Meikle Balloch Hill
Meikle Balloch Hill, Keith. Section 21A.
Height – 366 metres. Map – OS Landranger 29.
Climbed - 4 September 2011. Time taken – 1.25 hours.
Height climbed – 3.5 kilometres. Ascent – 165 metres.
Trip Report Details:
My final Sub 2000 Marilyn on Sunday 4 September 2011 was Meikle Balloch Hill, which was accessed from Keith town centre along a minor road to just beyond the Water Works near Wester Herricks. Here there was a small car parking area with a map showing routes around Balloch Wood.
I followed the blue route, a new path which climbed through the woods, crossed a forest track, and continued uphill. It deteriorated as it passed through an area of felled timber, but improved again when I re-entered the mature forest. The path steepened considerably, but the hard work constructing the path had in places been undone as some of the edges had been washed away and formed a deep ditch.
The gradient eased and I cleared the forest where the improvement to the path ended. It was then a wet and boggy stroll to Meikle Balloch Hill’s summit cairn which was a metre higher than the nearby trig point. I had a late lunch beside the trig point, with views of the hills I had climbed earlier that day, before returning to the car park by the ascent route. The end of a fairly successful day in the North-East, with four Sub 2000 Marilyns climbed.
Photos taken on walk.