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The Coyles of Muick

The Coyles of Muick


Postby Alastair S » Mon Feb 07, 2011 10:47 pm

Sub 2000' hills included on this walk: The Coyles of Muick

Date walked: 05/02/2011

Time taken: 3 hours

Distance: 13.8 km

Ascent: 501m

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The Coyles of Muick profile.jpg


Still no proper boots so another short low level stretch to keep my eye in. Did think of taking myself off to Lock Lee & Hunt Hill but didn't get my act together in time so headed for Ballater again. The Coyles of Muick have been on my radar for some time and having got a decent view of them the previous week while on Pannanich Hill I decided now was the time to scratch this particular itch. The first problem was where to park. Seeing as Birkhall is a [sometime] royal residence thought I best not leave the car near there. The Glen Muick road is single track with passing places but the early part has some grassy run off that would be out of anyone's way, so I pulled in near the turning to the Birkhall road. In the end there was no one at home @ Birkhall & the area where the tarmac road ends (Mill of Sterin, NO349928) is large enough to park several cars. Anyway had my lunch in the car and was on my way by 1:30pm.

Weather was reasonable - high thin cloud with blue showing through with a stiff breeze high up. Going was easy through forestry tracks that for the most part were as per the map. The part of the forest I cut through at the top was a recently harvested bit with quite a few fallen trees to negotiate as well, so was heavy going. But it wasn't for too long and there was no deer fencing at the top. Made for Meall Dubh first. A few photos & then on to the main peak. Part of the reason for coming up here was to see if the large prominence at the top was natural or a big cairn. As you can see its the latter. One side has collapsed making clambering to its top a doodle.


Deeside & Ballater from Meall Dubh
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Mount Keen & The Coyles of Muick from Meall Dubh
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Coyles of Muick Cairn
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View North from The Coyles
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Large version here


The true peak is a couple of hundred metres to the south, with decent views south. Off the summit I continued SW for a bit to avoid the steepest bit and then made for the forest. Not so lucky with deer fences here but not a problem to scale (if you don't have a dog). Had to do this twice as the fence protected some young trees. Soon back to forestry track - fairly muddy here due to recently forestry activity.

True summit of The Coyles from the cairn. Loch Muick to the left, Lochnagar to the right. (HDR treated photo)
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Coyles Cairn
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Loch Muick & beyond
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The Linn of Muick was my next destination. Been past them on my MTB last summer but now I was equipped with my newish DLSR. Spent a good 40 minutes taking snaps here (will post more on Flickr over the next few days) so I've taken half an hour off my trip time. Next time I'm this way I'm going to try getting down below the waterfall but it looks like it might be a bit tricky.

Linn of Muick
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Muick In Motion
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Flickr set over here.

Revisited the falls a month later with my new 10-stop filter. Here are a couple of the result.

Steps
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Linn Of Muick (Vertorama)
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Last edited by Alastair S on Mon Apr 04, 2011 3:30 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Alastair S
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Re: The Coyles of Muick

Postby Alan S » Mon Feb 07, 2011 10:54 pm

Nice report there alastair love the hdr pics 8) The weather was certainly better in the east
I think i can see stretch on top of mount keen :lol:
Last edited by Alan S on Mon Feb 07, 2011 10:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Coyles of Muick

Postby Stretch » Mon Feb 07, 2011 10:55 pm

Great pics Alastair, especially those last two shots. Gammy and I waved from Mount Keen, the other two were too busy playing with their ice axes though :lol: :lol:
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Re: The Coyles of Muick

Postby ChrisW » Mon Feb 07, 2011 11:24 pm

Great report and fantastic pics (as always) - thanks Alastair , being so close to us I'm going to have to give that one a try soon :D
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Re: The Coyles of Muick

Postby Paul Webster » Tue Feb 08, 2011 9:36 am

Brilliant. The pics with the long exposure of the water look really atmospheric.... do you carry a tripod or have you got one of this mini joby things?
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Re: The Coyles of Muick

Postby Merry-walker » Tue Feb 08, 2011 9:46 am

Cracking walk. Love the pictures and views especially MK :D :thumbup:
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Re: The Coyles of Muick

Postby Alastair S » Tue Feb 08, 2011 10:13 am

Thanks all :D

Paul Webster wrote:Brilliant. The pics with the long exposure of the water look really atmospheric.... do you carry a tripod or have you got one of this mini joby things?

Had my tripod with me for this one as I knew I'd want it for the waterfall. For longer walks I don't bother as its too time consuming faffing about with it.
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Re: The Coyles of Muick

Postby malky_c » Tue Feb 08, 2011 10:14 am

Hmm, what to do with this one. Combine with Conachcraig maybe? Needs something else to justify the drive for me. Looks like good views anyway - very atmospheric in parts. Like your river/waterfall shots, too. 8)
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Re: The Coyles of Muick

Postby gammy leg walker » Tue Feb 08, 2011 11:37 am

Nice report Alastair,hope you seen us waving at you from Mount Keen
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Re: The Coyles of Muick

Postby Alastair S » Tue Feb 08, 2011 2:47 pm

malky_c wrote:Hmm, what to do with this one. Combine with Conachcraig maybe? Needs something else to justify the drive for me

Or Creag Ghiubhais perhaps?
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Re: The Coyles of Muick

Postby fingeez » Tue Feb 08, 2011 7:51 pm

Hey Alastair

Looks like a nice walk, some cracking pics aswell :)
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Re: The Coyles of Muick

Postby Alastair S » Mon Apr 04, 2011 3:33 pm

Now added a couple more photos after another visit to the fall in early March & here's one more :)

Image
Ladder by Alastair S, on Flickr
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Re: The Coyles of Muick

Postby Merry-walker » Wed Apr 06, 2011 4:51 pm

very nice 8)
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