A Walk of Three Thirds
Date walked: 04/03/2024
Time taken: 6.2 hours
Distance: 30.1km
Ascent: 820m
For the last two years this has been my February/March go-to route as I get the legs ready for the walking season. This year it's a later 1st visit to the route but my 3rd trip to Glen Esk in a week.
Starting at the Invermark Car Park at 7:10am it's a balmy -4 (it was -6 on Friday) and with low sunlight hitting the glen, it's a beautiful start to the day as I head past the ruined castle and on towards Loch Lee.
At this time in the morning I have Loch Lee to myself and it's a really enjoyable walk with the spectacular low light from the sun which is directly behind me. After Loch Lee I follow the Water of Lee into Glen Lee as I follow the track through the narrow glen up to the Stables of Lee (a lot of Lee's!).
After the stables there is an unnamed burn to cross, Usually this is straight forward but the normal stepping stones are under water so I head uphill for a safe crossing point. Luckily, I had only gone through the heather for ten to fifteen yards when I spotted what looked like a good place to cross. I reached the stones in the middle of the burn and as I was deciding how to plot my way over the last part, I managed to over balance and was off. One step into the cold water and out on to the far bank - could have been a lot worse I suppose.
I know from the last two winters that the further up Glen Lee you head, the more the glen retains snow as it narrows and is sheltered on all sides by the surrounding hills. Even with that knowledge I was surprised how the track suddenly transformed from spring to winter in the space of about 100 yards.
Still following the Water of Lee the gradual climb becomes much harder than normal. The snow isn't deep, it's a fairly consistent 3-4 inches and in shelterd spots it has a maximum depth of about a foot but this is at 600m and four days earlier I was a dozen miles down the glen at 753m and all the snow was gone - amazing difference.
On reaching the point where the track fords the burn the gradual climb of the last couple of miles will change in to something much steeper and I considered turning back but the stubborn me one over and I headed on up. The snow on the far side of the burn was deeper and the gradient was much tougher but surprisingly I found this slightly easier, I also thought that once I reached the plateau where the wind always seemed to blow hard there was a good chance there would be less snow than on the lower more sheltered ground and this turned out to be the case making the last mile to the end of the track (by Easter Balloch) a bit easier. By now there was quite a bit of cloud around, the sun had disappeared and in what was a fairly strong wind it was pretty cold so while I was hungry that would have to wait till I could get out of the wind.
I retraced my steps (literally) back to the point where a track heads off over an unnamed top at 761m towards Muckle Cairn. Again I considered just heading back the way I came but quickly decided to stick with my normal route and head towards Muckle Cairn. Still on a bit of a plateau this was OK, the snow was a consistent depth with only the odd deep pocket in sheltered spots. Because of the increasing cloud cover all the distant tops to the north had disappeared but it was still a really good walk over to Muckle Cairn where I saw my first footprints of the day so at least a couple of people had come directly up from the burn crossing just above the stables. A quick photo at top of Muckle Cairn and I was off down the hill to rejoin the main track and find a place to cross the burn. Halfway down Muckle Cairn I suddenly went from a winter hill to patchy snow and then nothing but heather. The winter part of the walk was over and it was back to spring for the final leg.
Just past the stables I stopped for my first food of the walk, the customary dairylea cheese and raspberry jam rolls - heaven
After the little bothy there is a track that heads uphill to the north (between Cairn of Camlet and Monawee). I had never been on it before but today my nose got the better of me and I took the detour as initially it climbed quite steeply away from the main track through the glen before eaasing off. I followed it till the crossing of a burn to check that it was passable and seeing that it was turned back with the intention of returning here soon for another wander (possibly over to Wolf Craig which sits above the Stables of Lee).
Back on the main track I headed back to the car park and once I was down at Loch Lee there were a few people out for a walk. Very much a spring-winter-spring walk today with the middle part feeling like a completely different world. At times, it felt like walking through treacle and it was easily the toughest conditions I've done this route in - bloomin good fun though
I've done this route numerous times and don't make it public but this was just a special day so here it is!
Starting at the Invermark Car Park at 7:10am it's a balmy -4 (it was -6 on Friday) and with low sunlight hitting the glen, it's a beautiful start to the day as I head past the ruined castle and on towards Loch Lee.
At this time in the morning I have Loch Lee to myself and it's a really enjoyable walk with the spectacular low light from the sun which is directly behind me. After Loch Lee I follow the Water of Lee into Glen Lee as I follow the track through the narrow glen up to the Stables of Lee (a lot of Lee's!).
After the stables there is an unnamed burn to cross, Usually this is straight forward but the normal stepping stones are under water so I head uphill for a safe crossing point. Luckily, I had only gone through the heather for ten to fifteen yards when I spotted what looked like a good place to cross. I reached the stones in the middle of the burn and as I was deciding how to plot my way over the last part, I managed to over balance and was off. One step into the cold water and out on to the far bank - could have been a lot worse I suppose.
I know from the last two winters that the further up Glen Lee you head, the more the glen retains snow as it narrows and is sheltered on all sides by the surrounding hills. Even with that knowledge I was surprised how the track suddenly transformed from spring to winter in the space of about 100 yards.
Still following the Water of Lee the gradual climb becomes much harder than normal. The snow isn't deep, it's a fairly consistent 3-4 inches and in shelterd spots it has a maximum depth of about a foot but this is at 600m and four days earlier I was a dozen miles down the glen at 753m and all the snow was gone - amazing difference.
On reaching the point where the track fords the burn the gradual climb of the last couple of miles will change in to something much steeper and I considered turning back but the stubborn me one over and I headed on up. The snow on the far side of the burn was deeper and the gradient was much tougher but surprisingly I found this slightly easier, I also thought that once I reached the plateau where the wind always seemed to blow hard there was a good chance there would be less snow than on the lower more sheltered ground and this turned out to be the case making the last mile to the end of the track (by Easter Balloch) a bit easier. By now there was quite a bit of cloud around, the sun had disappeared and in what was a fairly strong wind it was pretty cold so while I was hungry that would have to wait till I could get out of the wind.
I retraced my steps (literally) back to the point where a track heads off over an unnamed top at 761m towards Muckle Cairn. Again I considered just heading back the way I came but quickly decided to stick with my normal route and head towards Muckle Cairn. Still on a bit of a plateau this was OK, the snow was a consistent depth with only the odd deep pocket in sheltered spots. Because of the increasing cloud cover all the distant tops to the north had disappeared but it was still a really good walk over to Muckle Cairn where I saw my first footprints of the day so at least a couple of people had come directly up from the burn crossing just above the stables. A quick photo at top of Muckle Cairn and I was off down the hill to rejoin the main track and find a place to cross the burn. Halfway down Muckle Cairn I suddenly went from a winter hill to patchy snow and then nothing but heather. The winter part of the walk was over and it was back to spring for the final leg.
Just past the stables I stopped for my first food of the walk, the customary dairylea cheese and raspberry jam rolls - heaven
After the little bothy there is a track that heads uphill to the north (between Cairn of Camlet and Monawee). I had never been on it before but today my nose got the better of me and I took the detour as initially it climbed quite steeply away from the main track through the glen before eaasing off. I followed it till the crossing of a burn to check that it was passable and seeing that it was turned back with the intention of returning here soon for another wander (possibly over to Wolf Craig which sits above the Stables of Lee).
Back on the main track I headed back to the car park and once I was down at Loch Lee there were a few people out for a walk. Very much a spring-winter-spring walk today with the middle part feeling like a completely different world. At times, it felt like walking through treacle and it was easily the toughest conditions I've done this route in - bloomin good fun though
I've done this route numerous times and don't make it public but this was just a special day so here it is!
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Gordie12
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