From Banchory 3

Monday 18th October

I ticked off Morvern today north of Ballater - another Corbett. I had good weather and good views. It was just like Munroing again. I met a chap coming up as I was coming down. He said he was a professional photographer and was taking photos of proposed windfarm sites for an agency in Glasgow. I asked if these were for the use of protestors against windfarms and he said that the agency would supply photos to both sides. For somebody with a conscience and a strong view either way on this form of alternative energy this assignment would provide an interesting dilemma.

Tuesday 19th October

A bit of an epic today. Weather was poor first thing but I set off and drove to do Brown Cow Hill north of Ballater - another Corbett. When I arrived it was sleeting and then it stopped so I set off. A Land Rover track goes right up to a high col. Next there is a two kilometre pathless trog across really serious peat hags. It started snowing and visibility was down to about a hundred yards. I plodded on and eventually arrived at the first cairn. The true summit is another kilometre on the ridge, albeit only another six meters in height. By now snow was coming horizontally and visibility was down to just a few yards. I could not see my gps or my compass properly due to a combination of wind, snow and my spectacles. I turned round and went back with difficulty trying to walk on a bearing across the peat gags. When I at last got back to the Land Rover track the snow stopped and I had proper visibility again, but it was a miserable walk out. There was a cafe a few hundred yards down the road from where I parked. When i arrived another violent snow storm came from nowhere and I had to make a brave dash from car to cafe.




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