Day 14
Dog Hillock to beside Spring in Valley East of Berry Cairn
Daily Distance 34.8k, Time Naismith 9.52, Daily Ascent 1222m, Daily Average Altitude 692m
The map shows our actual route in Blue, and the intended route where it was different in red. The blue numbers on our route are highlighted in the text.
In the morning we set off over Gallow Hillock and 1 Ferrowie then Lair of Aldararie. This was slow pathless peat and we did not take the best path, Somewhere I think it was from here to Lair of Whitestone there was a lot of Mica in the rock.2 It had been washed out by the streams to leave shiny silver banks and where the brown peaty water ran over it, the water seemed to magnify it and it looked like gold. After Lair of Whitestone we crossed Boustie Ley, followed the cliffs above Loch Brandy and met the path from the Clova Hotel.3
We followed this over Green Hill and left over good ground to cross between White Hill and the Goet. At this point we came across our first Electric fence under construction 4. Happily with a gap to suit our path. The fence seems to follow the watershed so it did not get in our way too much as we were generally parallel to it. We crossed Black Shank and Cairn Trench and then, as I remember, the worst peaty bog 5 since Loch Tilt in the bealach on the way to White Hill (number 2). From White Hill 6 there was view of continuous hags if you followed the watershed over Potty Lednar to Dog Hillock (number 2). I remember thinking that if it was all like this we would not get to Montrose anytime tomorrow. With a bit of study it looked, and was, easier to cut down to a green stripe alongside a stream follow it down to a south facing tributary and follow that up around Potty Leadnar towards Dog Hillock and climb out of the valley at the end, up Dog Hillock. By that way we probably saved a lot of grief.
At the top of Dog Hillock 7 there was another gate in an electric fence and on the other side a track. There were now tracks intermittently all the way to Berry Cairn. Barring mishaps we had an achievable day to Montrose tomorrow. Just before Berry Cairn we descended North into a steep valley until we found water and camped beside a spring in a last little idyllic wild nook in the tamed hills on the edge of the Eastern Agricultural plains.
