Nae Coos and nae nothing to see....Brown Cow Hill

Hill: Brown Cow Hill

Type: Corbett

Height: 829m

The weather forecast was poor for today but I wanted to get a walk in as the good lady was heading off to pastures new, no point in wasting freedom. Plan A was Munros but I wanted the views from the walk so opted for Plan B, the Corbett of Brown Cow Hill. A high start meant less walking on a bad weather day.

Start heading to castle

As I parked up at Colgraff Castle, I was the only car around, no wonder it was gloomy with low clouds and a strong breeze. Only a bagger with nothing else to do would be out today!

Descent after castle Brown Cow hill can be seen left of trees

You have to walk around the castle via a field before descending to meet the farm track that is your starting ascent route. Obviously the farm does not want you to use their road.

These hills are principally for grouse shooting as can be seen by the patchwork hills, that is those i can see low down. Also there is some overspill red deer stalking from the Cairngorm hills. Then a wow moment as a golden eagle flew overhead being dive bombed by a pair of ravens. It must be hungry flying in these conditions and so low down but good for me.

Getting gloomier and wetter

When I reached the tree plantation the rain decided to come on heavily and it stayed that way for the rest of the walk. With the rain came the low cloud and very poor visibility.

Track ends and joining the cloud

After the estate track ends it is a moorland crossing initially along a faint track but the boggy peat areas foretold the terrain ahead. 

Nearly missed the turn onto the moor proper

With head down, hood tied tightly, eyes focused on my feet I nearly missed the very small cairn where you leave this faint track to head out onto the moor proper.

The gradient was kind but the peat bogs were reached and they were properly boggy with deep imprints showing how soft. You have to go into the bogs and with minimal visibility it was very hard going. I was literally stopping every 30-60 seconds to realign. These bogs played havoc with any straight line walking. Normally my area awareness is very good but today I totally lost sense of the direction I should be going in.

Cairn at 823m pouring down

After the bogs a faint track was found which led me to the small cairn at 823m. As can be see in snap weather was awful and phone was pinging me with danger warning as water getting into the port, so phone zipped away until rain off.  Sadly for the sake of 6 metres the true summit is over half a kilometre away across more hags. it felt a long, long way in this stuff.

I was not hanging about in this heavy rain and strong winds. I tried to retrace my steps but descending was even more disorienting than the ascent. The hags pushing me in all directions and at some checks I was amazed at how far off my ascent line I had wandered in such a short time. This was not a lot of fun.

About to get a surprise in the trees

With some relief I re-joined my ascent track but the weather was still grim. At the start of the estate track I was below the heavy cloud so some views, not brilliant but better than nothing.

Surprise both ways, lovely new velvet antlers

Reached the copse of trees and had a toilet break. As I stood there was commotion in the trees. A small herd of red deer stags had been hiding in there. Luckily they stayed put for a minute before running off and I got some snaps.

Nearly over castle in view

Now almost down and got the castle in sight, it is not that impressive from the outside. Back at the car didn't even get time to changed before the heavens opened again, summed up the day.

Ascent: 524m

Distance: 11.7km

Time: 2.50

Wildlife: Snipe; Golden Eagle: Raven; Red Deer; Meadow Pipit; Red Grouse