Chosen as it "Was on the way home". I guess we should have looked at the
roads more carefully as despite being only 15m as the crow flies from
Braemar its a much longer drive.
Starting off from the carpark at the end of Glen Cova we initially
followed "Jocks Road" before spinning off along a path through the forest.
It was a dull walk until now, once out of the trees you are treated to
an impressive view of Corrie Fee. The walk here is worth it for the view
alone.
Following a good path we started to ascend the steep slopes before being
forced to shelter for 15 minutes when a particularly nasty snow shower
arrived.
After a bit of lunch the snow subsided and we carried on past the
waterfall and over the rim of the corrie. Mayar was now an easy stroll
to its rocky summit.
The clouds closed in but an obvious path led east (compass bearing
confirmed it as you can never be sure) and we quickly followed this off
the hill and onto a boggy plateau where a convenient rock and a bit of
sunshine persuaded us to stop for lunch #2.
Dreish was now visible and it wasnt long before we were ascending the
steep slopes of "Little Dreish" that led on to the main summit and
welcoming walled cairn as it was quite windy..
After a quick snack we retraced our path for just over a km before
joining the Kilbo path which took us back to the car park. This is when
Dreish's real character shines through as you walk alongside an
impressive corrie.
Note that there is A LOT of tree felling going on here. Apart from
making the landscape look like a nuke has gone off there are the obvious
hazards of forestry equipment etc.
An easy walk but superb views of the two hill's corries which gave them
a lot more character than I'd expected.
Can also reccommend the clova hotel for a bite to eat. We only had
coffee & scones but they had several real ales on and portions of main
meals looked very generous.
Real ale festival on 1st weekend of August!
--
Mike
Some pictures of the Scottish highlands here http://www.prog99.com