Walks | North-East
Mount Keen
Start: Glen Tanar Car Park, Nr Aboyne
Description: A long walk in, to climb the most Easterly Munro
OS Map: #44, Ballater & Glen Clova
Multimap: Online Map
My eighth Munro, and in my view, one I won't be going back to in a hurry. Only appealing for two reasons - its a Munro, and it's the most Easterly Munro. This hill is accessible from two points - Glen Esk in the South, and Glen Tanar near Aboyne in the North. I started from the North.
The lengthy trek follows the Mounth Keen, an old drove road that was used by Queen Victoria - as the 'Queens Well' on the Southern flank of the hill gives away. With a walk of approximately 9 km each way from the car park by Glen Tanar House (pay & display except Tuesdays...) to the ruins at Shiel of Glen Tanar where you start the climb, it is neccessary to give plenty time, especially if walking, but the estate road is in good condition, so getting the Mountain Bike out saves loads of time with the going very easy. From the Shiel of Glentanar, the walk up the hill itself is a relatively short 5km, around 1-2 hours depending how long you want to stop at the top. Overall, I took about 5 hours to complete the route.
From the car park, continue along the tarred road to the Horse Riding Centre, and follow the signs right and up the hill, left towards the lodge, and then again right and up around the house. Over / through the gate takes you onto the estate road and into the woods.
The forestry road leads down from the wood mill past a pond, and alongside the Water of Tanar. The road is of good gravel contruction, and has little in the way of hills to climb - you don't realise the constant climb until you return and find it so much easier going. The biggest obstacle is watching out where the horses have relieved themselves, and going through the areas where the Forestry Commission trucks have churned up the road surface.
Unsurprisingly, a good indicator of how far through the trees you've travelled is the tiny half way hut just off the road. From here you shortly break out into the open Glen, with good views up to the solitary house at Etnach. At this point Mount Keen is still hidden behind Red Craig to your left, but on crossing the second bridge ahead the view opens out around the glen. On meeting a fork soon after leaving the trees take the lower track to the left.
After crossing the first of the three bridges the going gets a little tougher, the estate land rovers obviously don't venture up this far often and the track is a little more eroded and bumpy - the effects of which will probably not be noticeable until you sit on your saddle for the return to find it that much more uncomfortable on the behind!
Wildlife is abundant in the area, with Eagles and Buzzards floating in the thermals, and tiny Wrens weaving across the track. Watch out among the ruined buildings for the odd Weasel or Ferret. After crossing the third bridge the view up Mount Keen really takes shape, the North lying corrie - Corrach or Korlach- often still full of snow long after the other slopes are clear. The path is clearly visible zig-zagging up the hillside ahead.
The buildings make a good place to leave your bike, and also a good seat for a snack before tackling the hill. The Water of Tanar is still in its infancy this far up, so even in spate its not too bad to cross, the s-bends around the old buildings providing some decent narrow sections to jump across.
From here, follow the well worn path up the hillside. Its a tougher challenge than it at first seems - no doubt the effects of the journey in taking their toll... Grouse are all over the area, their sudden take off the most noise that can be heard in this solitary area - no roads and car sounds to be heard - except for the jets that use the area for low-flying practice from Edzell.
The path eventually splits up, the right fork heading over the Mounth towards Glen Esk, while the left fork turns up towards the Corrach and the summit of Mount Keen. By this time my legs were already cramping up, so the steepest section of the climb here was full of stops, but nonetheless was straight forward, and not all that long. The summit itself was nothing to write home about, rather dull, but it did give a good view West to Lochnagar and the Cairngorms.
To the North Bennachie was covered in a light rain mist, further West Ben Rinnes, leading onto Ben Avon, the snow spotted Cairngorms, and eventually Lochnagar, backed up by the Glenshee hills through the intermittant cloud. Sadly the coast was covered in a thick cloud, so the anticipated view up and down the North Sea coast was left to the imagination.
With little in the way of a real 'top' the summit offers no protection for a lunchbreak, so its probably best to head back down the path a short way, unless the weather for once is perfectly clear and warm. Looking back down into Glen Tanar from here really does make the height seem much more appreciable, the Glen itself some 600 metres lower down than the hill-top, that height climbed in only about 3 km from Shiel of Glentanar.
If you have a rarity, a willing driver, then it would be more than possible to continue south and be picked up at Glen Esk - of course this would mean that you'd have to walk the whol;e way rather than bike.
For those heading back, then it's an easy downhill run, cross the Water of Tanar again, and back onto the bike. The going feels appreciably easier now, and it's possible to free-wheel long sections of the way down while admiring the views and taking in the extreme peacefulness of the place.The hardest climb comes right at the end, the track climbing up towards the saw mill by the pond, and then weaving around the lodge and Horse Riding Centre. From there it's easy going back along the tarred road to the car park, and from there a short drive back down to Aboyne.