free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
Our original plan for New Years Day had been to climb Derry Cairngorm, but the MWIS forecast was saying blizzards, gusting winds up to 55mph and whiteouts...and that just wasn't too appealing, especially as the North East was forecast to have wall to wall sunshine!
However, after the excesses of the past week we needed to blow the festive cobwebs away, and decided that our local hill (Bennachie) would probably be really busy, so we opted for a little stroll up the Hill of Tillymorgan, near Colpy, about a 15 minute drive from where we live. The sun was bright and the wind chill as we set off.
I hadn't read the official WH route (oops!) so we started the walk a little further along the road, parking up in a nearby layby and walking up a wide forest track for the first part of the route.
- Parking for a couple of cars in the layby
- Wide forest track
The low winter sun was providing a stunning backdrop of colours and textures and we could see right to the coast in the North and back to Bennachie to the South.
The ground was hard with the overnight frost creating crunchy conditions underfoot. It's a delightful walk which takes you up through young woodland, and then through much older larch forest, some of the trees draped in thick lichens, showing the clarity of the air in this area.
- Lichen covered tree
The track continued through the older forest, still a wide well made track. Bennachie dominated the horizon behind us.
- Wide track showing Bennachie to the South
A short walk further on and you go through an area of much younger woodland, providing views ahead to the slate clad slopes. There were once slate quarries on this hill, and more information on these and the slate crofters can be found in Robert Smiths book 'Land of the Lost'.
- Younger forest
- Remnants of slate quarry workings
- Shelter for quarry workers
Past the quarries there is a low level fence, topped with barbed wire. We found a handy plastic bucket which was strategically placed to help us over!
- A quick hop over the fence
A wonderful windswept golden landscape took us the last short walk to the summit, where we were almost blown over by the gusts! Views across the whole of the North East were our reward for this short walk, plus sadly the sight of ever increasing numbers of windfarms
- Windblown landscape as we approached summit
- Big North East skies
- North East Landscape
- Windfarms
We had to hold onto the trig, the wind was so strong!
- Holding onto the trig
We finally left this windy spot and headed back towards the slate quarries for a cuppa. A rain shower passed over Bennachie providing an atmospheric panorama for our descent.
- Rainshower over Bennachie
The hill may not have been quite as impressive as Derry Cairngorm, but I think we probably made a good decision as we could see the Cairngorms were shrouded in low cloud. We'll hopefully head out to the munros again next week, weather permitting!