Wandering around the Wirren for May Day walk
I'VE been on the Wirren many a time but never on the particular route we used a fortnight since.
The absence of some of our number in Callander meant that there were only nine of us on this day. We started from Newbigging a mile or so east of Lethnot School.
We climbed along the side of Craig Narb roughly following the line of the Oldtown Burn before arriving at the trig point on East Wirren (2092 ft).
The day was slightly overcast but we rarely felt cold what with the effort of climbing tending to cut out the chill, except when we had a piecie stop.
| enjoy wandering around on the Wirren; you get super views over the Mearns and Angus and eastwards to the coast. There were still patches of snow to be seen further up the glen.
You come across cloudberries (averins) up here. This plant has a blackberry-like leaf, a small white flower, and grows around peat hags. Its small orange fruit will appear later in the year and is highly nutritious.
A small group went across the col to the neighbouring trig point and near where they came across the sparse wreckage of a Beaufighter that had crashed during WW II. I took a line to the west looking for another crash site – the Liberator bomber that lies nearby – but it was further along than I'd anticipated.
While on this quest I happened upon half a dozen stags and hinds who seemed in no way phased by my near presence but who eventually cantered off to the north. As we descended the Craig of Finnoch this group of deer reappeared from a completely different direction. One thing's for certain; they covered much more territory than we did on that day and we'd done nine miles.
It was May Day and near Dikehead Farm I spotted the first swallows I've seen this year; nesting in the nearby barn no doubt. They'll be here for the summer before heading off for Africa again in autumn. I find it remarkable that these small birds can navigate half the globe to end up in the same nesting places every year. (OS LANDRANGER SHEET 44).
The following week we headed for Perth for a wander around the parkland on Kinnoull Hill. From the Jubilee Car Park there is a variety of signed circular walks through Deuchny and Corsiehill woods. Pinkish-white wood sorrel provides extensive ground cover in this mixed woodland and a red squirrel was sighted.
There are a number of observation points up here including Kinnoull Hill Tower which you can see high above you if you glance to the right when motoring along the Dundee-Perth road.
This tower is a folly built by Lord Gray in 1829. An imitation of the Rhine Castles in Germany it sits on the edge of ancient cliffs overlooking the River Tay and Glencarse with magnificent views towards the Ochil and Lomond Hills.
From here it's a short climb to the summit marker (729 ft) from where you can also view the Cairngorms to the north. The plaque here commemorates Lord Dewar's "munificence (I like that word) in gifting this beautiful hill to his native city in 1923." This was not so much a hillwalk as a stroll of four or five miles but, in sunny weather, a delightful outing. (OS LANDRANGER SHEET 58).
If Kinnoull had been something of a daunder, ten miles plus on the following day proved more energetic. We walked from Happas to the Carnegy monument on the Hill of Lour (800 ft) on the Fothringham estate. I've motored past the sign to Happas (near Tealing) a thousand times without going up there. The route takes you through Inverarity and woodlands, on this day almost in full leaf.
The temperature must have been nudging seventy in the sunny glades and with pathways bordered by violets and comfrey in quantity this was a walk to savour.
I read that our dreaded midgie is making a later appearance this year due to colder weather. I'm off to do some walking in Glencoe tomorrow so I'm hoping that thebeasties have not arrived there yet. It's a little early in the season for them anyway.
A few years ago I was bitten half to death by midgies over there. I've always believed that they were wearing spurs on that particular occasion. Anyway I'm taking no chances; the repellent is already in the rucksack.
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Weather for Brechin
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 15 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: East
