A drive aroond some TUmps in the Newmacher area.

[Gordon Ballantyne]

Not much walking on this trip - starting near Hatton of Fintry then looping out to Belhelvie and up round below Oldmeldrun then down towards Newmacher wiggling down towards Inverurie. The overall route map is shown below.
Eight TUmps were visited - viz:
Logie Hill ; Over Hill ; Catcraig Hill ; Change Hill ; Hill of Pitcow ; Hill of Bourtie ; Hill of Bourtie ; Craigforthie.

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LOGIE HILL

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Managed to drive up to near where a building was marked on the map. Parked in a "layby" on the track then walked up the few metres to where the building should've been - but no longer was.

Parkup for Logie Hill

Site of demolished building on Logie hill

A guy was trying to start an old tractor off to the side a wee bit.
We pressed on across the cleared site of the building and juked round through a gate to gain access to the highest point a few meters further on.

Morning sun strikes GordonC on Logie Hill

As we left our summit photo point, we could hear the tractor starting up. As we reached our car, the guy playing with the tractor drove by in his car - obviously flushed with his success and was a away home for his piece.
Returned to the car in the morning sunshine



OVER HILL

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Moving east, we entered a coastal haar.
We parked at the end of the track into Braehead, as the owner of the layby at the end of track up to Bridlefolds had unsportingly parked his car where I intended to. No matter, only a wee stroll up the road and then the track to find a digger scraping the surface off the track. We had a news with the driver, who explained what he was doing in broad Doric - testing my language conversion skills severely ! Next the farmers wife appeared in her expensive car, bemoaning the previous state of the track, which had done in a few tyres and suspensions of both her and her friends cars. We continued up the track, looking for a gate. At the corner we hadn't found one, so we squeeze Harvey under and ourselves over the BWF. Fortunately, there was no livestock in the field, so we walked over the top then took a more direct route back to the car. The digger man was now loading spoil on to a fine sturdy trailer. Future "TUmpers" will find a braw new surfaced track to this hill !

Top of Over Hill in the haar

CATCRAIG HILL

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Still in the mirk o the coastal haar.
Just up the road there was a good parkup area at the end of the track opposite Ardo house.

Parkup for Catcraig

We were puzzled by the installation of some road crash barriers installed along the side of the beech-lined track. We assumed they had been used as part of a temporay corral for loading livestock. At the end of the track was a gate with some frisky young stirks beyond. They galloped off as we approached, and were a good bit away when we walked up to the top of the hill.

Stirks patrolling the top of Catcraig Hill in the haar

There was a wee stone circle and a decrepit fenced off area which had once protected a wee comms mast. The mast now lay decaying on the ground, .

The stone circle by the top of Catcraig

Harvey the druid dog of Catcraig

CHANGE HILL

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Parked in the entrance to a field just before the gated track of our route.

Parkup for Change Hill

Negotiated the gate ok, as it had a spar missing at just the right level for us auld buddies and then walked through a conifer plantation to a temporary gate at the other side. We squeezed around it and up the grassy track to the comms mast and trig just beyond. By this time we were oot o the coastal haar and into the sunshine again.

The sun returns on Change Hill

HILL OF PITCOW

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This was a drive-by, as we parked & summited at the NATS outer marker for Aberdeen airport.
Opposite was a "resting" tractor which had been ploughing with its four-furra reversible ploo.

Parkup by the NATS beacon on Hill of Pitcow

Walked up the edge of the field which had winter barley growing in it, to the spot height - a mere 50m away behind the muckle marker to the NW.

GordonC at the spot height of Hill of Pitcow

HILL OF BOURTIE

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Managed to squeeze in at the end of a passing place opposite the public footpath for Hill of Barra hill fort.

Parkup for Hill of Bourtie

Headed up the track to the generous styles, then through a gate into a grass field to the north of a row of mature beech trees.

The fine styles on the way up Bourtie

GordonB near the top of Bourtie

H heading for the top of Bourtie

Didn't walk into the field of growing winter barley for the 20m or so, to stand right on the spot height. Close enough for us !





HILL OF SELBIE

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A "summer " ascent of this hill !
Started by having to lift Harvey over the gate opposite the comms mast. Either he's getting heavier, or I'm getting weaker. ( probably a bit of both ).

Parkup for Hill of Selbie

This was a walk up memory lane for GordonC, as the wee cottage ( named Backgreens on the map, but called Lofties by Gordon's uncle ) at the side of the track up Selbie used to be lived in by Gordon's wife's granny & grandad Lindsay, with their five sons - way back! He can remember driving up there in his 4wd Fiat many years ago. ( couldn't do that now as the tractor using the track has worn really deep grooves, so that any vehicle using it would "bottom out").

Granny Lindsay's cottage by the track up Selbie

The track up Selbie with a view to Bennachie

Just past the cottage, a wildlife extravaganza exploded on us as first a covey of partidges took off in a great flurry, followed by about a dozen pheasants whirrin' awa. Then a couple of skeins of pink-footed geese got up from the adjacent fields as their sentries spotted us, causing a great commotion. At the end of the lane the track turned steeply uphill through a gate.
This was when we realised that in the blazing noonday sun, our winter garb was overkill for this walk. We started to heat up - such that the - "the beads o perspiration wid've filled auld Wullies hat ".
Fleeces were doffed in rersponse and as we breasted the top of the hill and the "cairn" came into view - a muckle great heap o stanes that looked like years of ploo'in spoil !
We paused to take in the scenery and soak up the sun and cool off on this "summer" day in mid January !

The cairn on Hill of Selbie

CRAIGFOURTHIE

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We visited the trig at the side of the road, then drove up the road and parked on the grass verge - risking it a wee bit, as we only had to walk about a hundred metres to the fenced-in water reservoir situated at the top of the other end of the ridge.
We darted back to the car to rescue it from its perilous parking location.

The Craigforthie Trig by the road

The "flakey" parkup for Craigforth main top

The reservoir at the top of Craigforthie

Scuttling back to the car from Craiforthie

Back through Inverurie and thence to Westhill - in time for a coffee at Greigies.


A great wee exploration tour around some more of our home ground - grand !

[Chris Mac]

It's always good to see someone else making the most of local TuMPs and turning them into a bigger walk, great effort Gordon! You have plenty to choose from in Aberdeenshire, I bet your hill-bagging map is a sea of blue now? In fact I just found you on the TuMP league table, you're doing well!

[Gordon Ballantyne]

Thanks Chris, we make new "discoveries" nearly every time we go out !
Having driven past this countryside for years on our way to the "big" hills, we're having a great time travelling the roads that were just signposts off the main drag !