Mount Keen

I think I made the right decision last weekend, west was going to be wet... Jack and I headed off after lunch on Sunday to Edzell. The camp site was closed so we ate at Edzell hotel and headed up the glen (which took a surprisingly long time). It was dark when we arrived and the stars were magnificent. We played a quick game of scrabble, and pulled out all the bedding we had to try to stay warm. We woke at 7.30am to find frost on the grass.

Just before 9am Douglas and I headed off up Glen Mark toward Queen’s Well where we stopped for an early cup of tea. Then past the last house in the glen and started our ascent. The cloud was still hanging on the summits, but the sun was beginning to break through to the east. It is a very good path all the way, which makes for a very pleasant walk. We stopped at the fork to the summit and had another cup of tea. From here on up the grouse were rising from the heather, a white mountain hare bobbed up the path ahead of us, and, nearer the summit rocks, there were many ptarmigan in their white winter feathers.

Not a patch of snow on the ground though, strange for early March. By the time we reached the summit (just less than 3 hours from the start) the sun had broken through and the clouds had lifted. I sat for some time at the trig point enjoying the warmth and chatting to another walker before strolling back down. Jack and Fern met us at the Queen’s Well and we hunted for toads and frogs on the way back down the glen. A perfect end to a wonderful day.