Pittenderich - walk 2 of 2018

It was with a little trepidation that 5 of us set off for Tarland from Banchory this morning. The forecast was for very high winds and there was also the prospect of some kind of precipitation - probably white. They were right about the winds, which were pretty icy at times, but it was a mostly sunny day and we got round completely dry.

The meeting point for Ian, John, Colin, Andy and I was the car park at Douneside House leisure centre, which gave us a little start on the hill - although we would have to climb back up there from the village at the end of our circular route anyway.

We didn't have detailed directions - all we had was the Tarland Walks leaflet - but we decided to try to follow the red route up the hill and would decide when we got to the top which one of the various routes we would come back down on. In the end, we need not have feared - the trails were well signposted on the way up, although we did have a couple of brief mis-steps on the way down. In fact, we kind of made it up as we went along and managed to do parts of the red, blue, black and green trails.

Now the photos:

First brief pitstop was at a conveniently located bench on the way up:

From there, we had fine views of Morven, which kept disappearing and re-appearing as the clouds rolled in from the west:

The question was asked - have we ever climbed Morven? The answer is yes - on 27th March, 2016. Andy, Dave, Ian and Ken were those present then.

At the top of Pittenderich, there was a large cairn where somebody had placed a plank of wood between a couple of stones to create a small bench:

Once Andy clambered over the boulders, we had lunch:

We were very close to the higher hill of Pressendye, which we (Dave, John, Colin and I) climbed back on Sunday 12th August, 2012.

Back down on the green trail, just past Alastrean House, we spotted this little door that somebody had placed on an old tree trunk:

Now the stats:

Ian had to dash home, but the rest of us went for tea/coffee and scones and cake in Douneside House. We had the Tweed Room to ourselves - and delightful it was too - a class above our usual standard. Andy treated us - it was originally going to be Nigel, the birthday boy, but he had to cancel.