Introduction
The Aberdeenshire hills east of the Cairngorms are much gentler and significantly lower than their Cairngorm neighbours. Yet these hills offer a lot of solitude and delightful valleys. With easy access available from Aberdeen, many of these hills offer good days out when the Cairngorm summits are covered in cloud.

Bynack Mor seen from Carn Ealasaid

Two major river catchments drain these hills: The Don and the Dee, both of which flow out to the sea at Aberdeen. Along both of these river lie occasional villages, some meadowland and increasing amounts of forestry. Above these basins, the hills lie heather clad, seemingly exposed but often sheltered from moist westerly airstreams.

Scots Pine forest

Ballater seen from Pannanich Hill

Geal Charn
Residing above Abernethy. This isolated Corbett provides a wide sweeping view taking in the Cairngorm summits to the west as well as Ben Rinnes to the east and all the other grampian Corbetts huddled around the Lecht Ski area.

Bynack Mor and Cairngorm seen from Geal Charn

On the summit of Geal Charn looking south

The walk is usually started from Dorback Lodge to the north. A shortcut across tussocky grass and over fences gives access to a landrover track at "Upper Dell" which is followed to the base of the 2nd northerly ridge enamating from Geal Charn. Chances are you'll find a path or rutted landrover tracks striking up the slopes. Otherwise you have knee deep heather to contend with. Once established on the ridge, a good path is followed to the summit. It's a short walk, taking 3 to 4 hours as a round trip from Dorback Lodge.

Ben Rinnes & Corryhabbie Hill
This summit is very much an outlier to the main Grampian range. It stands proud and isolated, forming a pyramidal profile from many angles. Quite surprisingly it is also a very popular hill, with a recently recontructed footpath proving to be a testament to that fact. Most ascend the hill from the northeast at the road through Glack Harnes where a public car park exists. It is also a very quick hill to climb, having taken me no longer than 2hrs as a round trip.

Hill of Glenroads seen from Corryhabbie Hill

Ben Rinnes seen from Corryhabbie Hill

Because of it's ease of climbing the hill, it can be climbed along with Corryhabbie hill on the other side of the B9009. This is a bulkier hill , standing at the edge of a large area of upland that spreads south for 15km to the next minor road. The usual approach route is from the north, but approaches can also be made from Glen Fiddich. The route to the summit along either route is along bulldozed tracks which means it is possible to ascend this summit by bicycle.

The Don Corbetts
Four Corbetts surround the river Don at its headwaters. These are Carn Mor of the Ladder Hills, Carn Ealasaid of the Lecht, Brown Cow hill and the prominent summit of Morven.

On the way to Carn Mor looking back towards Glen Nochty

The hills west of Carn Mor

Carn Mor & Carn Ealasaid
Carn Mor has extensive views out east as far as Benachie, the most easterly summit north of the Dee, and west towards the Cairngorm plateaux. A good route ascends this summit from the southeast from Glen Nochty. The summit is quite well hidden from this direction, but the approach is quite varied involving a forest track past the 'lost gallery', a river crossing, a side ridge to a broad summit ridge and some heat hags. The summit ground is on thin, fragile vegetation, but the is very little trace of a footpath on the summit. A round trip from the road takes about 5 hours.

Looking East from Carn Mor across the Ladder hills

Looking west from Carn Ealasid to the Cairngorm summits across Glen Avon

Carn Ealasid seen from the south

Carn Ealasaid is an easy morning summit that is most easily climbed from Cock Bridge. A forest track is followed west from the hotel to the southeast ridge of Cairn Vaich. A path is followed to the top corner of a plantation where a set of large cairns marks the start of a track that is followed right to the broad summit of Carn Ealasaid. The views all the way to the summit extend out west to the wild land into Glen Avon finishing with the Cairngorm summits and in particular Ben Aven.

Brown Cow Hill
Brown Car Hill lies south of the river Don. Set back from the valley hidden by long broad spurs, this walk talks a little longer to do compared with the hills north of the River Don. At cockbridge, a car park exists at Cargardd Castle from where this walk starts. A good landrover track can be followed along the south bank of the infant River Don to Inchmore where another landrover track is taken south along ever tighter valleys. Eventually a track is spotted striking a short distance up one of these spurs. Beyond the track, a good path leads up through the heather to more cropped terrain higher up, where the path fades out.

Looking down the Inchmore valley to the upper Don

On the summit ridge of Brown Cow Hill

The summit ridge of Brown Cow Hill runs west to east. At 829m, the summit is difficult to distinguish given the flat nature of the summit ridge. The westward view leads towards the nearby summit slopes of Ben Avon, while looking east the more hospitable ground of the Aberdeenshire foothills lie just one valley away. Returning northeast to Cockbridge, the cropped heather soon becomes a maze of peatbogs before you reach the saddle with Carn Oighreag and the landrover track taking you down to the road.

Benachie
Benachie is the most easterly summit north of the Dee. Lying about 5 miles west of Inverurie, it is a popular summit with an attractive profile seen from the east. The approach to the principle top is most often made from the north on a well drained path to the granite outcrops below the summit. The summit is just part of an extended ridge that continues west to two other summits along well worn paths.

Benachie seen from the northeast

Oxen Criag seen from Mither Tap

The Dee Corbetts
This River, famous for its links with Royalty has about 5 Corbetts flanking its valley from Braemar down to Aboyne. Near Braemar, these summits include Carn Liath and Cullardoch. Morven lies to the north of Ballater and Mount Battock lies to the south of Aboyne, the most easterly Corbett.

Carn Liath & CUllardoch
These two Corbetts sit to the north of Braemar, set back about 8km from the road. Both mountains are most easily reached from the carpark near Invercauld bridge. At the time of writing (2007), this carpark was a pay and display car park costing £2. Access to the summits starts heading by west along one of the Invercauld estate tarmac driveways until a point before Invercauld house where a forest track turns off hard right to continue north through the forest and out above Glen Fearder. Once having crossed Alt Cul, continue up the track and then leave the track to strike directly up the deep heather slopes to Carn Liath.

Cullardoch seen Carn Liath

Science experiment

Carn Liath seen from the northeast

Once on the summit of Carn Liath, the dominating view is the massive bulk of Ben Avon. Looking west, the Dee valley draws the eye west to the distant summits above Glen Geldie. Looking east, the view is most probably brighter, indicating the relative sunniness of eastern Aberdeenshire. Cullardoch, at 900m, is the highest summit in this walk. Descend to the saddle where a shelter resides and then follow the track partway up Cullardoch's western shoulder to a curious scientific experiment. This consists of a weather station, along with an array of small perspex covered tunnels. The final ascent to Cullardoch continues up easy heather slopes. The return to the path is by the same track.

Morven seen from the southwest

Morven
This summit, at 871m, is a very prominent hill that lies north of Ballater. The hill borders the edge of much gentler terrain heading east down towards Aberdeen and so can be seen from many miles away. The hill stands out proud and isolated, but is typically covered in heather and grass. Access from the south leads to a respectable day's excursion, but parking is far from the start point near the local graveyard. A track, somewhat overgrown, is followed up through the glen between Crannach Hill and Culblean hill. This glen is narrow, but near its watershed the ground opens out to reveal the whole southern flank of Morven.

The ascent of Morven from here is little more than a steady trudge upto the summit without a path, gradually improving underfoot with cropped heather and stones higher up. Eventually the ground eases up to reveal the large cairn on its summit.

Mount Battock
Mount Battock is Scotlands most easterly Corbett. At 778m, the summit offers extensive views over the lowlands of Angus and Aberdeenshire south of Aberdeen. It's also a good viewpoint for the eastern grampian hills. Like the other grampian hills, this summit is rounded and heathery in character. It is also reachable by landrover tracks which climb most of the way up its slopes.

Mount Battock seen ofrm Glen Dye

On the summit of mount battock

Mount Keen and Battock seen from Lochnagar

The quickest route to Mount Battock is from the south in Glen Esk at Millden Lodge. However the eastern approach from Glen Dye is more scenic, but longer with a round trip likely to take about 6 - 7 hours. This eastern approach is long with the summit being a full 9km from the road. A track can be followed upto the 650m contour east of the summit, from where a well worn path continues to its summit.