Had delivered a wood turning lathe to my grandfather in Macduff for his birthday and we had had a couple of pints on the Saturday night. Before heading to mum's in Aberdeenshire, I wanted to take in this hill and had eyed a route from the road to Rhynie from Dufftown. Initially, this was through a forestry track but once out of that, it was a nice climb on to Scaut Hill. There were significant cairns on this one as well as trig point and great views over to Ben Rinnes and Tap o Noth. While ascending this hill, I came across what looked like a bomb - am I havering or is this really a relic from the war? The route over to Cook's Cairn from this hill was not easy and involved much bog hopping and it was a fairly uninspiring view. However, once I reached Cook's cairn, Lochnagar and Ben Avon came into view. Not taking my camera meant an iPhone montage, which lacks the clarity and light of the Canon. I didn't dally as I wanted to have a look round Blackwater Lodge on the way back to the car. It was quite an eerie building even from the outside and picking my way through the abandoned house, I found a number of items and decor, which made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Once I saw the wallpaper was upside down, I was out of there. It had a 'Day of the Dead' feel and I was glad to get out of it, although I felt quite sad at its dilapidated state as it was obviously a lovely building at one point. The walk back out was quite long and I was very hungry by the time I hit the road. Fortunately, an hours drive back to mum's saw me arriving to a fantastic roast beef lunch followed by apple pie. There really is nobody quite like yer mither. A toast to the Cook!
