An Angus trio of HUmps

[Gordon Ballantyne]

With Harvey on holiday and GordonC still on safari, I was Johnny no-mates today !
Thought I'd take advantave of H's absence to tackle Mile Hill, as it's surrounded by fields full of livestock.
Emerged out of the Aberdeenshie morning mirk into a sunny Angus.

MILE HILL -W of Kirkton of Kingoldrum.

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Managed to squeeze in at the roadside beside what is now called "The Sportsmans lodge "

Parkup for Mile Hill from the South

Took the track beside the Sportsmans lodge up to a gate which had a warning sign on it - "BULL IN FIELD".
I wasn't so concerned about the bull - which I couldn't make out in the herd of kye, but the big charolaise cows with their calves had to be taken account of, so I made a detour to avoid them.


Passed some ewes near the pond, then climbed over the fence at the bottom of the long strip of trees- scarting my shins in the process.

Looking back down the route up the fence to the tip of the forest strip

Plootered up alongside the fence in the field, negotiating a couple of soggy bits then through a couple of gates to gain access to the final dome of Mile hill.

The summit dome of Mile Hill from the forest strip

The grass didn't seem to have been grazed, so I found it a bit teuch on the steep bit to the grass top. Obviously, others had wandered between the highest plooks to decide which one was the top, as there was a wee path between them.
Took advantage of the sunshine to admire the views.

Looking SW from the top of Mile hill

Mile Hill's wee summit path with Mt Blair behind

Decided to take an alternative route back down, but was stymied by an embryo burn with an evil looking quagmire ford, so reverted to plan A backwardsand just followed the fenceline back to the pair of gates.

Heading down from the top of Mile Hill

After a bit, I hopped over the forest fence ( metaphorically speaking ) and walked down in the wood to avoid some of the field by the fence that had been chopped up a bit by the kye.
Lower down, the herd of cattle had moved to the east, so I was able to take a direct line down through the grassy field to the "Bull" gate, then down the lane to the road. The sun was still shining and none of the tractors & bogeys engaged in the tattie harvest actoss the road had scuffed the car, so I wasted no time in heading down the road to Inverarity

FOTHERINGHAM HILL

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This was another trip down memory lane........
"when I were a lad....." back in 1958, I worked on a Greengrocer van in Dundee and on Wednesday, we often came out to Lour for logs and dung for our customers. We also managed to pick up the odd pheasant that got in our way, on the way there & back - tasty !
No such jiggery-pokery this time.
Overshot the parkup and had to turn around at the kirk. The track had a locked gate, but there was room enough to squeeze into the side without blocking the track.

Parkup for Fotheringham Hill

Wandered up the track until I spotted an abandoned tractor wi big wheels that had been used for heavy work, judging by the implements fitted to it, still rusting away among the trees & bushes growing through it.

An abandoned tractor by the track

Further up, the forestry had been cleared and a track went off in the direction of the comms mast, so I followed it up to the masts.

Track branching off up to the comms masts

Comms masts on Fotheringham

A faint track connected the two tops, which emerged on a cul-de-sac of the track that came up from the wireless station ( disused).

Fotheringhams main top & the wee path across to it

Top of Fotheringham Hill

Blundered around in the broom & prickly whins trying to find the top beside a five-branched tree. A few other people had done the same before me. Gave up after standing on what I thought was the highest bit, then headed down by the wireless station track and back towards the car. As I passed the old tractor, I spotted a building on the other side, so went over to investigate. Someone had build a wee viewing bothy, complete with curved seat, looking out between the trees to the "Seedilees". ( Sidlaw Hills - to non-Dundonians ).

The viewing bothy

The viewing seat

DUNNICHEN HILL and the "bear"

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A real "quickie"........
Risked a parkup beside the cattle shed among the glass from a broken bottle.

Parkup for Dunnichen and the maze o gates

Negotiated the four gated maze to get up the track and into a field o sheep. Turned right just before the Comms mast and at the highest point,stepped over the sagging fence and into the wood to find the spot height.

Comms mast on Dunnichen

Not far into the wood, I looked up from my GPS to see a black bear in front of me !!! - I nearly wet myself momentarily before I realised it was only the roots of a windblown tree and that we don't have any bears in Scotland - yet.

The Dunnichen "bear"

A marker stane near the Dunnichen Bear

Mosey'd around near the bear, finding a stone placed beside a tree, then walked back out to the field and back to the car.
The easyiest Hump I've done so far.


A nice day out to clean up a few southern HUmps. Just the Glen Prosen three to do then a change of scenery over the other side o Glenshee