Easter Balloch - Glen Lee

[Gordon Ballantyne]

A last minute trip, as our Insch hol had been cancelled. So GordonC & I set off south to get this remote HUmp in. As it turned out we had chosen a day with a fair bit of traffic on the main Glen Lee track.
Parked up at the car park and mounted our bikes.

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Parkup at the head of Glen Esk

Cruised alongside Loch Lee, but were overtaken by a Landy near Glen Lee cottage opposite Inchgrundle. The last time I was up here to do Hunt Hill, the cottage was pretty overgrown. However, the trees around the cottage had been clear felled and the ground was being prepared for a new tree mix, apparently with an EU subsidy. The cottage was still boarded up though.

Inchgrundle across the glen at the end of Loch Lee

Craig Maskeldie and Glen Lee Cottage

A denuded Glen Lee Cottage at the W end of Loch Lee

We caught up with the Landy by the bridge for the path to the Falls of Unich and could see the family party walking up the track.
At strategic points in the Glen we came across lots of bee hives - laid out for the nectar collection of the flowering heather. Mostly Heath just now, but the Ling to follow soon.

Some of the Beehives laid out for the heather flowering season in Glen Lee

We stopped at the wee bothy in front of Glen Lee Wood which had a wonderful smell of recent woodsmoke. The floor was partially covered with heather and a well-used fireplace had a beam seat in front of it. There was an ample supply of dead wood around behind the bothy from some previous forestry work , with a wee burn trickling by the gable end.

The braw wee bothy below Glen Lee Wood

Inside the bothy at Glen Lee Wood

We were both itching to spend the night there, but alas, we had to leave and make our way to Stables of Lee, where we parked our bikes. The stables looked as if they were still being used. We parked our bikes inside as there was no door on the stables. The rest of the building was locked.

The Glen track to the Stables of Lee

The Stables of Lee

GordonC checking out the stables

We walked up the track into a stiff breeze until we crossed the ford, where we took the opportunity of a lee from the wind funnelling down through the bealach to have a quick snack. As we walked up the track into the breeze again,to our surprise, a quad bike came down with a keeper on it, sporting a rifle across the handlebars, who gave us a cheery wave.
An ATV track branched off the main track up a grassy area and on to the top of Easter Balloch.
There was no cairn on the grassy flatish top, so we laid down an a micro-hollow out of the stiff breeze to gaze across to Mount Keen and Lochnagar, which obligingly took its head out of the clag.

The ATV track to the top of Easter Balloch, branching off the main track

GordonC at the top of Easter Balloch with Mt Keen behind

Lochnagar et al from the top of Easter Balloch

GordonB in his usual repose at the top of Easter Balloch

After a short discussion, we descended over Drumhilt, threading our way through the peat hags, wondering if we'd made another poor decision, but it wisna too bad and we made the cairn with ease, then headed down on to Everan Hill to make the footbridge near the new cattle grid on the main track above the stables, disturbing a leverett on the way and picking up what we thocht was a muckle eagle feather. I was amazed by the amount of lush grass on this hill - a red deer grazing paradise !

Bridge over the water of Lee near the Stables

At the stables, we mounted up on our bikes for an exilirating whizz doon the glen.
GordondC's bike chain got jammed in the gears by Glen Lee cottage which took a wee while to unjam - meanwhile we were passed by a couple of Mitzubishis full of folk, apparently on a safari. Alongside the loch, a tractor was busy dressing the track surface which made it soft going, but he courteously pulled over to let us by.
Back at to car park we ventilated the car, loaded the bikes and took the direct route back by Fettercairn & Fourdon, getting more of our moneys worth on the new AWPR bypass ! A cracking day - beating the forecast thunder and lightning for later in the evening. If it happened at night - I didn't hear it.