November saw a club trip to Mount Battock, this time from Glen Esk rather than the usual approach past Clachnaben. We set off from Millden Lodge heading north=west to Mount Een as our first target on a crisp autumn morning.

Winter was beginning to creep down the mountains and as we got higher we could see snow-capped peaks in the distance. Mount Battock was shrouded in mist, but we didn’t think we’d quite reach the snowline there.

Three specks wheeled in the bright sky – too distant to get a good photo of, but having a look through a monocular got a glimpse of short white tails – my first sighting of white tailed eagles, possibly 2 parents and a child but sometimes a golden will apparently soar nearby the bigger white tails.

We’d continued north past Bennygray, then climbing east to our main hill of the day into the mist, began to encounter a scattering of snow, and stopped briefly to layer up and get the big gloves on as the wind began to bite.

On top of Mount Battock, the default “let’s stop at the top for lunch” was soon abandoned in favour of a descent down the lee side to get better shelter, and there wasn’t a view either.

There’s a bit of a messy path following the wall south, we found a grassy spot and retried lunch in better conditions. I had taken some mulled wine in a flask and distributed helpings now that the wind wouldn’t whip plastic cups out of hands. The Norwegian organiser of the day also had warming supplies – aqua vit, a pungent spirit with a kick suitable as a revitaliser after the bitter winds above.

We began to head south west at Hill of Turret, then across the burn. I’d forgotten to switch back a bit to look at Red Castle cairn, needed to pay more attention to the map and chat less.

A fungal surprise at the end – a fine specimen of cauliflower fungus