Down south again this week to Glenshee and Angus by Braemar.



Started at Blacklunans. Parked up by the Telephone box "library" next to the exchange where a BT engineer was working.
The track was a bit overgrown in places and also harbouring a soggy bottom, but an easy way up the hill, albeit a bit longer than from Drumore Loch. For some unknown reason I started to follow a fence after exiting the wood, before GordonC woke me up and pointed me back over to the track. This accounts for the deviation on the way up - stupid boy !.
Further up the track, we spotted a dyke leading up in the direction of the top, so we followed animal tracks alongside it, until we intersected another dye. GC spotted a larch that had been blown over until it was nearly parallel with the ground, but still growing vigorously ! It was a short moose-step across to the next fence which we followed to the top.







Good views across Strathmore to the south, and Mount Blair to the north. Returned the same way.
A nice drive to Backwater Res along a road I'd never driven before !



CREIGH HILL and CAIRN PLEW



Parked up in the layby and had lunch. Found the start of the ATV track and went through the gate and up the hill.








For a wee while, we could see what we throught was a track ascending the face of Creigh Hill opposite, but as the track we were on continued to near the top of Macritch Hill, we just followed it until a faint path took us to the top and a fence fence leading across to Creigh. There were faint paths/tracks parallel to this fence, across to the main top of Creigh Hill and the mysterious Cairn Motherie. ( see below for Archeological details).





Alerted by Isbjorn - HB blogger, we decided to follow suit and walk across to Cairn Plew, to obviate the necessity for a future ascent should it be awarded a future height gain.. Certainly - using my mark one calibrated eyeball, it looked higher from Creich and still higher looking back at Creich !






After an inspection of the ruins, we did the diretissimo descent and struck off down to the road - a bit teuch at the bottom though, and a BWF to loup and heave H over - with a combined effort..

As I was feeling particularly indolent today, we turned left at Dykend, leaving Creaglea for another day and headed home through Kirrie and up the main drag to Westhill. Apart from a temporary wee dusting of clag on Plew, the weather was fine, even blessed with a walk back up the road to the car in sunshine, scaring a deer back into the wood by the loch on the way ! Saw a couple of buzzards, a kestrel and a red kite on the road along to Kirrie. ( It's the furthest south that I've seen a kite )
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Entry Name: Cairn Motherie,cairn,Creigh Hill
Scheduled Date: 12 March 1996
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Source ID: SM6343
Schedule Class: Cultural
Category: Prehistoric ritual and funerary: cairn (type uncertain)
Location: Lintrathen
County: Angus
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Cairn Plew
NO25NE 2 2642 5843.
On the S summit of Creigh Hill there is a cairn known as Cairn Plew; it measures 13m in diameter and 1.2m in height.
Name Book 1863; RCAHMS 1983.
Surveyed at 1:10560.
Visited by OS 23 September 1958 and 30 March 1971.
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