to venture onto higher ground. On its own, it's no big deal, but as it's very close to Ben Newe, the two can easily be combined with a short drive between them.
We parked in a old quarry off the minor road just north of Glen Nochty:
The shortest route up Ladylea Hill starts here, up an obvious forest track:
We followed the main track, wide as a jet runway, for about half a kilometer, before reaching a large turning area with three tracks leading in different directions. We took the grassy track to the right hand side, leading through the forest onto the open hillside:
The upper reaches of Ladylea Hill are a protected area with (as the information board by the gate says) lots of wildlife to see. Sadly, we didn't see any wild creatures, it was far too windy for them to venture out
The gate is locked but a wooden stile is provided for hillwalkers:
I guess these are small caledonian pines, planted as a part of restoration project:
It was very windy now when in the open, and Kevin stopped to wrap himself up:
The track shrinks to a path, which arrives straight on the summit of Ladylea Hill. Despite the demotion, it's still a nice viewpoint. We spotted Ben Newe immediately:
Panther struggling to stay upright on the summit:
Weather has improved a bit and we caught a glimpse of the mighty Ben Avon, now covered in snow again:
View east from the summit:
Zoom to Bennachie:
It was too blowy to place Lucy on the top, so I just stroke a quick pose by the small summit cairn:
We returned the way we came. It's possible to make a circuit by descending south to Invernettie and then walking back a short distance along the quiet local road, that would make more of a day from this hill, but we wanted to visit a third Sub before the cloudy western front reached us.
PART 3.
The Bochel
4.3km, 209m ascent, 1.5 hrs
The third hill of the day was The Bochel. Not much of a climb and one can run up and down in hardly more than an hour. There are at least three different routes to the summit from different car parks, we chose the shortest approach as the cloud was now coming in from the west and we wanted some views from the top before the weather turned.
There is space to park at the start of a farm track, on the minor road just off Auchnarrow:
The track crosses a pasture full of young bulls. Beware those wearing red tops!
The track circling the hill is a part of an official walk route called Bochel Circuit. It's a bit wet in places and near gates it's trampled by farm animals, but we followed it hoping to find easy access to the hill itself:
2019-03-03 ladylea 099 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
The best place to strike off is a firebreak at 229226, no fence climbing needed, just follow the grassy break through the forest and onto the open hillside, covered with heather:
View west from just below the summit:
The summit cairn is easy to find. Not much of a climb, but a good viewpoint, especially into upper Glenlivet:
Is that a distillery on the horizon?...
Lower Glenlivet:
Panoramic views from the summit:
With Lucy (her 27th Sub) on my 40th Sub'2000 Marylin, with cloud gathering above us...
2019-03-03 ladylea 119 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
To vary the descent, we walked down the open hillside to catch the Bochel Circuit track just east of the forest:
Overall, a good day, very easy hills for windier days (or for shorter winter outings) but we enjoyed them, hoping for bigger and more adventurous routes in the days to come. And our wish was granted on Tuesday, when we had a superb day in the weird world of Assynt. TR to come soon.
