Morven from Groddie – 24th June

June’s midweek walk will be a rare move to the Wednesday.  It will be on Midsummer Day, the 24^th of June.  We’ll be assaulting Morven from the road to Groddie near Logie Coldstone.   (My recce of the previously intended approach from Tullich suggested it was too much for a midweek walk.)

Many people start this walk by parking at the fork a little short of Groddie, but I found rumours that the parking is unavailable due to timber extraction work to be true.  The walk will start instead from the nearby gate at NJ 411 043, OS Landranger 37, (what3words ///hunt.ascendant.hawks) before heading west to the ruin of Balhennie.  There is space for two cars to park on the verge by the gate and another four at the other side of the road.  I estimate there could be space for another five cars 250m before that, on a large grassy splay at a field gate just after rounding the bend at Bridgefoot.  We will be setting off at 10am.  OS Maps says the route is a bit over 10km with 665m of ascent and takes under 4 hours.  My recce with stops and sightseeing took 5.

Car sharing will be from the usual Kingswells Park and Ride location at 8.45.  The drive from there is about an hour.

The route follows clear paths and tracks with a fairly constant slope from Balhennie round the side of the hill above the Coinlach burn to a flat area below Little Cairn.  We then head up to the top of Morven via Little Cairn and Mid Cairn.  The weather will of course be fine 😊 and we should be able to see from Buchan down to Fife and across to the Cairngorms.  Lunch will likely be taken at summit cairn or adjacent trig point.  At the same time, the little Braemar mountain rescue box may be examined and, if desired, a donation made by scanning the QR code.

The return will be the reverse of the above.  (There is a direct path connecting Balhennie to Little Cairn which is used in a number of described routes to and from Morven but my recce showed it to be relentlessly steep and, with some sections of very loose pebbles, just asking for trouble.)

The only nearby public toilets appear to be at the Commercial Hotel in Tarland (part of the comfort partnership scheme.)

Please let me know if you intend coming via email alistair.birnie@btinternet.com or text 07833502526.