We had 22 enthusiastic walkers out on the bus for today’s walk in the Angus hills.
The bus took the scenic route up Royal Deeside with a comfort stop at Braemar on the way to our starting point for the main walk at Little Forter at the head of Glen Isla.
Main Walk – Little Forter to Braedownie via Mayar
Those walkers (16 in total) who had chosen to do the long walk to Braedownie in Glen Doll disembarked here which was also happened to be the starting point for one of the Cateran trails of which there are many in this area.
Not long into the walk red kites were spotted in the sky above – this was a pleasant surprise for everyone. The weather forecast had indicated a mixture of cloudy skies with sunny intervals however the expected clouds did not appear so it was clear skies and sun for the whole day which made walking extremely difficult. Despite the arduous climb upwards walkers were rewarded with great views of the landscape and Mount Blair with its communications mast on top could be clearly seen from various locations. The original group of 16 walkers gradually split into several smaller groups as the day progressed and after Mayar was climbed one walker burst ahead to claim their 2nd Munro of the day – Dreish. At the top of the Shank of Drumfollow there was a choice of descending down the ridge or taking the steep track and both routes were taken by our walkers. On the way to the bus at Braedownie the distinctive “Keeya” cry of a buzzard could be heard but not seen as the view of the sky was obscured by the surrounding trees.
The last group arrived at the bus around 6:00 pm – about 30 minutes late which was good going given the extremely hot weather conditions.
Shorter Walk – Braedownie to Bachnagairn via the river South Esk
The bus travelled down Glen Isla from Little Forter towards the finishing point at Braedownie. The 6 walkers who remained on the bus disembarked here and they made their way up the track to the bridge at Bachnagairn. As it was a warm day several of the walkers decided to cool off by removing socks and boots to take a refreshing paddle in the waters of the South Esk. The walkers returned by the same route although one walker explored a route on the other side of the river for part of the way. All 6 walkers were back at the bus around 4:45 pm.
Everyone had a good day out – tired but happy – and as we were a bit behind time it was decided to miss out the pub stop and head straight for Aberdeen. Kyle, our driver, got us back on time around 8pm.
Gilbert