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!