10 August 2015 - Mither Tap

I started the day with good intentions of going for an early walk with Annika and I did get up early but got way laid by Eastern Health on line compulsory courses which took way longer than I expected. Eastern Health was my employer and will hopefully again be my employer when I return to Australia.  Midwives and nurses are required to fulfill a certain number of hours and topics for re-registration eligibility.  I certainly want to keep up with all of the requirements even though we are travelling. Tim had already been for a run and was starting school work.  Annika and I did get out for a lovely walk however Luke decided to tag along which was not the intention of our “Girls’ time” walk together.  We were not quite sure whether we were walking down a private track to a farm house or whether we were on a road but did enjoy the wild raspberries and cows and golden wheat fields.

Wild raspberries

School got under way in its various forms.  Annika was required to make a model of the digestive system and chose to make it out of food. It turned out quite well and of course Luke was busily designing his own digestive tract model using food as well.  They were keen to use it as an excuse for us to buy sweets and we did relent…a little!

Stonewall and wildflowers

Looking over golden wheatfields

Cows staring at us, as they do!

Scottish thistles

Love the fields....

Digestive system made out of food - well we all learn in different ways!

By afternoon we were all champing at the bit to get out of the house.  Being in the beautiful countryside is just too much sometimes when we are stuck inside for school.  It was a sunny day with a gentle breeze.  We could see Mither Tap from the end of our driveway, beckoning us to visit!

Not sure what this is - foamy substance on all sorts of plants all the way up the hill.

Heather covered hillside

We drove back to Bennachie Rowan Tree car park (where parking is free) to start our ascent to Mither Tap, the Pictish fort built over 1400 years ago and atop a hill which begs any keen walker to go there!

Our hill path...

Wild and wonderful

It is always good to climb to the top of anything you can!

Panoramic view

Wildflowers....

At Hosie's Well

An eternal spring - a sad romantic death for both parties

Mither Tap (Mother Top) so named as the hill (518m) is shaped like a breast and apparently has had some religious significance to the Bronze Age people who lived around here. The name of the area Bennachie (said Benn-a-hie) means Hill of the Breast in Gaelic:  Beinn na Ciche.  Bennachie is the range of hills around here.  On the summit of Mither Tap is an Iron Age fort!  The fort at Mither Tap is one of those fascinating ancient constructions which has astronomical alignment with another nearby structure which in this case is the Fortalice of Caskieben where it casts a shadow over Caskieben at the equinox.  Caskieben, also known as Keith Hall, is still occupied by the present Lord Keith. 

Lovely wanderings

Up to the Mither Tap

Look carefully to see the three kids

The heathery slopes looking over the Don Valley

Nearly there...to the Mither Tap

Ancient steps to the Iron Age Fort

I couldn’t help thinking how tough the ancient people were facing the harsh conditions of hill life.  Even today, at the height of summer we were nearly blown away by the fierce wind and sleet at the top when down at the base it was a mild and clear day!

I wonder who built this1

Freezing and SO windy

What did I learn today?  Well, actually, I already knew it but did not heed my own advice: “Never trust mountain weather”!   It was so cold and so blowy up on the summit that people were carrying their dogs for fear they might be turned into doggie kites and take flight!  Next time, we’ll all carry a pack with raincoat, beanie and snacks.  Today we had a chocolate bar each and a container of grapes and water but needed more clothing.

Directing us to many heights

Check out our path below

Gorgeous view

So wild on top

So amazing from this ancient structure, patchwork fields below

Luke, cute hill climber!

So, we climbed to the summit of Mither Tap and marvelled at the ancient construction. The walk up the hill was lovely through heather covered hillsides with sparse pine trees.  The path is well maintained and well utilised and mostly rocky so a bit hard on the knees.

Tree ferns, heather and rocks - a beautiful combination

We sat on the ancient steps of the entrance of the fort where we were shielded from the wind.  Tim took off down the hill with the car keys with the plan to get a sweater for Annika and meet us as we descended.  However, somehow, the rest of us took an alternative path and by the time we realised that the forest setting was not quite the heather covered open hill side we had ascended, we decided to keep going down rather than turn around and be blown about up on top again.  So, who did take the high road and who did take the low road….?! We eventually came out at the Bennachie Visitor Centre which was closed as it was after 5 PM.  We found a map and realised we had another 3 kms or so to walk on the Turnpike Trail back to the Rowan Tree car park.  Once we knew where we were headed, the trail didn’t seem too arduous.  I had, by this time, discovered wild blueberries as well as raspberries!  It reminded me of summer time in Sweden when we had had so much fun picking berries when I lived there as a 13 year old.  The blueberries were a little tart but delicious none-the-less.

The track down...the WRONG track to the visitor's centre rather than Rowan Tree car park!

Remains of dwelling - squatters were living here in mid 1800's

"Heather no longer needed to thatch our roofs" - The squatters we evicted by the landowners

Worthwhile reading

Old stone wall followed us the whole way

We were most relieved to see Tim back at the car.  He had back tracked to the Summit looking for us and realised we must have gone down another route.  He enjoyed the extra exercise but his feet and ankles are feeling a bit worse for wear tonight – mind you, so are mine!!  Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Britain is on our agenda sometime soon, so this was a foretaste of the Scottish mountain ways.

I do wonder who built these walls and who lived here, moss covered and so old

Near the Visitors' Centre and the bird hide

Toadstools!

Stone steps like a stile over the wall

Keith Hall is hiding behind the trees there!

Wild blueberries!

After all the walking and late start to dinner, I was glad of the frozen-ready-to-heat-and-eat Haggis Balls!!  They were tasty with a bit of tomato sauce although the packet did recommend whisky sauce!  Over dinner, Luke came up with a terrific little poem about sheep for school so he willingly wrote it out after the meal!  May be we should take him on hill walks and wrong turns more often!