There were 23 walkers on today’s outing and after a pickup at Inverurie and a toilet stop at Keith, we headed to the start of the walk at Edinville near Aberlour.
We were dropped off at the nearby Distillery and, all bar 1 member, proceeded on the track up the hill to Ben Rinnes.
4 walkers opted for the lower level walk around the east side of the hill while the remainder continued the ascent of Baby’s Hill towards the rocky tors of Scurran of Well to eventually reach the summit cairn.
The weather forecast had been promising with highs of 17/18 degrees but initially the summit was covered in mist and low clouds. These soon burned off when the sun broke through there was a bitterly cold wind as we approached the main top. However, lunch was taken on the sheltered leeward side of the hill.
It was then a pleasant and warm afternoon descending on a good steep track passing Roy’s Hill and Round Hill to reach the newly extended car park at Glacks Harnes. On our way down we passed several groups of people ascending the hill from this southside route.
Most of our walkers then ascended Meikle Conval and traversed this hill to reach the Glach en ronack track before proceeding to the Dufftown Golf Club where our bus was parked. A small group however headed around the lower slopes of Meikle Conval where forestry felling had cleared many trees to make the path more easily followed.
Thanks are due to the Golf Club for providing a parking space for our bus and allowing access to the Clubhouse for our pub stop.
We left on time at4.30pm and Dennis our driver had us back in Aberdeen around 6.00pm
Frank