Creatures great and small, the Mark of a good day

Shielin of Mark is maintained by the Mountain Bothies Association, and is the essence of the organisation's ethos "To maintain simple shelters in remote country for the use of all who love wild and lonely places".  Although you can walk to it in less than two hours, there's a feeling of real remoteness to the place.

A basic single room stone building with a couple of benches, two small sleeping platforms and an open fireplace, it can be a very welcoming sight in poor weather.

A recent visitor had left a paperback; appropriately given that the bothy is in Angus, it was "Flemington and Tales from Angus" by Violet Jacob, herself Angus-born.  I know Violet Jacob for her iconic poem "The Wild Geese" (sometimes known as "Norland Wind") but haven't read any of  her books; one to try by a bothy fire maybe.....

The view from the bothy door is a sweep of gently undulating moorland leading to Mount Keen, the easternmost of the Munros.  I was idly thinking about the routes that could be done from Glen Tanar across the Mounth Road to here and then to Glen Muick, a long loop south starting and finishing on Deeside, then I suddenly had a realisation of where I was.

Shielin of Mark, as the name suggests, lies at the head of the Water of Mark which winds down Glen Mark and so to Glen Esk.  To walk between roadheads from Spittal Glenmuick to Invermark in Glen Esk would be approximately 18km by the shortest route; the distance by road is close to 100km!  Now there's a route for the future.....

Back in the bothy, I heard a rustling sound from a polythene bag of sticks which had been placed in a bucket by the fireplace.  A glance inside revealed a small visitor...

A Field Vole (Microtus agrestis) had somehow got itself into the bag of sticks, but it clearly couldn't get out of the bucket.  I took the bucket outside and laid it on one side; after a short while the vole emerged and looked around.  Despite me standing right next to it, the little creature didn't run and hide but immediately started feeding on grass - it must have been really hungry.

I closed up the bothy and climbed back up onto the moor.  For my return route I planned to go over the low summit of Fasheilach and down the Scouble to Glen Muick.  Gloriously lonely country this, but not devoid of interest.  Near the summit (really just a gentle swell of heather on a broad ridge) A couple of Grouse burst from close by, but unusually didn't fly off - they landed quickly and scarpered into the heather.  I wondered why they'd behave like this, and looked up.....

Two huge shapes banked around overhead, eagles for sure, against the great backdrop of Lochnagar

As soon as the birds circled back towards me, I knew exactly what they were.  Golden Eagles will fly straight away from a human - but White Tailed Eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla) tend not to fly away.  As the larger bird banked around the unmistakeable silhouettes confirmed it.  I watched the great birds for over twenty minutes, and this was a pair - the smaller male bird was carrying a prey item which looked like the hindquarters of a Mountain Hare.

Circling, gliding and parallel flying, the eagles put on a fantastic aerial display.  I think that these two may well be two of the three birds I saw in the Angus Glens in November 2015; the locations are a few minutes apart as the eagle flies and these birds need large territories.  This is the first White Tailed Eagles I've seen over the hills of Aberdeenshire - I hope it's a sign that they're expanding into the area.

From a Vole to Eagles - creatures great and small and the Mark of a good day!

A navigation Mark

A recent overnight trip to the "Tarf Hotel" set me thinking about one of the other relatively unfrequented bothies in the north east of Scotland.  I drove to the end of the road at Spittal of Glenmuick where there's a pay and display car park - the price for which has recently been increased further to £4 per visit, which seems a step too far.

The main paths and tracks all head past the estate visitor centre and head south to Loch Muick to access walks around the loch, to the popular Munro of Lochnagar and over the mountain path of Jock's Road to Glen Doll.  My route left the path before the visitor centre and headed south east into the mouth of a twisting glen; from this point on I didn't see another person until I arrived back at Spittal, despite the car park being very busy - proof that quiet routes can be found even in popular areas.

A narrow path follows the Allt Darrarie up the glen; the water quite low on this day but usually this burn has a significant volume of rich brown water, stained to a coffee shade by the peat moorland where is rises.

A simple bridge crosses the burn half way up the glen, placed high above the water level so it isn't washed away.

At a stream junction the path swings left and climbs, giving a good view back down the Allt Darrarie.

Emerging onto flat and featureless moorland, there's a splendid view back to Lochnagar, the steep crags a contrast to the ground near at hand.  From here on, accurate navigation and a certain faith in map and compass were essential to reach my destination.  Two kilometres of wet, peaty ground climbs very gently with little in the way of features to mark the way.  When the ground starts to drop, it's a case of trusting your navigation.........

........because the small bothy at Shielin of Mark doesn't come into view until you're about a hundred metres away and just above the patch of flat ground it occupies at the head of the Water of Mark. Just across the boundary from Aberdeenshire, the bothy is the first building in Angus for quite some way.

First day of Spring above the Angus Glens

The first day of Spring this year found Joan, Duncan and I meeting up in the the town of Kirriemuir for coffee; our plan was to climb Cat Law from the lower reaches of Glen Prosen.  The first day of Spring it might have been, but the forecast didn't promise much in the way of Spring-like weather; we expected a strong wind and cold temperatures - but hopefully some sunshine too.

We started out from near Easter Lednathie, there are a couple of spaces to park on the roadside just north of a stone bridge but south of the farm and houses.  A track climbs steadily up through woodland, then alongside a plantation of spruces to reach a gate and fenceline on the Peat Shank.

The climb up towards Cat Law goes through some boggy ground initially but the going underfoot gets better as height is gained. We followed animal tracks to skirt the wet ground, but in poor visibility the fence would provide a good handrail up to the summit area.

The final fifty metres of ascent brought us into a different world - even at this modest altitude it was most definitely Winter rather than Spring.  We'd enjoyed a degree of shelter from the northwesterly wind until this point, but now we were exposed to a chill blast.

At 671m/2201ft, Cat Law is a "Graham" (a Scottish hill between 2000 and 2500 feet with at least 150m of descent on all sides).  This classification of hills may lack the height of the Munros, but more often than not give good days on quiet routes - and there are 219 of them to go at.

Cat Law is prominent from the A90 Dundee-Aberdeen road and sits right on the edge of the Highlands.  Our view was huge, stretching from the Tolmount hills in the north west around the plateaux above the Angus glens to the North Sea in the east.  What was also in our view was an approaching snow shower, so we hunkered down in the lee of a stone shelter wall constructed of stones from a much older cairn which stood here.  The summit marks the meeting point of three parishes and it's likely that the parishes themselves followed a much older land ownership pattern.

Once the worst of the stinging snow shower had passed we headed back down to the head of the ascent track and on to the subsidiary domed summit of Long Goat, between Cats and Goats, this walk has a distinct animal theme!

The wind was pushing through snow showers with increasing frequency, towering coud racing past trailing veils of snow and creating a wonderful variety of changing light.  On the summit of Long Goat we were being snowed upon in whilst bathed in bright sunshine - some would say typical Scottish spring weather!

Our descent took us eastwards down a small path whch meets a track at a prominent orange painted gate, then down to the road 2 kilometres from the starting point.  As we headed downhill the showers of snow passed through and we once again entered more spring-like conditions in Glen Prosen, the 6 degrees Celsius glen temperature felt pleasantly warm in comparison with the minus 2 degrees of the summit!

Aberlemno Pictish stones

Between Brechin and Forfar in the north east of Scotland is the small village of Aberlemno. Once on the main road through the area, the village is now quiet but is the setting for some remarkable Pictish sculptured stones.

Parking is available at the village hall, adjacent to three of the stones which stand at the roadside.  One is an unshaped and highly eroded sandstone boulder which bears faint traces of a curving symbol.  Nearby is a much more imposing stone.

The cross slab known as "Aberlemno 3" is the latest of the roadside group and probably dates to around the 8th century AD.  These later stones are termed "Class 2" to denote their finer, more detailed carving.  Standing 2.8 metres high and a metre wide, it simply towers above the road.  The face of the stone bears a cross, two angels and animal figures.....

...while the reverse has more typically Pictish carvings.  The Crescent and V-rod, and the double disc and Z-rod are recurring themes of Pictish art - and while there are many theories their meaning remains elusive.

Below the symbols is a hunting scene with mounted hunters, deer and hounds, trumpeters and a man with a spear and shield.  The lowest section carries biblical images including a lion.

This mix of Christian and Pictish symbolism is common on later Pictish stones, there seems to have been a flourishing of art in the time following the conversion of the Picts to Christianity.

A little way down the road is the oldest of this group of stones, dating from around 500AD and of the "Class 1" group of early, more simply carved stones. A leaning, unshaped boulder, it's carved with a mix of symbols including a serpent, double disc and Z-rod and another recurring theme, the mirror and comb.  The rear of this stone bears prehistoric cup-and-ring marks and it's believed that it may be a standing stone re-used by the Picts - it had probably stood in the landscape for many centuries before the Picts carved their own symbols on it.

If Aberlemno had only these three stones by the roadside, it would be very well worth visiting - but nearby there's another stone which is of huge importance.

Aberlemno Church sits below the road in a sheltered spot.  The churchyard has a number of interesting gravestones, but there really is no doubt why most visitors search out this place.

The cross-slab in front of the kirk is one of the most impressive of all Pictish stones.  Believed to date from the late 8th to 9th centuries AD, it is a huge monolith of Old Red Sandstone.  Even after the passage of over 11 centuries, the carving is stunningly beautiful and intricate.  The workmanship involved in making this carving from a single boulder really does dispel any notion that the Picts were a primitive or uncultured people. That they left absolutely nothing in the way of written records through the 800 or so years that they were were the major power in the north of Scotland is, in a sense, irrelevant; the legacy they left in stone has endured.

The vertical arms of the cross bear three different knotwork designs, the horizontal arms have keywork designs.  Either side of the cross are intertwined animals and mythical beasts.  At some point a hole has been bored through the stone - it's thought that this was done in order to move or to re-position it in some way.

This stone is 2 metres high, 1.3 metres wide and about 30cm thick and is one of the finest of all surviving Pictish stones.  It's known to archaeologists as "Aberlemno 2" but more commonly as the "Dunnichen Stone".  For, despite the magnificence of the west-facing cross it is the other face which elevates the Dunnichen Stone in importance.

The eastern side, facing the kirk, is carved with the only battle narrative to be found in the Pictish stone record. The sculpture on this face can't match the intricacy of the cross, it's the story it tells which makes this sandstone slab especially important.

The Picts held most of northern Scotland and the Northern Isles, and had done for several centuries since the Romans withdrew - their lands marched with the Britons of Alt Clut (which later became known as the kingdom of Strathclyde) and with Dalriada - separated from both by the high ground of Druim Alban, the spine of the country.

In the 7th century they came under pressure from relative newcomers to the British Isles; the Angles of Northumbria.  A huge power struggle in what would become England between the Northumbrians and Mercians had been won, and now the Northumbrians looked north.  After invading the lands south of the Highland boundary, they ventured still further north and inflicted a defeat on a Pictish army in 672, capturing large areas of Pictish territory.

The Picts reorganised, and under their king Brude reasserted themselves.  The Northumbrian King Ecgrith, marched north again in 685- against the advice of his council and of his trusted advisor St Cuthbert.  The Pictish army allowed the Northumbrians to advance beyond the Forth and the Tay, to a site close to a body of water where they turned and attacked.

The Dunnichen stone is believed to tell the story of this battle.  Some historians dispute the interpretation, pointing out that the stone was carved a hundred years after the battle.  Dunnichen was, however, a truly pivotal point in history and the most significant battle the Picts had fought since a Pictish army was destroyed by the Agricola's legions in AD84 at Mons Graupius - it seems entirely plausible that this stone should commemorate such an important event.

A replica of the east face of the Dunnichen Stone has been placed in the Aberlemno Village Hall car park - in a photograph it's easier to make out the detail on this.

A surprising amount is known about the battle of Dunnichen; not from the Picts themselves but from contemporary chroniclers, most of them Northumbrian Angles including the monk-scholar Bede.

The fighting took place at around three o'clock in the afternoon of Saturday 20th May 685.  The Northumbrians called the place "Nechtansmere" (Nechtan's Lake - Nechtan is a common Pictish name), others knew it as Dunnichen (Dun Nechtain - Nechtan's fort) and the Britons called it Linn Garan (Heron's Pool).  Intriguingly, if the theory that the Pictish language was a P-Celtic (related to Welsh rather than Gaelic) is correct, "Linn Garan" is what the Picts themselves may have called the place.

The result was utterly decisive - the Northumbrian Angles weren't just defeated, they were destroyed.  Ecgfrith and all his bodyguard were killed having fought to the last man; almost the entire Northumbrian army was killed during or after the battle.

The narrative on the stone starts at the top with Picthish symbols - the notched rectangle, Z-rod and triple disc.  Below, the story is told in three "registers" somewhat like a cartoon strip.

The Picts appear on the left hand side of each register and are shown fighting both on foot and on horseback.  They wear no helmets and have long straight hair - perhaps this appearance might hint at the meaning behind the combs and mirrors in Pictish symbology?  They carry distinctive curved shields with prominent bosses and are shown using swords and spears.  The more one looks at the  figures, the more detail seems to come forward.

Pictish horses look to be small and nimble ponies with long tails - the Picts ride without saddles or stirrups and use a saddle cloth on their horses.

In contrast, the Northumbrians wear helmets with long noseguards and ride heavier, thickset horses with broad necks and cropped tails.  They are all shown on horseback - at least initially.

The sculptor clearly knew about battles and tactics - the Pictish infantry in the middle register are shown in battle formation; the leading rank armed with shield and sword to withstand the shock of a charge and stab out from behind the shield.  The middle rank have spears which would have projected beyond the front rank in a hedge of spearpoints while the rear rank stands with spear upright, ready to step forward.

Working down the registers, the story of the battle emerges.  In the top row an Northumbrian is seen fleeing the field on a Pictish horse, his sword and his round shield cast aside - perhaps representing a headlong rout.

In the middle register a Northumbrian cavalry spearman attacks the ranks of Pictish infantry who stand in their battle formation to meet the charge.

In the bottom register, mounted warriors face each other, both spear-armed.  The Northumbrian figure readies himself to throw a spear while the Pictish figure raises his shield to parry the blow.  At bottom right is a dead Northumbrian, his shield lies beside him and a raven pecks at his throat.  As a battle tale - it's a clear representation of a Pictish victory.  Contemporary accounts say that Dunnichen was mainly a clash of foot-soldiers with limited cavalry, so perhaps the mounted figures on the stone represent Brude and Ecgfrith themselves.

Dunnichen proved a truly pivotal point in the story of the Picts.  Brude's victorious army stormed southwards across the Tay, killing or enslaving any Angles who they came across and recapturing their former lands. The Angles were driven back to the shores of the Forth and never again ventured north in any significant way.  In fact, it would be close to 500 years before the north of what had by that time become Scotland was invaded in force by the people who had become the English - when Edward I ("Longshanks") devastated the country.

Ecgfrith's body was identified and borne in honour from the battlefield by Pictish warriors.  In a remarkable and unprecedented act, Brude had his fallen foe interred on the holy island of St Columba, Iona.  No Anglian (English) king had been buried there previously and it was a powerful statement by the victorious Brude.  He was seen to act with honour to a fellow king, and also to be able to dictate the final resting place of his enemy.

Brude consolidated his hold on the Pictish lands, recovering Orkney and ruling all the Pictish kingdoms as one "Pictland".  He died peacefully in 693 - and was himself taken to Iona.  He was buried by Abbot Adomnan in a simple wooden coffin in the earth of the monastic graveyard which already held the bones of Ecgfrith; two mighty warlords reunited in death.

There is so much to the Pictish stones, to the story of this remarkable and fascinating people.  Aberlemno and its symbol stones, more than most, offer a glimpse of them.

Rockhopping and rainstorms, Part 1

In Scotland we don't really have a climate, we have "weather" and July 2016 was particularly changeable with some warm days but also some periods of heavy rain and thunderstorms.  It seemed that most of the warm days were windy and that the calmer spells coincided with days of showers or rain.  The conditions didn't dampen some good sea kayaking though, and in some ways the heavier rain actually added to the experience!  This is the first of two posts catching up on a number of sea kayak trips around the Moray Firth and North Sea coasts during the month.

It wasn't all rain; Maurice, Mike and I met at Auchmithie and enjoyed a day on the colourful Angus coast.  The morning was calm and warm, which allowed us to explore the rock formations......

......and caves which stud the stretch of coast between Auchmithie and Arbroath.  The largest of them is Gaylet Pot, a long cave which emerges some 150 metres inland.......

....in a spectacular "gloup" or collapsed cave in the middle of a farm field.

That afternoon brought a marked increase in the wind, as forecast, and we enjoyed an exhilarating blast back up the coast under sail at an average speed of 12km/h.

Pulling out of the wind at the arched outcrop of Prail Castle, we stopped for second luncheon.  It's sometimes possible to kayak through the arch, but on this occasion the tide was too low.  As Maurice hadn't visited this feature previously, he and I walked through the arch to the north side.  Just a few seconds after we'd done so a large rock fell clear from the face above and smashed into the ground right behind us - a lucky escape.

There have been several paddles on the Moray Firth too; on a day of alternating hot sunshine and torrential downpours Lorna, Allan and I paddled a favourite section of the Moray Firth coast from Findochty to Sandend.  One of the best known features is the Bow Fiddle Rock, and we were lucky to find it not only calm enough to paddle.....

......but looking very fine backed by an approaching downpour.

The northeast coast in summer just teems with wildlife.  The seabirds seem to have had a pretty successful breeding season and we encountered them in their tens of thousands.

On a paddle from Sandend to Whitehills Allan, Lorna and I were given a real wildlife treat when a pod of the Moray Firth dolphins shared the water with us, I completely fluffed the photographs of three adults which raced straight to our boats and dived right in front of us, examining the boats closely from below before moving on - the only image I managed was this dolphin which repeatedly leapt out of the water in the middle distance.

Days like these - on the Hunt (part 2)

The route through the gorge above the Falls of Unich is a delight, a narrow path winding through boulders above the tumbling burn.  A Wren was belting out a scolding chatter, so loud from the tiny bird that it was creating a slight echo.  Movement across the face of one of the crags resolved itself into a Peregrine (Falco peregrinus) pursued by a couple of Crows.  As it reached the level of the top of the gorge, the Peregrine suddenly shot upwards and folded itself into the classic "stooping" arrowhead shape and into a arcing dive - the Crows took the message and scattered.

Such is the interest in this section that height was gained without me really noticing, only the very top section seemed at all steep.  It has to be said that the very top of the gorge and the immediate area of plateau above are pretty muddy and peaty, but it doesn't last long.  The direct route to Hunt Hill takes a sharp right turn at the plateau, but I decided to persevere with the muddy path a little further to look at another waterfall marked on the map.

The extra few hundred metres of mud-plugging are well rewarded at the Falls of Damff (Gaelic "Daimh" - (Stag Falls).  The Water of Unich drops in two bounds over sills of rock here just as it enters the gorge.  I scrambled down to a level next to the upper fall and sat for a while just enjoying the place; getting closer to the lower fall appeared to involve some quite tricky down climbing.

Returning to the head of the gorge the route across to the summit of Hunt Hill is pretty obvious, though there's no path to speak of.  A few deer tracks lead through the peaty ground of a broad col, then it's pick your own route up the fairly steep pull towards the summit area.  I stuck close to the edge of the crags to get the best views.......

...of the gorge, with sunlight streaming down over the sidewall - the angle which had so beautifully lit some of the birch trees near the top.

Gradually the view opens up past Craig Maskeldie and across to Monawee......

.......and between them the head of Loch Lee and the track I'd used on the approach.  The view from here really seems to mirror the approach walk, a series of curves and folds which reveal different views as you go.

There's a fairly steep pull of 150 metres to reach the summit area, and it comes as something of a surprise when the angle eases very suddenly onto a flat plateau.  The views are very wide; a real feature of the Eastern Highlands with rolling brown moors stretching away under a huge sky.  Some find this landscape boring, others find it intimidating in poor weather and some find the sense of vast space under a big sky a real joy.

Lochnagar is the prominent feature to the west, some 15 kilometres distant, with no hint of the trench containing Loch Muick which lies in between.

 

To the north the dominant feature is Mount Keen, the most easterly of the Munros (separate Scottish mountains over 3000 ft/914m). The popularity of climbing this classification of hills is ever-growing and the paths are often very obvious.

Distant calls of geese eventually resolved into a skein of Greylags (Anser anser) and appropriately they appeared:

".... far abune the Angus straths I saw the wild geese flee,

A lang, lang skein o’ beatin’ wings wi’ their heids towards the sea,

And aye their cryin’ voices trailed ahint them on the air...."

Just as described by the Angus born poet Violet Jacob in her poem of longing for home "The Wild Geese".  Born into the aristocracy at House of Dun, Violet Jacob spent much of her life away from Angus, but seems always to have had the place in her heart and her mind; she returned to Angus in the later years of her life and is buried at Kirriemuir.  Her poetry is often written in the rich dialect of the region, and from the perspective of working folk.

Sometimes known as "Norland Wind",  The Wild Geese is one of her best known poems and was shortlisted as one of the country's favourite pieces of poetry in 2006. Written as a conversation between an Angus man far from home in England and the north wind, the lyrics have been set to music by a number of singers, but my favourite version is by the Battlefield Band featuring the voice of the late Davy Steele (the words start at 2m 37secs)

In contrast to Mount Keen, there's no path to the small summit cairn of Hunt Hill (705 metres/2313 feet).  It's classified as a "Graham" - a hill between 2000 and 2500ft high with at least 500 feet of ascent all round.  Often overlooked, this group of 220 hills usually give walks of real quality.

There was a slight breeze on the summit but it was warmed by blowing across miles of heather in full sunshine - amazingly for a November day I was able to sit comfortably on the summit of the hill in a T-shirt.

My descent route took me north-east down convex slopes of heather, then grass and moss to reach an entertainingly bouncy girder bridge over the Water of Lee, then down the track to Loch Lee.

A stroll back along the loch and through the birch woods got me back to Invermark, still in glorious late afternoon sunshine.

Hunt Hill may not have the most dramatic name, nor is it the highest hill the area but it had given me one of the best hill days I've enjoyed in years.

Days like these, they're golden coins in the treasure box of memories.....


Note: The route taken on this walk is on Ordnance Survey Landranger Sheet 44 (Ballater & Glen Clova).  The distance is 18 kilometres with 460 metres of ascent, allow between five and six hours.  In poor weather, reasonable navigation skills will be needed as the high ground is pathless.  A shorter and well worthwhile alternative is to walk to the Falls of Unich and return by the same route as described by Duncan and Joan here.

Days like these - on the Hunt (part 1)

The name "Hunt Hill" doesn't perhaps have the dramatic allure of a mountain name such as "Beinn a'Bheithir" (mountain of the thunderbolt) or "Gairich" (the roaring), but a look at the map of the area  at the headwaters of the River North Esk shows a sinuous approach to a summit perched at the edge of a wall of crags.  Just an hour and a half from home and with a forecast of a sparkling early November day to come, I hoped that it would give a good short day out.


 

Glen Esk is one of the most beautiful of Scotland's glens.  From the lovely woods and rich farmland surrounding Edzell the glen runs north west for some 15 miles (25 km) through woodland and then increasingly mountainous scenery.  Part way along, the River North Esk crosses the Highland Boundary Fault in a series of small waterfalls at a spot known as the Rocks of Solitude.

The public road ends at Invermark, the point where the confluence of the Water of Lee and the larger Water of Mark become the River North Esk.  In Gaelic nomenclature, Inbhir (anglicised to "Inver") indicates the mouth of a river and although more usually encountered where rivers enter the sea the name here refers to the mouth of the Water of Mark.  There's plenty of parking as this is a popular walking area and is the start of the usual route to the most easterly Munro, Mount Keen.  Right from the start this walk would prove to be a kaleidoscope of brilliant colours; the birches around the car park were a breathtaking gold against a flawless blue sky.

The first point of interest comes almost straight from the car park at the impressive Invermark Castle.  The present castle dates from 1526 and replaced an earlier fortification built at the same location and for the same purpose of controlling the strategic crossing from Angus to Deeside over the Mounth.  The 1526 castle was two storeys high but was added to in the early 17th century by Sir David Lindsay who removed the original parapet, added an additional storey and inserted gun loops at ground floor level.

There's no door to this castle at ground level, it was reached by a drawbridge arrangement to the first floor - the door can be seen in shadow at lower left in this image. It was quite clearly built with military considerations first and foremost.  Invermark was inhabited until at least 1729 but by 1803 was a roofless ruin with some stone being re-used to build nearby Loch Lee parish church.

I headed past the "new" parish church and along a track to the end of Loch Lee, where there's a much older religious site, the Kirk of Droustie, also known as the Kirk of Glenesk.  The original building on this site may date back to around 600 AD and was dedicated to St Drostan, the present ruin is of unknown antiquity but is probably the building which replaced the kirk reported as having been burned by Montrose's troops in 1645.

The wall surrounding the cemetery is being repaired at present and some of the fallen gravestones appear to have been re-erected.  There are some fascinating old stones, including this one from 1733.

On a day like this, the Kirk of Droustie is a peaceful resting place, Loch Lee was living up to its name (Le - smooth) with not a breath of wind.  The only disturbance on the surface was from rising fish; the loch is well known among fly fishermen for its stocks of Brown Trout and Char.  It's also a reservoir providing drinking water for the Angus towns of Brechin and Arbroath and is dammed at the eastern end.

The walk along the shore of Loch Lee was very pleasant.  I'd been in a T-shirt since leaving the car park such was the warmth of this November morning - a rare and welcome treat for the time of year!  The reflections and curving lines along the lochside were really beautiful, though I couldn't do them much justice with the camera.

Beyond Loch Lee the track continues its curving approach to the plateau above with the impressive crags of Craig Maskeldie on the left and the wall of Bruntwood Craig a formidable barrier ahead.  The grass here was an extraordinary shade between green and gold in the bright sunshine.

The track I was following is used by Invermark estate to access the great sweep of mid-level plateau above Glens Lee and Mark for grouse and deer shooting.  As the track starts to rise, a footpath leaves it to cross a tumbling brown burn, actually the infant Water of Lee, and heads towards a more substantial body of water....

...at the Falls of Unich.  The waterfall is visible from a long way off and at first the impression is of quite a small affair, but it gets really quite impressive close up.  This was a dry spell and after a period of wet weather it would carry a real volume of water as the Water of Unich drains quite a substantial area of high ground.  My onward route went above the falls on the right and into an intriguing hanging gorge.

As I climbed beside the waterfall the hillside to my right was bathed in warm sunlight which was picking out the features on the face of Bruntwood Craig.....

...whilst ahead of me most of the gorge lay in shadow.  Right towards the top of the crags forming a bend in the gorge the sun was lighting the tops of the birch trees to a sparkling silver brilliance. What a day it was turning out to be!