Strathdon.

Corbetts ->Section 8->Strathdon

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Section 8 900 Culardoch 895 Creag Mhor 862 Carn Liath 829 Brown Cow Hill 821 Geal Charn 818 Carn na Drochaide 813 Sgor Mor 810 Meall a'Bhuachaille 792 Carn Ealasaid 872 Morven 840 Ben Rinnes 804 Carn Mor 781 Corryhabbie Hill Section 6 Section 7 Section 9 Return to Corbett index Return Home.

The Lecht, looking across to Carn Mor(1st November 1992)  Morven  872m 2862'  Big Hill  Map The Broon Coo  829m 2721'  a.k.a. Brown Cow Hill ( Sunday name!) Map  Carn Ealasaid  792m 2600'  Elizabeth's hill Map

Morven 872m

Morven from Mona Gowan

Beyond the 'gorms the hills gradually reduce in size and stature into the fertile lowlands of Aberdeenshire. Occasionally there is some resistance as a heathery hill rises through forestry from the grazing lands. The largest of this fine collection is the aptly named Morven which, I suppose is the herald or last gasp of the 'Gorms depending on whether you are coming from Aberdeen or not.

Morven is a cone that sits in the moors between Dee, Don and Gairn just north of the small town of Ballater (all services and a gear shop, many shops 'by Royal appointment').The moors surrounding Morven are now uninhabited, there is an account of the Kirk attendance in 1877 that says that 17 young men walked from their homes on the Morven moors to Glen Gairn every Sunday. Some children would walk 10 mile round trips ,daily to school, even in darkest winter. During the early twentieth century the people gradually gave up trying to win a living out of this high and barren place, yet not as barren as the granite hills here about, outcropping epidiorite bestows some extra fertility. The old roads and tracks however remain, hastening progress across the moors. Recently I spent a morning on neighbouring Mona Gowan. Breasting the pass on the track to Morven Lodge from Glenfenzie , it was still a surprise to see how green this bowl is. If you climb up from Ballater you must pass through granite , so the transition to fertility must be a shock here too.

Not much rock shows on the high hill, but the southern slopes above the Dee are quite exciting. Granite was quarried where Cambus O'May woods are today and silver mined at Invergeldie. The ice age torrents have carved gaps such as the Pass of Ballater and the exceptional Vat (425996) above Loch Kinord. There is a fine slochd above ruined Morven Lodge too., The Slacks of Glen Calvie help give Mona Gowan the drop required for 'Graham' status were reputedly made by a witch, Cailleach Bheathrach who was seriously into civil engineering. Legend has it that she tried to bite a chanell to steal the Don and run it into the Dee, but the rocks were just too tough for her dentures. It is in reality a rocky defile cut by meltwaters.

Lower Glen Gairn, below the Gairnsheil bridge is still inhabited, but many old farms are just a rickle of stones in a birch wood. One such wood hides the remains of a chapel, abandoned after the '45, and there are still stones in the graveyard. Amazingly this was a MacGregor burial ground. The MacGregors were called upon by the local laird as a security force and moved in from Perthshire. Bad move! Soon they were causing more trouble than they were brought in to quell. On proscription they simply changed their names to Grierson or similar. Along with the Farquarsons they fought for the Prince and few returned from Culloden.

Morven is a fair hike in, but many starting points are high above sealevel. From the Gairn the track from Lary to the old lodge is recommended if combining Morven with Mona Gowan. There is easy access too from the A939 with a return possible over the Gowan tops to Scraulac. From here an old drove road returns to the Glenfenzie ruins, also in a fertile patch of fine grasses and juniper. Deep valleys penetrate from the farms at Tullich, once a royal burgh, through the woods and foothills. The Burn o'Vat must be a good starting point too. Don approaches are long and forested.

I was tempted to fit in Morven of that 1987 coast to coast walk, but the fleshpots of Ballater (hot showers) called my better half louder than the birdsong of Morven called me, so the logical traverse from Gairn to the Vat was missed.

Eventualy I want up from the Howe o'Cromar at New Year. A track rises steeply from deserted Balhennie and soon links up with the east ridge. Here a path has been worn by walkers, all the way to the trig. No view from the top but a fine view of the near dead midwinter lands from above Balhenie. Deserted farms amongst the surviving larger units fitted the dark scene. It was a day of black frost, no continuous covering of snow, so I could not ski it, although tracks told of those who did in better times. Few hills have ever felt so bleak. I must return, perhaps in the spring when whaups and laverocks call on a warm wind.

 

 

 

The Broon Coo 829m

Once known in the Gaelic as 'A Bho Donn' and now as Brown Cow Hill, this truly bovine mass chews the cud contentedly between the rich grazings of Don and Gairn. This hill almost parodies its great neighbour, Ben A'an, but there are no tors of wild corries here, just the calling of the plover and dunlin over the wild fertile moors.

The hill makes up the highest moors of the long ridge between Morven and Loch Builg. The ridge is crossed by Mounth roads, most famously the Corgarff /Gairnsheil military road that now forms the infamous A939. We are now free of the great Monadh Ruadh granite dome and the rocks here promote more fertile soils. Glen Gairn , with limestone, holds a large population of mountain hares and the Brown Cow is covered in peat and mosses rather than sterile gravels.

With all the passes in the area it is not surprising that there are numerous castles in the area. Corgarff Castle was strengthened for action against a possible Jacobite resurgence in 1748, but only saw service in the war against whisky. Before this it had a bloody history. The castle, and all within were burned in 1571 by the Gordons. It was destroyed again by Jacobites in 1689. A visit is easily combined with a trip up the Cow.

The hill is probably just as often done from Don as Gairn, though I visited its mosses before breakfast from Gairn. This was during the 1987 coast to coast trip and was my last hill of the walk. An easy walk up burnt heather strips on to the boggy , mossy plateau. The last remnants of the white calf, a snow patch were passed. Loads of waders and the mist was filled with the piping of plovers. Fortunately the mist lifted as finding the summit, or something approximating to a summit was very difficult. As I only had a first series 1:50000 map, two tops were visited but the central swelling turned out to be the summit. (Confirmed, we have modern contours now). The rest of the day was spent wandering down lonely Glen Gairn and debating whether or not to do Morven .( I did not.)

Carn Ealasaid 792m

The lifts at the Lecht. Morven in the background. (again 1/11/92)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carn Ealasaid is again the highpoint of a great area of moors. It overlooks the high pass of the Lecht , now a ski centre and is therefore one of the easiest to climb from a road. Purists would be advised to go up from Glen A'an , near Tomintoul and traverse Craig Veann. The hill gives a fine view down Strathdon to Morven and across to the north and Ben Rinnes, easily repaying the small effort in climbing it.

The Tomintoul-Lecht Military road is now only too notorious as being the first to close when there is snow about. Most have some affection for it as it features in the travel reports, and this lets you know snow is about, magic news to a skier.

The road was built in 1754, well after the Wade era, although he is often credited. An inscription at the Well of Lecht states:

'Five Companies, the 33rd Regiment,Right Hon. Lord Chas. Hay, Colonel made the road from here to the Spey'.

They neglected to study the vegetation. The road could have been built to avoid the long lasting drifts, and thus spared it its notoriety.

The road also passes a boarded up house called Blairnaharrow. A tramp was reported squatting here, and he was sending the wainscotting up the lum in time honoured bothy vermin fasion. This was in the summer of 1920. The resident turned out to be Percy Topliss , a wanted murderer, a.k.a The Monicled Mutineer.
This thoroughly nasty piece of work was somewhat whitewashed by a television series. He cheated the hangman by dying in a shootout with the police soon after fleeing Blairnaharrow. The village bobby from Tomintoul was sent up to investigate the illegal occupation and reported 'bothy' vandalism. Two of the party were shot and gravely wounded. Topliss legged it over the Lecht to meet his end in Cumberland.

Another famous Tomintoul criminal affair was the recent case of the accountant who took the Metropolitan Police for several millions and sank it all into developing the village.

Carn Ealasaid was my first hill on skis. Not having skins it was hard work getting up the piste from the carpark, my companions giving the day up penguining. It was a relief passing the piste patrol boundary and entering the trackless familiar winter world. Even as a total beginner, this was easier than walking across snowy peathags.

What was realy remarkable was that it was only 1st November, and there had already been three weeks of snowcover.

Ealasaid from above the Lecht

Traversing, interspersed with falling over on kick turns soon got me up to the cairn. Other skiers were about, and I soon learned that this was a popular sport. I did not learn how to get down, but traverses and kicks got me back to the edge of the piste very quickly. I could not cope with the piste. Bruised and battered, I had bagged my first hill on the planks.

Carn Ealasaid: The summit

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