Dumpling feast a good start to the walking
MICHAELMAS Day on September 29, according to weather lore, is regarded as the beginning of autumn. "Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness" was how the poet Keats saw this time of year.
A fortnight since our Monday walk was somewhat depleted in numbers due to the fact that the bulk of our folk were away sampling the delights of the Lake District.
The party spent a week in Coniston where they seem to have had a whale of a time. They climbed Coniston Old Man, the peak overlooking the village, as well as taking in other fells in that bonny area.
Nonetheless the nine of us remaining also had a good outing here at home. We went up Sturdy Hill in Glenesk. Keats's "mists" were lying banded along the hillside as we set off up the Peat Road. The fog eventually burnt off and we were walking in perfect weather.
You get up to a height of 1700ft but the sinuous path makes the climbing gradual. The theory is that the track was cut in this fashion, the better to enable the horses and carts negotiate the descent when transporting the peat from the tops. A herd of deer, mostly heavily antlered stags, cantered close by and we spotted a kestrel wheeling off to the right. Roughly grassed upland is its classic territory.
Leaving the path we did some rough walking over heather and peat hags along the side of Maolearn.
At the bottom of these hills lie the ruins of Dalforth. This was a former ferm toun not far from Colmeallie and the name is preserved by the Dalforth Burn which flows into the North Esk. You can see traces of an old water-mill and smiddy and nearby lies an old burial ground. Intriguing stuff. We'd covered eight miles in countryside now showing the first tints of bronze and gold. (OS Landranger Sheet 44).
The following week too was a walk with a difference. Now back to full strength we'd been invited to join the Laurencekirkers who were hosting other clubs as their contribution to Aberdeenshire's "Week of Walks". We foregathered in Auchenblae Village Hall at ten in the morning where we were plied with scones, dumpling and other fine pieces before setting out along our respective routes. We rarely begin a trek in such royal style and for which our thanks are due to Ian Bell and his merry band of helpers. Great stuff.
Our group took a route from the Drumtochty Car Park up to the trig point on the Hill of Finella (1366ft). It was a dreich day and in truth we ended up pretty drookit but we're a hardy bunch. This area takes its name from the notorious Lady Finella about whom legends abound.
Back in the Dark Ages this daughter of a Celtic earl was reputed to have had King Kenneth II murdered within the walls of Kincardine Castle. She then, it is said, fled to St. Cyrus where she herself was done to death. These were savage times.
Fungii are prolific this year. We came upon them in quantity along these woodland tracks. In particular there were large specimens of the most recognisable of all toadstools - the scarlet ones with white spots, the fly agaric or fairy mushrooms.
They are poisonous.
I remember, as a kid, being given one of those brown paper carrier bags with string handles, and told to go into nearby pasture to pick mushrooms. With the confidence of extreme youth I always came back with a bagful which were duly cooked for breakfast the next day. They had all the flavour of distant memory. I'm not sure whether I'd approach a mushrooming expedition nowadays with the same certainty of identity. (OS Landranger sheet 45)
The wild geese are coming back. Last week I saw skeins from Greenland and Iceland flying over Brechin in a coastal direction emitting their mournful and musical cries. Another sign that the season is on the turn.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Brechin
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 1 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 25 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 3 C to 4 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: South west
