Creigh Hill
Height – 498 metres. Map – OS Landranger 53.
Climbed – 8 May 2010. Time taken – 1.75 hours.
Distance – 4.5 kilometres. Height climbed – 235 metres.
Trip Report Details:
Earlier in the day I climbed the nearby Sub 2000 Marilyn, Mile Hill so it was just a short drive to my planned starting point for Creigh Hill, the car park on the east side of Backwater Reservoir. This dam was reached from the B951 Kirriemuir to Kirkton of Glenisla Road at the crossroads beside Dykend.
Just south of the car park there was a gate that led to a vehicle track which headed towards Macritch Hill but the track soon disappeared so I followed animal tracks through the long heather as I walked round the head of Putaichie Burn towards the col at Clashindall. There was quite a few sheep and lambs in the area and I surprised a couple of roe deer, who ran off across the heather.
On reaching the col there was a fence which I followed onto Creigh Hill along with a swath of cut heather. I can only surmise that the heather was cut in this fashion to permit access to grouse butts. At the highest point there was a small cairn and a large pile of rocks shown on the map as Cairn Motherie, which appears to be an ancient monument.
My map shows that both the North and South Tops of Creigh Hill are the same height. However other records show the North Top as being one metre higher. In anycase I had planned to take in the South Top as well so I followed the fence line and cut heather to another col and onto a small knoll where the swath of cut heather ceased. I crossed a couple of gates to reach the South Top, which consisted of a small cairn and a large pile of boulders. Again this appears to be an ancient monument with the name Cairn Plew.
With all this stone around it was quite easy to find shelter from the cool breeze for my lunch looking across to Mile Hill and towards the East Coast. Afterwards I returned to the small knoll and descended in a north-westerly direction, initially over heather, but lower down the vegetation was quite varied and rough with some wet sections. Crossing the fence topped with barbed wire was awkward as there were a couple of drainage ditches on the other side containing polluted water. It was then a short walk back along the public road to the car park.
On the descent I met a chap, whom I thought was foreign, making his way onto the South Top. He asked me if there were any views from the top, so I presume he was just out for a stroll, although not the easiest of routes to take.
Photos taken on walk.