CLEAR SIGN OF THE CLIMBING TIMES PEAK PRACTICE: MAYAR AND DRIESH

0 Comments | Sunday Herald, The, Feb 19, 2006 | by Cameron McNeish

WHEN you take part in a radio discussion with the irrepressible Lesley Riddoch you have to be prepared for anything. A few weeks ago, on Celtic Connections radio she asked me to sing a song, impersonate George Galloway and then tried to make me agree that every Munro in the land should be signposted.

I had a go at the first two, and although George Galloway would never have recognised himself I couldn't let Lesley off with her suggestion about signposts. Anyone climbing Munros should be capable of reading a map and using a compass, but purely by chance, she focused on a pair of hills in the Angus Glens where a confusion of forestry tracks and paths once obscured what should have been an obvious route.

Glen Clova and Glen Doll, two of the lovely Angus Glens, are heavily coniferised and traditional routes that lead to the open hillside become covered in trees, or the trees are clear-felled and new routes with mundane names like Waterfalls Walk or Riverside Walk appear, using mainly forest roads and drives.

I know a number of fairly seasoned hill walkers who would have given their eye teeth for a sign that simply pointed them in the right direction to the Munros, Mayar and Driesh.

These are the most popular hills in the area and the quickest route to the high bealach that offers easy access to both of them is via the old Kilbo hill path that climbs up through the Glen Doll forest, runs over the wide bealach between the two hills and down into Glen Isla.

The first time I climbed these hills I must have missed the Kilbo path for I found myself fighting through dense forestry as though it was an Amazonian jungle, but in recent years new signs have appeared pointing out the exact route. More recently the trees in the area have been clear-felled and Forest Enterprise have created a diversion, a long and steep haul up through the forest on what has become a very boggy and unpleasant path.

The diversion climbs through the forest to meet up with the Kilbo path as it breaks free of the trees at the foot of the Shank of Drumfollow where the path hugs the steep contours to climb up to the wide bealach between the two Munros.

The Shank is in fact a long and narrow shoulder that separates the corrie below, Corrie Kilbo, with its neighbouring Corrie Fee. As you climb higher the views behind begin to open out across Glen Doll to the wide, bare tableland of the Mounth, patched with snow and sparkling under the winter sun.

Once you reach the high bealach Driesh, 3,107ft is a mere stroll away, easily reached in about a mile of easy walking. Continue to The Mayar, 3,045ft by returning to the col and following an old fence west over grassy slopes.

From the summit, steepening grassy slopes drop away north to the head of Corrie Fee where a steep section to the south east of the burn leads down past some waterfalls to a footpath which continues to follow the Fee Burn into the forest where the footpath becomes a forestry road leading all the way back to Glen Doll past the Youth Hostel.

An alternative route of ascent to Driesh climbs The Scorrie, a bold prow that climbs steeply up the west side of Corrie Winter above Braedownie. Cross the White Water by the bridge at Acharn, just east of the Youth Hostel, follow the forestry fence for a short distance and then climb the obvious steep ridge.

Atthe top of the Scorrie you will be well rewarded for your efforts by some superb views into the cliffs of the corrie, the redeeming feature of what is otherwise a rather featureless hill.

And from the top of Corrie Winter it is an easy walk to the summit of Driesh.

FACT FILE

Map: OS 1:50,000 Sheet 44

Start/finish: Forest Enterprise car park at GR284762

Distance: About 8 miles

Approximate time: 4-6 hours

Route summary: Leave the car park, pass the farmhouse and cross the bridge over the White Water. Follow the forestry path as it rises gradually until it begins to turn back on itself. Keep a lookout for a sign that indicates the Kilbo path. Follow this path for a short distance to another forestry track where you'll see Forest Enterprise signs marking a diversion because of clear- felling work. Follow the diversion which eventually climbs up through the forest from the track to meet the Kilbo path at the foot of the Shank of Drumfollow. Continue on the path to the col between Driesh and The Mayar. Head SE then E up easy angled slopes to the top of Driesh, return to the col and head W following a line of fence posts to the summit of Mayar. Return via Corrie Fee and the Fee Burn back to Glen Doll.