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After the morning's
walk at Blairgowrie and a quick pub lunch after, there seemed just enough time to revisit the Sidlaw Hills, this time to make the trip up to Dunsinane and King's Seat.
There was one other car at the start of the walk near Collace, which drove off just as we arrived. It was just above freezing when we set off on the steep uphill track, but there still was a heavy frost in places the sun hadn't reached. Wonderful views opened up almost immediately, north across Strathmore to the distant Highlands.
After passing a shield of trees there was a first view over to King's Seat up to the left.
The track narrowed to a path - snow free but frozen solid and slippery underfoot. Dunsinane was straight ahead.
Dunsinane - of Macbeth fame - didn't look like much from the approach. But the summit featured earthworks from an old hill fort, and the ground dropped away steeply particularly to the south and east for 360 degree views.
Next up: Black Hill beyond a deep cleft.
Straightforward until this point, but a few decisions to make as the path narrowed and branched a few times. We took the northernmost option at first, with some spectacular contrasts between the shady and sunny slopes.
Soon though we wanted to get back to the top of the ridge for better views. Still a rough path at this point. King's Seat looked a long way away though!
Views north:
The paths tended to draw us onto the sunny southern side of the ridge from here onwards, becoming very faint or even non-existent in places. Scenery made up for tougher conditions underfoot though:
For much of the rest of the route we followed a wall on the south side of the ridge which had a faint path on its left hand side, though this descended a little further than we would have liked. King's Seat gradually got nearer and we'd picked up a better path again. However, it appeared to head right past the summit area on its south side, so we had to cut across heather and a few partly-frozen boggy patches to reach the trig point in perfect evening light.
Sunset wasn't far off and cloud was slowly approaching from the west, so time to head back - we varied the route slightly in search of better paths, but no improvement on the outward route really. There was one moment of drama when we almost stepped on a poor roe deer hiding in the heather, which exploded out of the undergrowth grouse-style and took off at top speed, leaving the depression it had made steaming from its body heat.
One last view of Dunsinane, which we avoided reascending by traversing its northern slopes instead.
A walk of two parts: easy to Dunsinane, much rougher beyond. But well worth it for the views.
