Winter 2012 when I topped Mt. keen and Mt. Battock I was intrigued by the 'big gap' between them and said then to myself: "One day I'll find out myself". Only a few months ago when I walked up Gannoch coming from Ballochan I looked down that big gap again only to remind myself. So on my first day off the new year I decided to go for it as this was an ideal low level track after all the recent rainfall. Starting at sunrise resulted in great colours over Hill of Wirren and bright heather colours looking north-west.


Having past the old farm of Baillies the track follows the Water of Tarf until you reach a ford, but with all the snowmelt the water level was too high to cross anywhere. After checking out a few spots for a possible jump I decided to take off my boots and walk through the fast flowing water not too mention the toe numbing temperature. Managed to make a pic somehow with the waters up to my knees hoping that this however would be the only time I would have to take my boots off. Looking on the map there were another 15 crossings still to come.




After a jump over the next burn it was the first ascent of the day. Not high in altitude but very steep nonetheless which resulted in another great view back down my first 6km of the day with the Water of Tarf flowing into the River North Esk. Going round Hill of Corn you can see the track going round various hills only to be broken into sections from burn to burn which all make up the source of Water of Tarf. Lots of wildlife in these hidden corners like a family of Deer, pheasants and even 2 white rare hares but the latter were too quick for a pic.




The 2nd and last ascent was the steep Hill of Gairney at the start of the 2nd half of the circuit. The track was quite often covered in snow as deep as 1 meter in some places down to the cold wind and the track being more like a groove in the hillside.

As soon I was round Hill of Gairney, crossed Burn of Adekimore and over Hill of Saughs the views became more extensive towards Lochnagar and Loch Lee. A view to Mt. Keen was still blocked by Braid Cairn.


Since the track was quite exposed without anything in particular to focus on I sort of lost track of time and of tracks and when there was one branching off to the left I thought this was the one down Badalair only to find out later at the start of some grouse butts that it wasn't as the track suddenly stopped. If it wasn't for a massive puddle that I managed to cross by jumping from weed to stone to heather I would have turned around but instead decided that the only way forward was downhill Corrie Duff towards Burnside. This turned out quite a nice descent actually with lots of wildlife resting places that I thought were all abandoned untill I saw my 3rd white hare of the day.

Back on a proper track again I arrived at a junction and when looking back I realised how and where I went wrong. I should have come down the left hill and maybe pay a bit more attention to all the burns branching off the track like landmarks. Nevertheless it was a great and eventful walk that will probably be even better in summer.