Glorious March day on Mount Keen

[howzat]

When the Caledonian Sleeper from London to Inverness broke down at Milton Keynes the plans of my friend Clive (a seasoned Munro Bagger who has now knocked off around 180) for a fleeting 2 day 4-bagger were thwarted. Finding himself still at Edinburgh station when he should have been in Inverness setting off for the first day on the hills he decided a long weekend drinking in Edinburgh with yours truly was the preferred option. Anyway with the weather set fair for the weekend and the offer on the table of a weekend stopover with my sister in law and her husand (Hazel and Andrew) in Blairgowrie we decided that it was too good an opportunity for Clive to miss bagging one of the two remaining Munros in the area on his hit list and me to add to my 15 Munros! So that was how we found ourselves setting off for Mount Keen on a gloriously sunny March Saturday.

After a 1hr 20min drive from Blairgowrie we set off from the car park at Invermark at 10.30 am with Hazel & Andrew in tow.

Andrew & Clive entering Glen Mark

Ater a very leisurely walk along Glen Mark passing the Queen's Well and Invermark Cottage we crossed the Easter Burn and followed the clear track up the Ladder Glen as it zig-zagged its way up to the moorlands.

Clive walking up Glen Mark - map not needed today!

Clive & I at the Queens Well

By the time we had reached the moorlands we had left Hazel & Andrew some distance behind us. They were quite happy for us to carry on at our pace as they were concerned they wouldn't make it. So off we strode.

Views back down to Glen Esk

The route to the summit was obvious and easy going on an excellent path.

Clear route to the summit

It wasn't long before we reached the top in around 2hrs 20mins.

Me at the top of Mount Keen

Clive nears the summit

Superb views over to Lochnagar & the Cairngorms

Starting the descent

Final chance to take in the views

After a brief cup of tea, cheese roll and bag of crisps we decided to start the descent thinking that Hazel & Andrew would have long turned back to the car. However after about 10 minutes of starting back down we saw them slowly still making their way up. We decided to wait for them and go back with them to the summit. However with only a short distance before reaching the summit, around 820m, both decided to give in to dodgy knees, heavy legs, blisters and exhaustion which was a real shame given how far they had come. The return to the car was a long slow one but we made it back in around 5hrs 20mins after a thoroughly enjoyable day with the sun still shining!

[LeithySuburbs]

Looks like a cracking day . As for long weekends drinking in Edinburgh... no idea what you're talking about .

[ChrisW]

Great stuff Howzat, you certainly picked the right day to do this one. Brought back nice memories for me though I certainly didn't get a beautiful day like yours I stayed dry

[Luke88]

I was sitting eating lunch beside the trig point when you were getting your photo taken beside it haha!

[quoman]

What a cracking day you had for this hill.different from yesterday when i was up lochnagar.

[basscadet]

Aye, glorious indeed! Looked like a cracker

[monty]

Glorious day on the hills Howzat. Superb

[KMHills]

Mr Howzat - here is a new member "KMHills" (as in Kentish Man). Thank you for showing me the extra benefits of the excellent WalkHighlands web site and for joining me on the stroll up Mount Keen. My IT skill are somewhat behind my skills on the hill but I've got this far. must do some more soon. nice shades!