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I had the weekend pencilled in for a walk with my long term school friend Ewan, he is building up to coming with me on longer trips this summer so we planned on a wee jaunt down in Glen Clova as a starter. Picked him up about 8.30 am and we drove to Glen Clova hotel, we turned left over the small bridge and parked the car up in the car park which has benches for picnics and toilet facilities. The Glen Clova Hotel and surrounding lodges and bunkhouses were teeming with people, a real hive of activity. We booted up and crossed back over the bridge and heading up behind the hotel and past the lodges and took the path signed for Glenesk.
- Sign indicating path to take
- Path upwards to Glenesk behind the cabins
Followed the path/landrover track up to a fence and kissing gate and went through up onto the open hillside.
- Just passed through the kissing gate
A sign indicated you’d need to keep dogs under close control in nesting season, April-July, I was glad we were still in March as mine can scout out a Grouse no bother and must have sent about 40 up over the course of the day. The path up was in good condition and we made good time, steps had been created on the steeper bits.
- Route/path ahead up to Loch Brandy
- Looking back along the ridge South side of Glen Clova to Driesh
Later I found out why the path was so good and worn compared to the rest of our walk, most people seemed to go up the path to Loch Brandy have a rest and go back down the same way. Once we got to loch Brandy we took the path that ran closer to the loch as the dogs wanted a swim and we wanted photos.
- Reaching Loch Brandy and cliffs
- Loch Brandy
- Loch Brandy
The path to the right was a more gentle ascent which Ewan preferred as oppose to going up the left path between the Corrie of Clova and Loch Brandy.
- Path up to Green Hill
We stopped for a sandwich at the 870m cairn of Green hill, unfortunately someone had forgotten their sandwich and the plastic bag it was in so I picked it up to dispose of in the bin later.
- Back down to Loch Brandy and Driesh and Mayar in distance
- Mount Keen poking it's head up
- Lochnagar
- Lochnagar Zoomed
We could see our target over to the East so we carried on and soon reached the electric fence. We hoped over the style and soon had to cross the section of peat bog, this would be terrible in wet conditions but luckily things were still semi frozen enough that we did not sink in too far to the wet ground.
- Looking back having crossed the electric fence, dogs were lifted over
- Ewan on a snow slope
- Following the electric fence up through the peat bogs
We followed the fence for a bit then aimed for the small col between Ben Tirran and its true summit The Goet.
- The Goet and Ben Tirran coming into view
There was a couple already sitting in the summit cairn of the Goet so we sat outside and admired the views to Lochnagar and Mount Keen.
- Me and dogs on the Goet summit
After another sandwich we walked over to the small cairn marking the summit of Ben Tirran.
- Looking back to summit cairn and trig of the Goet
- Loch Wharral and wee green cabin middle left of pic
I noticed the green hut beside Loch Wharral so we made a direct line for it coming over the hill, stopping briefly to speak to two guys that were heading to the wreckage of a wellington aircraft somewhere North East of the Goet. Had a look into the hut and it looked quite cosy, a stove and table etc, there was something quite Appalachian about the scene, the cabin with the loch beyond it.
- Seen a few of these, what are they? Salt licks for sheep/deer maybe?? No idea
- Wee green cabin Loch Wharral
- Schiehallion???
We crossed the outflow from Loch Wharral and skirted the side of the Corrie of Inchdowrie in between that and Rough Craig, we soon reached the electric fence again and hoped over it. Here we were frightened by a half dozen deer hinds bolting past us, in hot pursuit were the two spaniels, they were keeping up with the deer till they split up and Lochy followed one group and Roy the other, Christ sake. It was not till the heather got too deep that both dogs gave up and came creeping back to me knowing a row was inevitable, it was obviously worth a row though. Wee sh*tes, I wonder what they thought they were going to do if they caught an animal about 10-15 times their size? We then followed an old fence west under Brown Holm, where the dogs struck jackpot again, this time a rotten sheep carcass was the object of their attention (bet they wish they had the lottery on this weekend).
- Following a rusty old fence
Once I prized them away it was over to the path we took up to Loch brandy and an easy sonter back to the car from there.