Tarland Corbett

Hadn't been out walking since August due to weather and being full of the cold for weeks. But as its the start of the October holidays, it was time to get back out before the winter hits. After dropping Kate at her work in Aberdeen I headed out past Tarland and after the sat nav sent me the wrong way, eventually found the right road and area to park for the walk.

The track from the parking area looks like it has been recently laid, quite sandy and soft underfoot, but soon turned grassy heading up past the abandoned building and through the open gate on the right. Following the fence line for a while I reached yet another gate.

From here the path became quite a bit steeper, for what seemed like ages today, partly due to how long since I'd been out and a partly with the tail end of the cold. The ascent eased after about a kilometer and a half, onto a flatter, muddier section for a couple oo hundred meters, before the climb started again, this time not quite so steep and a bit rockier.

After a short climb you reach a cairn called Little Cairn, which after all the climbing you could mistake for the top in the clagg, but this is just one of a few false tops. It is easier going for a good half kilometer, then it gets steeper and today started to get quite windy.

Once up, it is an easy half kilometer or so to the shelter cairn of the Corbett Morven, and just beside it to the north the slightly lower trig point. Unfortunately not much views in the clagg today, but I settled down in the shelter cairn for my lunch.

Retracing my steps down past the false tops, I had originally intended to follow the longer less steep route south, but it looked a good bit longer and from earlier I wasn't convinced it reduced the steepness much. So instead I headed back the way I came.

After the customary brew up at the car, I had a good while to kill before picking Kate up from work, so headed in past to visit Brenna and her little kitten Gus, my first grandson.