Two Marilyns, two hill-forts and no view

[Mountaineer]

I began the day in Ballater, and having abandoned my original plan of pursuing an unclimbed Munro Top west of the Cairnwell due to the fact the cloud base was well below the Glenshee Ski Centre car park, I decided to head south in search of a clear hill. It was not to be and as I drew ever closer to Perth I had to do something.

King's Seat south or Couper Angus was a candidate, so I headed here, though looking up from the small parking spot south of Collace was not promising, indeed by the time I reached around 200m I was in cloud where I would stay for the next couple of hours.

Im sure that if you can see it, Dunsinane Hill with its defensive ramparts is a fine sight, and having seen a photo of it from Black Hill, my next destination I can say this with certainty. For me today, though, there was no such view. Pressing on, I was then treated to a good 45 minutes of torrid navigation practice in tussocky deep grass with animal tracks heading in all directions. I confess to some relief in arriving at the white trig point and summit cairn. Descending north west I then maintained the 200 meter contour to find my way back to the car.

25 minutes later I was on foot again, this time us a grave track along with dog walkers on the ascent of Moncreiffe Hill from the northern car park. The clag was, if anything even lower, and I can only imagine the splendid views north from the ramparts of the large hill-fort at the summit across the River Tay.

In all honesty more of a historical outing rather than a mountaineering expedition, though it was at least fresh air and a few calories burned.