A fine hill for a dog walk

[Alfachick]

So it seems a fried of mine and I have fallen into the routine of going for nice long dog walks. Last week we persevered to find a trig point that was a bit of a bugger to get to. This week I figured we could go for something a little easier although higher.
I had originally planned to do Conachcraig, in order to get great views of the North face of Lochnagar. However the road up to Loch Muick is closed at the moment for another week or so, I couldn't figure out if the times on the signs were when it was closed or when it was open so we decided that we wouldn't risk getting the car stuck down the road. So the Coyles of Muick seemed like an obvious choice, should still get good views of Lochnagar.

After a quick look at the map it seemed that we would be able to take forestry tracks the whole way up, well, almost the whole way up...

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The three muttsketeers

It appeared on the map that the forestry track wasnt going to take us up to the belach between the two hills, so I figured that we would just cut up left off the track, its a short cut right!

The obstacle course

Well either way we made it through the wind felled trees and onto a clear track... I knew it!
It was a straightforward walk up to the top of the hill from here. We werent sure which was the actual top, so decided that we would divide and concur.

Divide and concur

I called my friend back to come and look at the views from the more Western top, excellent views over to the North face of Lochnagar.

The three muttsketers with Lochnagar in the background.

While we were lingering around on the top taking in the views, and pointing out other hills we were treated to a fly past by the RAF, I am fairly certain it was a training plane as it was all black, with just the RAF roundals on the wings. It was flipping LOW, it had to gain height to clear the hill we were standing on! Obviously we waved like a pair of fannies!

What a treat!

We went off up to the other top and had a look at the cairns, one is in a fairly sorry state of repair and the other has clearly been made out of the stones from the larger one.

We then just wandered off the hill. Neither of us were much fancying the obstacle course on the descent so we followed the track along the ridge a little way longer hoping to find a path off down to the forestry track. We were in luck! My friend spotted a hut just on the edge of the woods, it looked a little like a portacabin so we went over to have a look, the nosy bissum that I am. And lo and behold a track materialised that clearly would lead down to the forestry track!

Following the clear path

Lunch hut.

Within 40 mins we were back at the car! The boys had all enjoyed themselves and had run themselves ragged. A very enjoyable walk was had by all.