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Away to Angus

Away to Angus


Postby weaselmaster » Sun Jul 05, 2020 9:54 pm

Sub 2000' hills included on this walk: Creag nam Mial, Creigh Hill, Crock, Deuchary Hill, Hare Cairn, Hill of Persie, Meall Mòr (Angus), Mile Hill

Date walked: 05/07/2020

Distance: 53.3 km

Ascent: 2328m

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I haven't written one of these for a while! After all the discussion we've had about where to head when lockdown was relaxed, a crappy weather forecast meant we decided to head to the north east to tackle a little group of eight subs.With lots of trees to negotiate. Lets say it wouldn't have been my first choice, nor indeed Allison's.


mile hill Raw.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts



Anyway we set off into the rain with the traffic rather subdued by the bad weather. Up to Alyth and our first hill - Mile Hill. I'd decided we'd do this from the south, which made it quicker to get to Backwater Reservoir for our second, and used Robert Phillips' route, which begins at a tarmacked road heading to a farm and an artists studio. Some buildings to pass, then across a cowfield and onto the hillside proper. Summit has no distinguishing features and the mist was down. Headed back the same way.

ImageP7030673 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP7030674 by Al, on Flickr

Mile Hill
ImageP7030675 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP7030676 by Al, on Flickr


creigh hill Raw.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts



Drove a few miles along to the dam at Backwater, round to a marked parking place on the east side. This is an ideal spot to start Creigh Hill - there's a gate just to the south of the parking area and an ATV track/sheep tracks that take you along to the summit. Again back down the same way, an hour in all.

ImageP7030677 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP7030679 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP7030680 by Al, on Flickr


crock and hare Raw.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts



The next pair of hills, Hare Cairn and Crock, had caused me to break a little sweat in the planning process. There were several reports of how awful the terrain was, especially getting through felled tree areas. However, I found one by Gordon Ballatyne which seemed to be the easiest - drive to Freuchies and use the ample parking area for the ski trails, then take the forestry road up the middle of the two hills. It was still raining with clag covering the tops when we set off.

The initial track is fine. We chose to go up Crock first - using forestry track then an extraction track amongst the new plantation. Wasn't bad, considering. There's an area of felled/windblown old trees to be traversed or avoided before the summit can be attained - we kept to the edge of the mature trees and had a wee tussle to get through to open hillside then got to the top across heather.

Hare Cairn
ImageP7030681 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP7030682 by Al, on Flickr

Wee bit of difficulty here
ImageP7030683 by Al, on Flickr

Out of the trees
ImageP7030684 by Al, on Flickr

A crock on Crock (I'll pay for that :wink: )
ImageP7030685 by Al, on Flickr

Followed our ascent path more or less to get back down to the central track. Amused an inquisitive herd of cows by giving them a song, though Allison upset them by singing a rude one and they ran off. Continued over the bridge then used another forest track to begin the ascent of Hare Cairn. At the single dead tree we turned left up another extraction track to reach the summit - pretty easy going.

The dead tree
ImageP7030686 by Al, on Flickr

Hare Cairn
ImageP7030687 by Al, on Flickr

Crock from Hare
ImageP7040689 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP7040690 by Al, on Flickr


meall mor Raw.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts



We headed back the way we'd come in and drove a few miles along the road towards Blacklunans, where we stayed in an eco-campsite once apon a time, and picked off Meall Mor from the roadside. The woods at the start were crawling with pheasants. Followed the treeline/fence line up and then back down. Mount Blair in the background.

ImageP7040691 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP7040693 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP7040694 by Al, on Flickr


persie Raw.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts



Then it was a stop off at Hill of Persie. I hadn't actually planned to add this one to our list and wasn't sure what route I had in my GPS - I recalled that Rodmeister had used a route from the ski hire place, but the one I had was more direct (probably Phillips again). We therefore parked in a layby beside a gate and went over an empty cowfield on the west side of Glen Shee to reach this one. Reasonable going, apart from a sharp descent just before the summit, which we skirted round on the return leg.

ImageP7040695 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP7040700 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP7040701 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP7040704 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP7040705 by Al, on Flickr


deuchray mial Raw.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts



Our last two were in Perthshire, not Angus: Deuchray Hill and the more awkward Creag nam Mial. I'd decided to take a route from Guay, which was considerably shorter than attempting this pair from Dunkeld. Most of it was on track, according to the OS map. The area is honeycombed with tracks on the map - I didn't know what state they would be in on the ground. We parked about a kilometre up the Guay road from the A9, where there's parking for half a dozen or more cars, and set out on the good track, passing a number of walkers, including a couple of lads with big packs and a wheeled trolley thing - God knows where they were going. Some rather nice scenery to walk through, some of it reminiscent of paths in the Cairngorms. We rounded on Deuchray Hill, which looked appealing across Lochan na Beinne. On the way down we ran into Bod and Val, and had a good old natter.

ImageP7040706 by Al, on Flickr

Deuchray Hill
ImageP7040707 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP7040709 by Al, on Flickr

Loch Ordie
ImageP7040710 by Al, on Flickr

Bod & Val
ImageP7040711 by Al, on Flickr

We continued around to the east of Loch Ordie (which sadly we didn't really see, except from at the top of Deuchray Hill) and made for Creag nam Mial. Track was fine, though there was the matter of the Buckny Burn to cross, after a night of rain. We took a line up towards Creag nam Mial, following the stone wall and deerfence, managed to get across the burn using the wooden supports for the fence and traipsed on through heather to eventually reach the summit. There's an old building just shy of the top, presumably a sheiling. Nice views and big skies from up there. The descent was a little bit hideous - over bog/heather/tussock which didn't please Allision - would probably have been easier to retrace our ascent route. Anyway, we got back to the path and followed a succession of farm tracks to get back to the car.

rather overgrown path
ImageP7040712 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP7050714 by Al, on Flickr

Creag nam Mial
ImageP7050715 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP7050717 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP7050718 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP7050719 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP7050721 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP7050723 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP7050725 by Al, on Flickr
Nice to get out again, despite the rather less than summery weather, at least the midges and clegs were elsewhere :wink:
weaselmaster
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Posts: 2429
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Re: Away to Angus

Postby PeteR » Mon Jul 06, 2020 1:37 pm

Certainly an interesting selection to mark your return.....Creag nam Mial is the only hill I have left in that area.....I have a suspicion it might stay that way for a while longer though, as it doesn't look like it wants to yield that easily
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PeteR
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Re: Away to Angus

Postby scoob999 » Wed Jul 08, 2020 1:24 pm

Our local hills :D
Can I just say, you missed some seriously good tumps :wink:
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scoob999
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Posts: 1708
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Location: Birnam/Dunkeld. i think?

Re: Away to Angus

Postby weaselmaster » Wed Jul 08, 2020 6:52 pm

scoob999 wrote:Our local hills :D
Can I just say, you missed some seriously good tumps :wink:


With lockdown easing, the attraction of TuMPs has somewhat diminished :wink:
weaselmaster
Hill Bagger
 
Posts: 2429
Munros:277   Corbetts:216
Fionas:183   Donalds:73+30
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Wainwrights:15   Islands:28
Joined: Aug 22, 2012
Location: Greenock

Re: Away to Angus

Postby bar72 » Fri Jan 05, 2024 10:02 am

Thank you for all your trip reports all over the site :) . They've been great in breaking up a cold and dark December and keeping my legs from stiffening up in January. Roll on March and I'll be back on the Corbetts.
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bar72
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Re: Away to Angus

Postby sconehymn » Mon Jan 08, 2024 4:21 am

Without a doubt, an intriguing choice to commemorate your successful return.....Creag nam Mial is the only hill that I still have in that region in my possession.....On the other hand, given that it does not seem to be willing to give up so quickly, I have a sneaking hunch that it will continue to be that way for some time longer.
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