Mount Blair trail head by road B951.
Overview of route to Mount Blair from road B951.
| Mount Blair from road
B951 Mount Blair |
| Estimated net time | 1½-2 hours | ||
| Difficulty | No difficulties. | ||
| Drinking water | No access to running water. | ||
| GSM coverage | Coverage throughout the route (April 2012). | ||
| Parking | Room for a couple of cars at trail head. | ||
| Start height | 350 metres | ||
| Vertical metres | 395 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 4.4 km | ||
| GPS-file | X | ||
| Map |
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| Route photo |
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From Braemar drive road A93 approximately 30 km south. Turn left onto road B951, signed for Glenisla, and drive 1.9 km. You will find a place to park on the left hand side of the road, just after a small forest.
Start your walk by crossing the gate on the right hand side of the road. There is a vague path running on the left hand side of the stream. When you get level with the upper end of the forest on your right, turn right and aim for the fence running along the centre of the rounded ridge coming down from Mount Blair. Stay on the left side of the fence up to the flatter section at around 560 metres. Here you will find a gate which will take you to the right side of the fence, where there is a well defined path. Follow this path to the summit.
Descend by reversing your ascent route.
I left home a little before 6am this Thursday, in order to fly to Aberdeen for the annual Scotland visit together with my friends. By the time we got to Aberdeen the team consisted of Håvard, Jon and myself, and the plan was to drive "somewhere" south-west in order to have Crieff within shooting distance the next day. Included in this plan was a stop south of Glen Shee in order to hike Mount Blair. I knew Jon wouldn't want to join me for a hike, but the plan was that Håvard would come along. However, Håvard changed his mind when he realised how windy and grey it was.
After a stop in Braemar, where Håvard and Jon got themselves a couple of beers while I bought some hiking shoes, we continued to Spittal of Glenshee. Here we found an inn, where Håvard and Jon could get lunch and drinks while I continued south in order to hike Mount Blair.
According to the maps there was supposed to be a path running up the north slopes of Mount Blair, from B951, but after having driven back and forth a few times without finding a proper path I decided to stop where there was a gate that would allow me to cross the fence. When I found a vague path I made the final decision to try this route, and it worked out fairly well. Further up I came across a good path, which I assume starts down by Cray somewhere, and this path led me straight to the summit.
I was a bit surprised to find the summit "loaded" with cairns and memorials, and
this convinced me that there's most definitely a well defined route to this
mountain. I took some photos of these features, in very windy and grey
conditions, and soon headed back down to the car. I then drove back up the
valley to pick up my friends, before we headed south to Blairgowrie, where we
found a nice hotel and got ourselves an excellent curry for dinner.
Photos 26.04.2012