One good thing - 19th April 2020

The weekend gave opportunity for a longer walk, and one which has been on my list to do for some time.  The enforced restriction to local ventures has focused me on exploring more of what's on the doorstep.  Setting out from home I intended to follow the cattle droving route which linked Rhynie to Alford - though my route would do it in the opposite direction to the drovers.

A short walk along minor roads reaches Terpersie and the small "castle", a 16th century tower house restored to habitable condition which is the earliest dated example of a Z-plan design in Scotland.  Terpersie marks the end of the public road and the start of a hill track leading over the Correen hills.

A long but easy climb on an old track goes up past old quarry workings on a gentle spur to reach the lowest point of the Correen ridge at about 450m/1475ft near Badingair Hill.  The view back is expansive but the whole of the Howe of Alford is hidden from here.

Looking east it was apparent that lots of the snow has been stripped from even the highest Cairngorm hills in the fine and sunny weather which has so far characterised April, the giant Ben Avon holding most patches.

Across the watershed of the ridge a fine view opens up into Strathbogie with Tap o'Noth very and it's huge hillfort very prominent.  Another hillfort site, Carn More, can be made out as a pale mound just beyond the right hand of the wind turbines.

The view is undoubtedly changed by the turbines and the large solar energy array - this is the compromise to be considered if a move to a low-carbon energy economy is to happen.

The drove route leads down past Carn More to the village of Rhynie, it once linked Rhynie with the cattle marts at Alford and Lumphanan.  My route went down to the base of the hill and then I headed west (right in this image) to link farm tracks towards Clatt.....

...with it's pretty church (which has a Pictish symbol stone incorporated into a boundary wall).  This was a 15km walk and a good one.  I'm glad that staying local prompted me to walk this track, next time I'll follow the drove route to Rhynie itself.