📌 Banchory, Aberdeenshire
★★
🛠️ Layby at start currently blocked off with no nearby alternative – access therefore not possible by car or public transport (checked March 2024)
Head due west from Aberdeen and the Hill of Fare is the first extensive area of high ground you’ll find. This sprawling, heathery plateau is surrounded by roads but its interior offers relative peace and quiet as well as extensive views over eastern Aberdeenshire, admittedly without anything overly dramatic. Apart from the slightly tricky-to-locate summit cairn (not quite on the main path – keep a close eye on the map), tracks make a longish circuit achievable in a shortish amount of time.
📷 Chronological photo guide
🌍 Location
📌 Start / finish on the A980 0.5 mi west of B977 junction
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NO 687993
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 57.083639,-2.517902
❌ No public transport within 1 mi
🚗 Layby (gets full)
📝 Key info
▶ 19 km / 12 mi | ▲ 480 m | ⌛ 4.5-5.5 hr
Features: △ Craigrath (435 m); △ Hill of Fare (471 m, sub-2000′ Marilyn)
⬤ Moderate | Good tracks, with short section of heather-bashing to reach the true summit.
Download file for GPS➡️ Clockwise lollipop circuit with extension to Hill of Fare: start – Spy Brae Wood – Craigbeg Wood – The Skairs – Craigrath – Hill of Corfeidly – Hill of Fare summit – return to Hill of Corfeidly – Blackyduds – Howe of Corrichie – Myriehill Wood – Raemoir Quarry – The Green – Raemoir Home Farm – Spy Brae Wood – start
🥾 On our last visit
Wildlife: Distant grouse; sheep. The hill surprisingly busy with other walkers and cyclists.
Weather: Mostly sunny at the start but with a chilly wind; tending to cloud over with a few spots of rain near the end.
March 2014
