I was contemplating the dual questions of where to park for this hill, and where we were going to spend the night, when I found that there’s a 2-motorhome Aire at Black Bull Byre (Blelack Farm). It added 4km each way onto the route, but that wasn’t a problem, especially as it meant that there was no reason that Mick couldn't come with me.
That 4km walk-in would have been very easily cyclable, if we had two bikes, but it was a perfectly pleasant walk. We’re doing well this week for coming across forests that are far nicer than expected when I see a conifer plantation marked on the map – this one was again widely spaced old trees, this time with heather covering the ground.
There was just one car in the parking area opposite the track that leads to the open hillside, and we hadn’t gone very far along the track before we spotted its occupants. We were quite a distance away, but even so, one of the party looked like they were lacking enthusiasm. We retained that impression as we passed them a while later, and if I had to guess I would say that this hill was his idea and he’d talked her into joining him against her better judgment.
Having chosen to take the shortest ascent route, we encountered some steep sections where the erosion has made the going into ‘plates of ball-bearings’, which is bad enough in ascent, but would be particularly testing in descent. If we’d stuck to that path on the way down, I would have been surprised indeed if we’d both managed to stay on our feet the whole way down. But first, we had to get to the top, via (I think) three false summits, none of which surprised me, as I was keeping my eye on the map and I had an altimeter on my wrist, however, I imagine if you were climbing this hill somewhat unwillingly, you’d probably resent at least a couple of them.
The wind forecast was 30-40mph, and that felt about right as we got to the upper reaches and the summit. We made good use of the wind shelter that (nearly) encircles the trig point to don some extra layers and have a snack, with one eye on the heavy rain that seemed to be rapidly approaching from the west. (Incidentally, MWIS said that the temperature at 900m would be 7-10 degrees in the Cairngorms, but with a windchill on the higher tops making it feel like -7. It certainly felt like it was somewhere around or just under zero on this 870m summit.)
After summit snaps at the nearby cairn, steps were initially retraced, until a cairned fork in the path, where we veered off to take the long way down. A good choice, not only to avoid the plates of ball-bearings, but because in many places it was a really nice path. I suspect that if we’d gone up that way, even with the extra distance, it wouldn’t have taken any longer than going the short route. By the time we got back down to the abandoned farmhouse just before the road, my hands were finally warm again and I was able to shed a layer – the difference in temperature between 200m and 870m was definitely greater than normal today.
Had someone offered us a lift back along the minor road, to the A97, we would have been tempted to take them up on it, but we put a bit of a pace on and were back at Bertie at a time that could still be classed as ‘lunch time’, although in retrospect, packing some sandwiches would have been welcome (a flask of coffee for the summit would have been even more welcome…).
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