I headed to Haugh of Glass located between Huntly and Duffotwn to climb a few Tumps. The first one, Brown Hill, was located to the south-east of this hamlet. I parked at the end of the public road south of Auchinhandoch then walked up the side of a barbed wire fence through long, wet, tussocky grass, across a field then through more tussocky vegetation to reach a vehicle track. I walked up this track but there was no access through the closely growing fir trees so returned to the point where I joined the track.
On reaching it I worked my way through the rough vegetation onto Craigs of Succoth with its undulations and to Brown Hill’s heathery summit where a cairn appeared to mark the highpoint. The return was by the approach route avoiding the track walk.
I moved my car to the junction of the A920 Dufftown to Huntly Road and the unclassified road to the north-west of Market Hill, climbed over the padlocked gate and walked up the vehicle track then through another gate and into the woodland. Initially the mature trees were well enough spaced but then it was tough going through young trees and broom before reaching an old vehicle track where the highest point of Market Hill could have been on either side. A return route slightly to the west made the descent a bit easier.
The next Tump was to the north of the A920 Dufftown to Huntly Road. I left my car on a vehicle track west of Corsemaul, passed through a gate, crossed a field then a deer fence and into an area of heather and young firs. I walked through this area which contained several hollows to reach the trig point marking the summit of Hill of Talnamounth.
The final hill of the day was east of Dufftown. I parked at the start of the vehicle track just off the minor road to the west of Black Hill Forest and walked along forest tracks to below the summit of Carran Hill. I then left the upper track and walked through mature firs to the moss covered trig point marking the highpoint of this Tump.
- Total time – 5.75 hours.
- Total distance – 12.5 kilometres.
- Total height climbed – 555 metres.