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| Glenshee hills to north |
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| North east to Mayar and Dreish |
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| Upper Glen Isla with Druim Mor prominent |
Tuesday, 8 January, 2013
Ascent: 470 metres
Distance: 4 kilometres
Time: 1 hour 14 minutes
Monemanach 807m 42mins
I had gained a free afternoon after completing two days work in Forfar by lunchtime. Rather than returning down the A90, a road even less inviting than the A9, I figured that I had time to take in Monemanach, a lonely Corbett at the head of Glen Isla. The early morning rain had finally stopped and the odd patch of blue was infiltrating the skyline to the west. I drove through Kirriemuir in the early afternoon without seeing a single soul and then followed the road less travelled across to Glen Isla. The final 4 miles from the castle at Forter brought me to the road end at Auchaven where I parked at the foot of the track.
I had thrown a pair of boots and waterproofs into the car just in case I could manage a walk. I changed out of my suit into some old trousers and a fleece jacket before starting the walk up a land rover track which zig- zagged its way up to 600 metres. It continued further but I had spotted a faint path which followed a line of fence posts more directly to the summit. I followed it for the last couple of hundred metres of ascent through the heather and mosses on a never ending convex slope. It was a hard slog in a fresh westerly wind although it was relatively warm for January. There was very little snow remaining on the Glenshee hills that became visible to the north.
Solitude was guaranteed although several red grouse squawked at me as I invaded their territory. The summit is spectacularly disappointing, a tiny cairn at the end of the fence posts. The hills of the north rejoiced even in their sombre winter colours but in the foreground the fickle sun was reflected in the heathers to give a bright umber glow. I was able to identify the route I had once climbed from Auchaven to Mayer and Dreish and then over miles of peat hags to Druim Mor, which was my penultimate Munro top in 1997. The trek over to Druim Mor provided one of the most tedious traverses. It was not appreciated by my then 13 year old son, who declared that he would not be doing any more tops. Nevertheless the descent down Glen Isla on that occasion had produced an enjoyable finale to a long day.
The descent from Monemanach was a doddle as I found a track down from the summit and it was a lot easier than the climb up by the fence posts. I was back at the car in double quick time, it was mid afternoon. Unfortunately, this was the last Corbett or Munro that I had not climbed in this part of the Eastern Highlands, an area I have begun to enjoy for the vast open views and abundant wildlife.
By travelling back via Blairgowrie I was able to miss the A90 and get through Perth before the evening rush, if such a thing exists in Perth. As always the Broxden roundabout provided a good proxy for city traffic congestion - if ever a roundabout would benefit by traffic lights then this is it - it is like jumping into a fast turning skipping rope, something I was occasionally invited to try by the girls at my primary school in return for inviting some of them to join the boys in a mass game of Den Relievo. How they managed to do it with two ropes and going pepper made football and cricket seem like simple pursuits.
Distance: 4 kilometres
Time: 1 hour 14 minutes
Monemanach 807m 42mins
I had gained a free afternoon after completing two days work in Forfar by lunchtime. Rather than returning down the A90, a road even less inviting than the A9, I figured that I had time to take in Monemanach, a lonely Corbett at the head of Glen Isla. The early morning rain had finally stopped and the odd patch of blue was infiltrating the skyline to the west. I drove through Kirriemuir in the early afternoon without seeing a single soul and then followed the road less travelled across to Glen Isla. The final 4 miles from the castle at Forter brought me to the road end at Auchaven where I parked at the foot of the track.
I had thrown a pair of boots and waterproofs into the car just in case I could manage a walk. I changed out of my suit into some old trousers and a fleece jacket before starting the walk up a land rover track which zig- zagged its way up to 600 metres. It continued further but I had spotted a faint path which followed a line of fence posts more directly to the summit. I followed it for the last couple of hundred metres of ascent through the heather and mosses on a never ending convex slope. It was a hard slog in a fresh westerly wind although it was relatively warm for January. There was very little snow remaining on the Glenshee hills that became visible to the north.
Solitude was guaranteed although several red grouse squawked at me as I invaded their territory. The summit is spectacularly disappointing, a tiny cairn at the end of the fence posts. The hills of the north rejoiced even in their sombre winter colours but in the foreground the fickle sun was reflected in the heathers to give a bright umber glow. I was able to identify the route I had once climbed from Auchaven to Mayer and Dreish and then over miles of peat hags to Druim Mor, which was my penultimate Munro top in 1997. The trek over to Druim Mor provided one of the most tedious traverses. It was not appreciated by my then 13 year old son, who declared that he would not be doing any more tops. Nevertheless the descent down Glen Isla on that occasion had produced an enjoyable finale to a long day.
The descent from Monemanach was a doddle as I found a track down from the summit and it was a lot easier than the climb up by the fence posts. I was back at the car in double quick time, it was mid afternoon. Unfortunately, this was the last Corbett or Munro that I had not climbed in this part of the Eastern Highlands, an area I have begun to enjoy for the vast open views and abundant wildlife.
By travelling back via Blairgowrie I was able to miss the A90 and get through Perth before the evening rush, if such a thing exists in Perth. As always the Broxden roundabout provided a good proxy for city traffic congestion - if ever a roundabout would benefit by traffic lights then this is it - it is like jumping into a fast turning skipping rope, something I was occasionally invited to try by the girls at my primary school in return for inviting some of them to join the boys in a mass game of Den Relievo. How they managed to do it with two ropes and going pepper made football and cricket seem like simple pursuits.
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