Curlew Hill and the Fairies' Hollow
Just a few from January and a little wander over Ben Gulabin, the hill that overlooks Spittal of Glenshee where the road bends north towards the Cairnwell. I almost didn't bother as the wind was rocking the car when I parked up at the Spittal. Several months away from the hills have dulled the edge a bit. I'm ashamed to say that the fact this was to be Corbett number 100 swung it for me. It's a deer and grouse farmyard up there, complete with larsen traps and bulldozed tracks, overgrazed erosion-prone slopes, too many deer carcasses, too few trees.Ben Gulabin is a wonderful vantage point though, a chance to pull out from the gory close-up detail and a connection back to the bigger picture of the immense, rolling landscape of these eastern mountains, dramatically sidelit by slanting winter sun. I dropped back to the glen by the steep slot of Coire an t-Sith, the fairies' hollow , that lends its name to Glen Shee. Rain and rainbows chased me back to the Spittal.