Three Brothers went west to Glen Turret, location of the oldest distillery in Scotland. There was no time for tasting though.
By Ian
26th April 2022
“Dookin’ for Chips”
It was 9:48am when we left the car park at the dam on Loch Turret reservoir, we being Steve, Garry and me.
The sky looked pretty threatening and it was not long until we stopped to don waterproofs. The coats had the desired effect.
Inevitably the rain stopped and the sun appeared, so a second stop was called to put the coats back in the bag. This fashion show pattern continued throughout the day.
Our walk continued lochside for about 3 miles, before we turned right and up a fairly steep incline (fairly doesn’t really describe it). Full of enthusiasm and energy we kept a good pace uphill.
A review of the surrounding topography brought the realisation that the climb was likely to continue through about 1500 feet. Lactic acid and a shortage of oxygen brought on a drink stop.
Auchnafree Hill
We continued upwards this time at a more sustainable pace until we reached a junction in the paths.
Out of breath and hot from our exertions, our faces looking like we had been dookin’ for chips and coffee time was called. We enjoyed drinks and a piece of blueberry and lemon cake, this time from chef de mission, Linda.
The ascent flattened out as we continued towards the summit of Auchnafree Hill.
The path continued ahead but we turned right for a more direct route to the top. This involved walking over heather and peat hags. It was not difficult walking however as the ground was fairly dry due to the lack of rain.
We were soon at the summit, a rather unspectacular affair marked with a modest cairn. Ahead of us in the distance was Ben Vorlich and to our left Ben Chonzie.
Despite the cairn there seemed to be a higher point marked with another pile of stones, so we paid it a visit. I photographed one of the stones which had an inscription on it, still none the wiser.
We descended until we rejoined our ascent path and headed towards Choinneachain Hill.
Choinneachain Hill
Around one pm we found a sheltered place to stop and enjoyed a lunch break before again ascending towards the second summit of the day. Glen Turret reservoir came back into view before the path turned again to the left .
Looking back toward Auchnafree Hill there were some marks on the hillside facing us. Clearly an alien rocket launching site!!
As we approached the summit there was a cairn about 50 feet to our right and another to our left 100 metres further on. We continued on our way past both and started our descent.
An unnamed Glen hove into view on our left, through which the Barvick Burn was flowing. We decided it should from now be named Glen Dron as Steve’s family comes from the area. Not sure how to impart this information to Ordnance Survey.
Our destination, the start point, was in the opposite direction to that in which we were walking so a consultation of the map was required. It confirmed that we were going in the opposite direction but also that our route was correct.
It was therefore a circuitous walk back to the car on paths, our alternative being scrambling over heather and bog. My impatience to turn back towards the reservoir took us up a cul-de-sac and required a U-turn after a couple of hundred metres.
About four miles after consulting the map we were back at the car with another 12 miles under our belts. The big one is now only 30 days away.