Quarry Hill: I left my car on the west side of the A97 south of Rhynie in a small off road parking spot at grid reference NJ494257 and walked briefly north along the main road to a locked stock gate. Once across it and a second one I entered a stubble field which had a covering of snow. After crossing this field and a field of neeps a series of gates had to be negotiated to enter a grassy field and the summit of the Tump, Quarry Hill, although I wasn’t able to pinpoint the highest point. The return was by the upward route.
Ord Hill: I parked just off the unclassified road to the south-west of Ord Hill and west of Rhynie at the start of the farm road leading to Templand. I crossed a stock gate to enter a grassy field then more gates and fields were crossed to reach the summit of this Tump where I visited a few high points including one on the other side of a fence as I couldn’t tell which one was the summit. The return was by the ascent route.
Daugh of Corinacy: This Tump was located north of Cabrach and east of the A941 Rhynie to Dufftown Road. A direct approach from the west wasn’t possible due the bridgeless Allt Deveron so I parked at the west side of the A941 just south-east of Bridge of King’s Ford and walked the short distance south-east along the road to the snow covered access track leading to Bank Farm which was a ruin.
I walked up this track and just before the ruin left the track and crossed mainly snow covered heather, which was around shin deep, to reach a stock fence. This was followed to the summit area crossing a stock gate en-route. The highest point of this Tump wasn’t obvious, it could have been beside the fence or a couple of areas of heather which had been turned over to leave pellets for the grouse. The return was by the upward route.
- Total time – 3 hours.
- Total distance – 9 kilometres.
- Total height climbed – 320 metres.