📌 Glen Esk, Angus
★★★
Mount Battock should be considered an essential destination for any Aberdonian walker. Quickly reached by road as Scotland’s most easterly Corbett, the ugly hill tracks that abound in this region admittedly enable a quick ascent. Make sure to add in a return along the picturesque Burn of Turret, full of fish and a nice change from the open moorland by this stage in the day. The electric fence we spent ages trying to cross without touching above the Hill of Saughs turned out not to be electrified after all. In fact, the biggest shock we received was from the huge hailstorm in the photo above, arriving overhead just as we reached the summit.
📷 Chronological photo guide
Hungry robin at the start 
Track below Blackcraigs 
Mount Battock (left) & Hill of Saughs from the ascent 
Mount Battock from Mount Een 
Wester Cairn, just short of Mount Battock 
Hailstorm approaching Mount Battock 
View east to Clachnaben from the summit 
View back around the ridge from near Hill of Saughs 
Looking east over Blackcraigs towards upper Glen Esk from the descent 
Hailstorm heads away over the Hill of Wirren 
Grouse butts 
Burn of Turret 
Mount Battock (just right of centre) from the Burn of Turret 
Burn of Turret
🌍 Location
📌 Start / finish at Millden phone box, minor road 3 mi east of Tarfside, Glen Esk
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NO 540789
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 56.899492,-2.756160
❌ No public transport within 1 mi
🚗 Tiny car park
📝 Key info
▶ 16 km / 10 mi | ▲ 760 m | ⌛ 4.5-5.5 hr
Features: △ Mount Een (529 m); △ Mount Battock (778 m, Corbett)
⬤ Tough | Mostly clear hill tracks, steep in places on ascent. Descent to Hill of Saughs has intermittent path with a little bog, then further tracks. Optional faint / pathless section along Burn of Turret near finish.
Download file for GPS➡️ Clockwise circuit: start – Blackcraigs – Mount Een – Bennygray – Mount Battock – Hill of Saughs – Hill of Turret – re-cross to east bank of Burn of Turret immediately west of Whups Craig – rejoin track to east before reaching Millden – start
🥾 On our last visit
Wildlife: Tame robin at the car park; lapwings and rabbits; fish in the Burn of Turret.
Weather: 95% sunshine & light winds, but a ferocious hailstorm on Mount Battock, with winds strong enough to blow us over! Chilly for May.
May 2013
