Waughton Hill
Waughton Hill, Aberdeenshire.Section 21B.
Height – 234 metres. Map – OS Landranger 30.
Climbed - 9 January 2011. Time taken 2.25 hours.
Distance – 8 kilometres. Ascent – 205 metres.
Trip Report Details:
I hadn’t been to the Buchan area for several years so on studying the Relative Hills of Britain book I decided to climb the Sub 2000 Marilyn, Waughton Hill, the most easterly Marilyn in Scotland.
I parked in the village of Strichen and walked up the snow and ice covered road to beyond Bransbeg Farm where a track, with evidence of recent snowdrifts, continued north and then east to the ruin at Pluckhill. A couple of gates and fields were crossed before I reached a barbed wire fence with gorse bushes beyond.
There was no obvious route through the bushes so I followed the fence north, crossing a couple of other fences en-route, before I found a suitable gap. Once over the barbed wire fence I climbed through clearings in the gorse to the edge of a quarry and onto an icy track that led passed a copse of firs.
Another track led to the ruin of Hunter’s Lodge where I took shelter, from a cold wind, for a coffee break looking across to Peterhead Power Station and the North Sea beyond. Once refreshed there was a slight dip, where disused electric fencing could trip the unwary, followed by a short climb to the summit of Waughton Hill. There was no cairn here but I considered somewhere close to a small triangle marked by three fence posts was the summit area.
I wondered around the top for a few minutes looking north to the fishing town of Fraserburgh and west to Banffshire before returning to Hunter’s Lodge and the trees beyond. I then made my way through gorse bushes to the snow covered stones laid out to look like a horse and known as the White Horse due to the stone colouring. From here a path led through the gorse to a wicket gate and a signposted route for Strichen.
The path followed the edge of a field before a track led to Bransfarm and the road back to Bransbeg Farm and Strichen.
Photos taken on walk.