Keen on Keen - 9.95 miles (Altitude 939m)

Phil's parents had kindly let us stay in their home while they were away. The cottage was like a little labyrinth where you'd turn a corner and discover another room tucked charmingly away. The gardens surrounded the house, so from every window, we could see outside where the flowers were in bloom.

This first morning, it was a friendly, chaotic flap around the little cottage. After an hour of general sleepy nods and grunts all round, with pleading moans for coffee, we were finally booted up and ready to go. I had even got quite industrious and helped make packed sandwiches for everyone.

We drove for just under an hour to near Edzell into Glen Esk, and into the car park at Auchronie. Today, we would attempt our very first munro, Mount Keen.

"The Munros are the highest of Scotland's mountains, 284 mountain tops named after the man who first catalogued them, Sir Hugh Munro. The Munros are among the finest mountains in Scotland."

From the car park, we strolled gently through a small area of cottages and forest.





Not long after, we emerged into glorious sunshine. The sky was the brightest, truest blue and the sun shone valiantly down. It was like suddenly being alive.



Along the river on the left of the path, we could see pure white horses running, as if they'd discarded their fantastical conical horns with their speed.



This part of the walk was very pleasant if long. For almost 3 miles, we walked along fairly level land, occasionally spying a pheasant or a rabbit. A lone little house sat on route, we walked past it and it was empty. We wondered who lived there. When I peeked in through the window (the curtain was drawn) I could see chairs, tables, beds and cupboards, like an ordinary living room. Except no one was home.





Our first landmark was the Queen's Well, which was built at the base of the route up Mount Keen to provide water to Queen Victoria's party. We began to ascend by the NW track past the Knowe of Crippley.





The path was fairly wide, I think it was built for royal carriages. However it was covered with loose gravel and rocks, which actually made it quite hard work climbing up. By the time we got to this height, the view was starting to get splendid, we were starting to get very hot and sweaty.



At this point, Dog (starring Amber) was doing just fine. Hot and panting, but fine. We started thinking of songs with the word "dog" in it.

How much is that doggy in the window?

Nothing but a hound dog...



Onwards and upwards, our pace slowed to a crawl. I had learnt my lesson about false summits, so I knew not to despair when round a bend, the peak was revealed to be quite a long way off.



I paused mid-step with boot in air, I nearly crushed this little delicate vistor.



After a few false summits, we reached a spill of rock formations that had been carved into rough steps. A last push, and we finally reached the top. A stone pillar marked the highest point. All climbers would scramble up it. After all, one had to be at the highest point indeed.

The view was spectacular all around. Distant peaks and rolling hills looked interconnected, valleys and blue sky seemed to move in unison under the clouds.





Lunch was partaken at the peak. We were pretty ravenous. Perhaps it was the heat, perhaps it was the thirst. My excuse was that my body craved salt. But whichever the reason, we thought it'd be a great idea to celebrate by eating corn chips and salsa.

The route down was longer and tougher than we expected. Walking downhill continuously was strenuous on the legs. We were also parched (dang those corn chips!) and ran out of water.



But the situation didn't become dire until Dog simply sat down and wouldn't move an inch. No waving of treats, whistling, calling or cajoling would get him to lift another furry paw. She gazed at us disdainfully, only artfully shifting into the coolness of someone's shadow.

We sat on the track across from her, and wondered what to do. Put her in rucksack? She was a little too large and would probably not be too happy. Carry her? I tried that but couldn't see my feet to walk downhill on the loose gravel and rocks. It was most perplexing.

Dog-tired, eh?

Doggone it!



Finally Ali (who doesn't actually like dogs) marched up to her, picked her up and tucked her under an arm and resumed his stride downwards. The pooch had the nerve to peer over his shoulder and smirk at those of us dragging tired legs.



It was a very long day, we were tired from the heat and climb. As it would be, it was a Sunday evening and everything was closed. We had no food, and the nearest Chinese takeout was 33 miles away! We made one last desperate ditch at the petrol kiosk where we picked up an unholy amount of processed food for dinner.

Pizza, while watching the rest of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Not too bad. Oh, and the same falling asleep bit soonafter too.