Thurs 22 October - Badandua Hill

Start Point: Slochnacraig in Glen Shee (much closer start points are available - I tagged this onto the end of a route recce on behalf of TGO Challenge East)

Finish Point: Parking area on B951, within 1.5km S of Little Forter (nearer finish points are also available)

Distance and Ascent: 20km, 750m

Weather: dry and bright

 

Having already been up Ben Gulabin in the morning, then walked in to Glen Isla from Glen Shee, via Loch Beanie, by the time I'd explored the signed path around the buildings at Fergus (why do they send you around three sides of a rectangle, rather than just straight up the fourth side, which would avoid two burn crossings? If I hadn't been specifically checking this out for a TGOC E route, I would have taken the obvious, not the signed, route), I was feeling sufficiently tired that I wasn't sure I fancied the extra 5km to go up Badandua Hill, versus just walking out along the river. 

 

With the the weather for the morrow being miserably wet again, I contemplated: 5km now, or 14k in the rain tomorrow? An obvious answer, you'd think, but I still wasn't wild about the extra 5km. Then I found myself semi-thwarted by the second burn crossing in taking the detour around Fergus (it had rained a lot over the previous two days), I looked up the W side of the hill and it looked eminently doable to me and such a direct approach would cut around 4km off the rest of my route.

 

Aside from the obvious steepness, it was a straightforward ascent, with good firm grass next to a trickle of a burn, that cut a line through the heather. Even further up, once I'd reached the end of the grassy break, the heather wasn't too bad. I don't think it was massively faster than going the long way around, but rather than striding along a path fixated on how much further I had to go, the steepness of the slope distracted me nicely from the question of time or distance. 

 

Having been nicely warm most of the day, despite areas of ice on the ground that persisted into the afternoon, and having overheated on the steep ascent, once I got to the top, and into the wind, it was immediately freezing and not a place to linger for long. Getting down was remarkably faster than getting up had been - 4km on good track, followed by 2km on road, with gravity helping me the whole way.  

 

I ended up particularly happy that I'd made the effort to tag this onto the end of my recce, as when the forecast for Friday improved, it freed me up to go and do another recce, albeit at the cost that I didn't have time to nip up Monamenach, which is now a bit of an outlying unbagged hill for me.  

See the obvious green line through the heather? That was my ascent route until it veered off in an unhelpful direction.  

 

Summit selfie. Cold, but what fine weather. 

Looking up upper Glen Isla

 
 

Thurs 22 October - Ben Gulabin (NO 10041 72206; 806m)

Start Point: verge parking by track end on A93, where it's possible to stop without falling foul of the 'no parking' sign in the gateway.

Distance and ascent: 5.5km, 460m

Weather: dry and bright, but cold with a reported windchill of -10.

 

The forecast wasn't as sunny as had been predicted a few days prior, and the wind speeds were a little higher than I would have liked, but it was a westerly wind and I was going up the east side of the hill, so I figured I'd probably not have to fight it too much.

The going was easy, with the first 1.8k being on a good track, then on an ATV track, although some of the steeper parts of that were so muddy and slippery that I diverted through the adjacent heather. 

It was only in the final approach to the summit that I really got into the wind, and my goodness, that wind chill was every bit as cold as forecast and my cheeks were soon stinging with the cold. 

Snow had fallen overnight on the higher tops, and this summit was a good viewpoint to admire the prettiness. I didn't tarry too long; aside from having another 26k and another summit to fit into the day, it was too cold up there to be stationary for too long.

I was back at Bertie-the-Motorhome within 1.5 hours of having left (faster than OS Digital's estimated ascent time), and we were soon on our way for my next outing, which, if energy levels permitted, would culminate in another Marilyn being ticked off. 

Looking N up the A93

Snowy summits over there

 

 

 

Wednesday 21 October - Creag nan Gabhar (NO 154 841, 834m)

Start Point: Auchallater car park (NO 156 881)

End Point: Large layby just S of Newbigging (NO 145 851)

Distance and Ascent: 8.8km, 500m 

Weather: Rain, but not a breath of wind. Around 10 degrees.

 

It’s a strange thing that I’ve never been up this hill. I seem to recall that we had intentions to go up it one February, when we spent a week in Braemar*, but snow conditions (and maybe the after effects of wading through snow up Morrone the previous day) had us just take a walk up to Loch Callater instead. (*I've just looked it up; it was in February 2013 - click here for the relevant blog post)

Having not gone up the hill I’d had pencilled in for yesterday (when the weather turned out to be far better than forecast), I wasn’t prepared to bypass Creag nan Gabhar today, even though the weather was wetter. On the plus side, there was no wind at all, and in my hierarchy of weather conditions I’d prefer to be out in, I’ll take a steady rain with no wind over a strong wind with no rain (although only if I ignore the issue of ending up with a whole pile of wet kit to get dry).

Anyhooooo, it was gone noon by the time I set out from the Auchallater car park, where there were just two other vehicles. I passed what I assume to be the occupants of one of them soon after I set out, and by their attire I’d say they’d been for a dog walk, rather than up on the hills, which led me to believe that, at most, there was me and one other person prepared to be heading up into the soggy clouds today.

My outward route was simplicity itself: a track up to Sron nan Gabhar, then a well-trodden line the rest of the way. I took the trouble, once up there, to wander around a bit to be sure I hit the high point, and after a couple of photos, back down I headed, although not before I’d dropped a message to Mick asking him to reposition himself to the layby just S of Newbigging, giving me a 2km return leg, rather than 6km.

Its inexcusable, particularly given Mick’s parting words of ‘use your compass!’, that I then exited headed off the hill in the wrong direction (actually, to give myself credit, I headed off in the correct direction, but then failed to take the turn I needed). Finally the question as to why Loch Callater was in front of me got the better of me, I checked the map and kicked myself. A period of contouring around to the correct side of the hill ensued, before I dropped steeply down through easy-going heather, interspersed with the odd section of rough grass.

Meanwhile, Mick was making a similar size of meal about navigating to my destination layby, but he reached it as I made my final approach to the same location, and all is well that ends well (as we pulled away from that layby a short while later, I lost my phone signal, and it has since become apparent that the local phone mast has gone out of service; thank goodness that didn’t happen twenty minutes earlier!)

I bet it’s a magnificent viewpoint on a clear day.

Callater Burn running a bit high today

Mick (and Bertie-the-Motorhome) awaiting me in the layby