Wounded Knee On the Ben!

Yesterday we climbed the biggest hill in these parts... Ben Rinnes (840 m or 2752 ft).

Looking down at Roy's Hill, Meikle Conval and little Conval.

Roy's Hill in the foreground, which leads on to Ben Rinnes proper.

Snow... knee-deep and worse.

The top of the hill looking at the trig point, cold, windy, and weather about to take a turn for the worse. We just made it back to the car before heavy rain hit. I twisted my knee on the way down, and I had a wedding dance to go to in the evening. No dancing for me I'm afraid. Mind you, that was yesterday, and it's much better today.

Let Me Through!

Why is it that whenever I have free time, the weather turns bad, and as soon as my free time is up, it becomes beautiful once again? And, it's not just the holiday times either, quite often it's beautiful here all week long, then come the weekend, wind and rain. I'm not usually one to moan about the weather, but all I want is a few days out on the hills over the next 3 weeks, and if the weather's rotten for that whole time, then both you and I will know that the big man's got it in for me!

I'm trying to join a forum for hillwalkers, not really because I want to feel as though I'm part of something, but mainly just to help me plan out routes up hills, because on more than one occasion recently, my navigational skills have been called into question, in fact 3 times if I'm going to be open about it. On all 3 occasions I was vindicated, by finding the correct path, but that's not the point. The point is, that many of the hills I intend to climb, don't really have what you might call paths, per se. What I need is information form the horse's mouth so to speak, as to the best route to take, in such circumsatances.

I actually would like to hit a couple of Corbetts this Easter break, gearing up to do some Munros, later in the year, probably at Summertime, because I'm a fair weather man to be honest, and Highland conditions can get really bad, particularly on high ground, and at any time of year, but in Winter and even Springtime people die out there. Ben Rinnes is my number one target this Easter, I don't know how many times I've seen that hill in the passing and never been up it. Well, all that's going to change!

Back Of Beyond!

The Buck!

Took this shot on the way back. A view of the Buck from the Cabrach. Doesn't look nearly as big as it actually is from here.

Thought this was a nice idea for a photo, looking along the fenceline with Ben Rinnes in the distance.

What appears to be a pictish symbol stone with 3 fishes swimming around each other, and some other symbols. Nobody knows what these stones represented, but it could have been a boundary marker. Interestingly, the present day boundary between Moray and Aberdeenshire, runs right across the top of the hill!

View from the top towards the Cairngorns.

This was a hard one! The virtual bog at the bottom had to be negotiated twice, but at the top of the hill, the wind was so strong it was almost impossible to stand. I've never experienced anything like it before. I only managed to get some photos off because I found shelter behind the rocks on the summit. What an adventure!

So Much Still To Do!

Sorry about yesterday, I was just so busy, what with going to the cinema to watch "The National Treasure: The Book of Secrets" in the afternoon, and genrally I have a hell of a lot of work to do. Things aren't going to get easier either, over the next month or two. Ah well, took some time out this morning to walk up "Meikle Conval" near Dufftown. Nice walk!

Half-way up, looking back towards Dufftown, generally!

Looking South-East, about two thirds up!

Looking from the top, towards "Little Conval" (another hill fort) to the North!

The magnificent site that is Ben Rinnes. Must be pretty cold up there! Some day soon I'll tackle that one. Still a bit out of my league for now though!

The Emperor's New Boots!

I bought myself a proper pair of hiking boots today, so now there's no excuse. I have a whole series of reasonably large hills lined-up, which I intend to hillwalk while the weather is still fairly Wintery. Once the snow's all gone, I will have a go at some of the larger hills around here, Ben Rinnes being a priority. It's actually quite exhilirating, and little challenges give you something to look forward to, something to aim for. This week's intended target is Bennachie near Insch, in Aberdeenshire. It's actually three fairly large hills strung together, but we'll take the whole lot if you don't mind, weather permitting as always.

I'm also planning ahead. I'd like to climb the Tap o' Noth near Rhynie, which is a vitrified fort, and so should probably count as double. Actually, like Bennachie, there are two hills joined together at Tap o' Noth. Following that will be another nearby double-hill; The Buck. What we're aiming for are increasingly high peaks. Bigger and badder every time. That's the way to play it I reckon, culminating in Ben Nevis sometime this Summer!

So, it looks as though there might be a few decent films out this year. I never even realised that they were making a follow-up to "The National Treasure". That was a decent film, and the sequel look like it could potentially be half-decent also. I might just go and see that next week, if it's showing here of course, which is by no means guaranteed, as per my recent Cloverfield not showing here post. There is also the small matter of the new Indiana Jones film to come, as well. The Indiana Jones franchise stole part of my childhood, I must confess. What kid wouldn't have wanted to be Indie? I also seem to recall some game I had for the PC, I think it was called "Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb". It looked fantastic, but was rendered virtually unplayable by the dodgy controls which made a simple jump into a doctorate in computing physics!

Another Sunday, Another Hill!

Haha, intrepid adventurer that I am. Given that most of the snow had melted overnight, and not to be perturbed by the dark clouds looming (see picture), we decided after lunch today, that we may as well attempt the trek up Ben Aigen. I think it's 471 metres or so, but the ascent itself isn't a problem, because it's very gradual. So gradual in fact, that it's about an hour's walk from the car park to the top, and that's including a short-cut through a very boggy fire-break.

The hill you can see in the picture is Ben Rinnes (from the top of Ben Aigen) which I'm itching to try and ascend. It is considerably higher than anything I've ever attempted though, at 842 metres (which makes it a corbett). I'm told by experienced hill-walkers however, that going up Ben Rinnes at this time of year would be pure madness, and I well believe they're right. However, the view from the summit must be phenomenal.

We've sort of got into a routine of climbing hills on a Sunday, with the Bin Hill 2 weeks ago, the Knock Hill last week, and Ben Aigen this week. Each one successively higher. Yes, I know they're not mountains, but it is Winter and my daughter in particular is highly averse to mud and dirt. She was very concerned about the state of her new jeans, which she had misguidedly worn for the event. The worst aspect of hill-walking at this time of year appears to be the run-off, by which I mean the torrents of water pouring down the hillside from rain and melting snow. A decent pair of water-tight boots is essential. I don't have a decent pair of boots, and can unfortunately confirm this as fact!

James Of the Hill!

I never told you this before, but several years ago, while I was deeply involved in family tree research, I was flicking through some obscure reference book, let's call it "The History of Speyside" for instance, becuase I can't remember the name. The fact was that both myself and my wife had ancestors with the Grant surname, from the Inveravon area of Speyside, practically on the doorstep of Castle Grant. However, like many Scottish clans, their origins probably lay more in Normandy than the Highlands.

Anyway, I happened upon several historical reports from the area covering probably from about 1610 through to 1650, concerning an individual called James Grant of Carron aka "James of the Hill". The hill in question being Ben Rinnes, for James Grant was an outlaw and Ben Rinnes was his home turf. I collected up a few of these stories and decided to find out a bit more about the individual, simply out of curiosity. I was glad I did, because the man's life tells a fantastic tale. It started of with a family feud going back generations between the Grants of Ballindalloch and the Grants of Carron , some sort of dispute over border marches. Both families were minor nobility being off-shoots of the main Grant pedigree and therefore held close ties with the Chief of Clan Grant. (I suspect without checking that the photo above is of their mutual ancestor.)

James Grant subsequently murdered a relative of Ballindalloch, who had allegedly attacked his brother, and he was outlawed thereafter. He took to the hills and fell in with other unsavoury characters, until he had a veritable gang of villains at his disposal. They did whatever it took to survive, robbing, plundering, reiving and providing hired service to anyone who needed a bunch of rogues. James was finally caught by members of Clan Chattan after a hot pursuit in which he received about 15 arrow wounds. He was clearly a sturdy fellow, having already seen off a posse of MacGregor rogues sent by Ballindalloch. The rest of his gang were hung at Edinburgh, but he was imprisoned in the castle as a witness in the case of the murder of a son of The Gordon Earl of Huntly (one of those men to whom Grant had leant his services occasionally). As the trial progressed slowly, somehow Grant had rope smuggled into him in barrels of butter, eventually procuring enough to escape down the wall of the castle and cliff below. A never before or after repeated feat of daring.

He then returned to his home country, renewing his ties with the Gordons and bumping off the odd person who got in his way, before joining the Gordon cause to help defend Aberdeen against Montrose and his covenanting army at the Brig O'Dee. After this service to the crown and becoming a bit of a bounty hunter, he was finally pardoned of all crimes commited by himself, but of his fate there is no record. Presumably he died a peaceful death, which seemed so unlikely for most of his life.

I've only really given you a brief overview of the accounts of James Grant in this post, because I'd have to pull out all of my old notes which I haven't seen for years, in order to recant some more of his derring-do tales. Suffice to say that there's enough to make a book, and I'd like to think that I might be able to so that some day, if there's ever any rest for the wicked!