Walks | North-East
Ben Rinnes
Start: Just off B9009 Dufftown - Tomintoul road
Description: One of Scotland's Corbett hills, with great views around Speyside
OS Map: #28, Elgin, Dufftown & surrounding area
Multimap: Online Map
A good walk for a sunny day, as it affords views South to the Cairngorms, West, from, well, from the Cairngorms all the way up to Inverness, with every hill in between, just to the North is the Spey valley, with all it's distilleries, and East are the Ladder hills and Aberdeenshire. The walk is a pretty serious undertaking, as though it follows a good path, at 840 metres it is a Corbett, the second highest group of Scottish hills, and involves a strenuous climb
The car park (for this route anyway, there are one or two other routes, but none so well maintained), is found by taking the B9009 Dufftown-Tomintoul road, for about 5 miles from Dufftown, which would make it around 16 miles from Tomintoul, and as you approach this distinctive hill, watch out for a small road heading up into the gap between it and Meikle Conval, follow it for less than half a mile, and park in a lay-by type car park, with room for about 5 cars at the most. There's plenty of distilleries in the area if the walk is too much to bear, anything from Glen Fiddich, Glen Livet, any of the top Spey brands are all in the vicinity. The walk begins on a well established land rover track, and climbs up the Round Hill. From here Ben Rinnes can seem miles away, so don't spend too much time looking up at the hill and wondering why it's not getting any closer. The peak of the hill has a number of granite tors, which can be seen best from lower down, as they are on the far side of the hill due to the curve of the path as you get closer. Watch out for Grouse, Pheasant, Buzzards and Eagles, I saw three Eagles floating on the warm breezes while I was on my way down.
Once up the first climb, the path is fairly level and passes over Roy's Hill, and onto the Black Banks, where the big climb begins. The huge scar of the path cuts straight up the slope, and takes a few rests to defeat it.
When you finally clamber over the last rocks onto the top, you have this granite tor to climb to reach the Trig Point, and the summit. It's hidden from view for much of the last section of the climb, so it's a relief to finally see it. The views all round are fantastic, it's a major decision choosing where to look first.
To the south, the Cairngorms will usually have a light covering of snow on their upper reaches. North is the Spey valley, distilleries are dotted over the landscape, and far to the North is Elgin, and the lighthouse at Lossiemouth. To the west is Aviemore, the ribbon of the River Spey, and further away, over the A9, the Monadhliath Mountains peak through the clouds with their tops silery in the sun.
Return to the car park by the same route.