Mount Battock (778m / 2552ft), Glenesk, Angus, Northeast Scotland
It's become a tradition amongst a group of us to organise a hillwalk early in the New Year, before going back to work. This year after several days of poor weather through Christmas and New Year, we were lucky to get a good forecast for the 2nd of January - the last day of the holidays for many people. Mike, Les and John were all able to get away for the day, and Les was turning his sights on the Corbetts after completing the Munros a few years ago.
Mount Battock is a big hill overlooking Glenesk from the North, straddling the boundary between Angus and Aberdeenshire. The most easterly of the Corbetts, it was within easy driving distance and offered a modest but realistic challenge for a short winter day.
The little town of Edzell lies at the mouth of Glenesk, one of the Angus Glens that cut deeply into the southern flanks of the Cairngorms (see also the Glen Clova page). The narrow winding road runs for about 8 miles (13km) to the starting point at Millden Lodge (map ref 541789 - just where the phone box is indicated). This is barely halfway up the Glen, which eventually splits into Glen Lee and the longer Glen Mark. As we drove there, we looked up towards the Hill of Wirren (678m) on the left side of the Glen.
There's parking for 4 or 5 cars next to the phone box, on the right just after the road crosses a bridge beside Millden Lodge. There was one car there already, and another arrived just after us. There was frost on the ground and a cold breeze even down in the Glen, despite the sunshine, so we wrapped up well before setting off at 10.15.
A couple of us had climbed Mount Battock before - in my case over 20 years ago - and we'd taken the direct route by the Burn of Turret. However, Les had a new book describing the Corbetts, and it suggested heading up to the west onto Mount Een (529m) then turning along the broad ridge for about 3 miles to Mount Battock.
We walked up the road on the left side of the burn, into the sunlight, and soon reached a well-preserved mill building. At one time there would have been dozens of these in the glens around here, capturing the power from the burns. A few minutes later we arrived at another group of buildings, which must have been the Mill of Aucheen. Just beyond them the road split into two tracks, next to a stand of tall pine trees. A stone cairn stood at the junction, and just below it a stone had been painted with the words "Mt Battock" and an arrow to the right. But instead we went straight ahead towards Mount Een.
It was a broad, firm vehicle track, and once we had passed the edge of the trees we were buffeted by the cold wind. On the left, a signpost indicated another track leading west to Tarfside, 5 miles away, but we continued straight on. The gradient was gentle, leading up towards Blackgraigs cottage standing on the hillside with another belt of trees behind it. To the right we could see Mount Battock across the heathery slopes, although the top was shrouded in mist at first.
At Blackcraigs we found ourselves at a crossroads, with one track swinging round behind the cottage, another across to the right, and a third continuing ahead seemingly into the trees. It looked like the right direction all the same, and soon we could see that there was a wide gap through the trees, with a gate across the track. Beyond the gate we were surprised to find that the track had been upgraded with a raised sandy surface, a bit like a section of beach laid out on the hillside. Very odd. It provided an easy surface to walk up as the route became steeper, and we made steady progress.
The hillside was quite featureless apart from this over-engineered track and the shooters' hides close by. Clearly the track was being improved to give better access for grouse shooting. Once we reached the top of the hill there was another gate, and then the track split with one branch heading south-west towards the final hilltop on the ridge, Craig Soales. We followed the other branch ahead, with the view opening up to the hills further west. The highest tops were covered in snow, unlike Mount Battock.
The next "highlight" was finding a large digger truck parked in a kind of layby to the right of the track, in front of a large trench dug into the moorland. It looked like this could be a source for some of the sand and stones used on the track, although it wasn't big enough to have yielded enough for much roadbuilding. Maybe there were bigger trenches hidden away elsewhere. The truck made a convenient resting place where we could stop for a hot drink and a piece of Les' famed Black Bun which had made a welcome appearance on a previous New Year outing.
Beyond the immediate despoilation of the hillside, we could see west to the waters of Loch Lee and the white-topped plateau beyond, above Glen Clova and Glen Doll. It's remarkable how uniform the tops are in these Eastern Cairngorms, gradually rising up to 850-950 metres, before the massif of Lochnagar reaches 1155m.
Our track curved round to the right (north-east) in the direction of Mount Battock. It was a long gradual ascent, still on a built roadway, until eventually we found a more traditional track leading more directly up to a rocky outcrop ahead of us. This was unusual as there weren't many large rocks in evidence on the hillside. At first this looked like the top, with a prominent cairn on it, but once we'd clambered up to it we could see another hilltop beyond. All the same it made a good spot to stop to enjoy the view again.
From the cairn we now had a good view north across the lower hills of Aberdeenshire, and made guesses about which was which. The distinctive twin peaks of Bennachie were just visible in the distance, and we discussed the vitrification which had left this and several other hilltops with fortifications fused together by intense heat.
Setting off again, it was only another half mile to the broad top, crowned with a trig point amongst a clutter of rocks. To get to it, we had to cross a double wire fence, obviously erected recently. It looked like it carried an electric current, so we crossed it with care. Many of Scotland's mountains have the remains of old fences crossing them, but this was the first time I'd seen a new fence like this, and it would have been more annoying if the current had been switched on!
It had taken us two and a half hours to get to the summit, as the guidebook had estimated, and we hadn't rushed it. There was a sheltered space amongst the rocks where we could have our lunch, but it was still very cold, with a bitter wind and frost on the grass around us.
We didn't stay too long, and set off down to the south-south-east, to the left of the new fence. It had been built without much regard for the older hilltracks, and we soon had to cross over it again. By now we were relieved to be out of the wind, making the walking much more pleasant. The slope was quite steep here, covered in heather, and we had a quick chat with three other walkers who passed us on their way up.
Just below, we reached a dip in the ridge covered in peat hags and drainage channels which we had to hop across before the next low top, the Hill of Saughs. On the other side we joined a better track which led south another mile or so to the Hill of Turret - really just the final high point before the track swung right and down into the glen. As we walked, the other three discussed their experiences climbing the Inaccessible Pinnacle in the Cuillins of Skye - a much more challenging ascent than the one we were currently engaged in (see Sgurr Dearg story).
Then we came upon another big yellow digger truck, at the start of another section of roadbuilding. More crushed rocks had been laid, then covered with gravel and sand. Maybe this would eventually join up with the one we had followed earlier, creating an easily drivable route around the entire horseshoe ridge.
A little further down we stopped to take in the view - we could see below us the stands of trees which we had walked through a few hours earlier, and the line of hilltops we had crossed. Then we completed our descent into the thin belt of trees around Millden, and back to the road on the opposite side of the bridge from the car park. We were back at the car by 2.40, finishing off a satisfying hillwalk.
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