I hadn’t been home long from climbing a few Tumps near Blair Atholl when I received a message from a hill walking friend who asked if I wanted to join him and his wife on an ascent of the Graham, Pressendye. It was a surprise to receive such an invite as he had a hip replacement operation at the end of December last year and I wasn’t expecting him to be back on the hills until later this year.
The following morning I headed for Tarland where we met up then drove north-east along the B9119 Aberdeen Road, parking at the west side of the junction with the access road to Pett Farm.
We then walked up the tarred road to this farm and onto a vehicle track heading north then later east as I thought my walking companion, due to his hip replacement, wanted to take the easier longer loop route. I later discovered this wasn’t the case so we returned to where the vehicle track changed direction and followed another track north through the trees. At a junction we went left then after a few metres right onto a winding mountain bike trail which continued through the wood. This led to the track we were on earlier but having shortened the distance.
The vehicle track continued north-west then north later emerging from the trees. Rough tracks then led to the summit of the Graham, Pressendye, marked by a large cairn. Here we met Anne Butler, President of Mountaineering Scotland who was on her third round of a ‘Full House’.
The return was by the ascent route.
- Time taken – 4 hours 5 minutes.
- Distance – 9 kilometres.
- Height climbed – 450 metres.