Craig Vallich & Pannanich hills

How lucky were we? Or was it good planning that brought us another excellent day's weather in Ballater yesterday? We seem to have been blessed every time we have headed up Deeside for a walk. It was wall to wall sunshine and t-shirts all the way.

Steve and Ken drove us to Ballater and out to the entry road to Glen Muick, where we parked the cars. Dave had come up with the route, which proved to be excellent. The trails were in good condition although everywhere was very dry. Any time we had to traverse a bit of heather roots, it made a satisfying crunch under our feet:

It was Ballater Walking Week and soon we came across a large group doing the same trail in the opposite direction:

The first opportunity to set the camera up on the timer came along - and Dave snapped me setting it up on the deer feeder:

and this was the result:

Another few hundred yards up the track, another photo opportunity:

Onwards and upwards - but, wait a minute - Dave's left his phone behind at the last stop:

He hadn't - it was in his bag all the time.

We came across a large comfortable bothy a bit further along:

We had now reached the plateau, but the cairn itself was a little further along and we had to take a short trail up there and straight back in order to tick off Craig Vallich:

The plateau continued for a while, apparently swinging away from our route back, but soon we had fine views of the town of Ballater:

Time for another refreshment stop:

That's Mount Keen popping its head up in the background.

Further on, we reached the summit of Pannanich, where there was a curious little statue:

The team photo had to be an homage to the statue:

The descent was fair bit steeper than the ascent:

It had been a perfect route on a perfect day - something had to go wrong surely - and it did, when we got back down to the foot of the hill. There was a gate to some fenced off buildings which had a sign saying strictly no access. We looked in vain for an alternative route round. Eventually we engaged in discussion with what transpired to be a couple of Glenmuick estate workers and they told us just to ignore the sign and unlatch the gate.

Soon we passed the rather grand Glenmuick House (http://www.glenmuick.com/house-of-glenmuick/):

The way back from there to the cars was the prettiest part of the walk - down through tree-lined walkways.

A grand day out - and here's the stats:

Ken had to head off, but Steve stayed for a swift beer with the rest of us outside the Alexandra, after which he had to dash back for his evening of music in Torphins. Another fine Cairngorm ale in the Alexandra was followed by a stroll round to the Barrel Lounge for some Windswept beers and soon the remaining four of us were on the scheduled 6:55 pm bus back to Banchory. No curry this time - we had to fend for ourselves.