After Aberdeen made BBC news with its record of no sun for 18 days, and with the MO forecasting rain all day, our hopes were not high, and there’d even been a recce for snow, ice and potholes for the drivers. Only the potholes were problematic (Kinker won top placing for its mega holes placed so impossible to avoid).

And guess what, it hardly rained. We had a wonderful time on Craig Leek working our way thru the incredibly wet snow, and especial fun on the steep slope, where the rock step challenge is usually found. Offpath, Meall Gorm was tackled with easy competence, followed by a superb wander over its tops among all its young pines and with great views across to Auchtavan and Culardoch, head in cloud.

All ten of us displayed great patience in picking our way down among heather, pines, birch and bracken to rejoin our outward route, finishing in long-forgotten sunshine – a great day out.

This very soggy walk started from the Pitfichie Forest car park and progressed along a good, but very wet track to the Whitehills stone circle. The stone circle is around 4,000 years’ old and is of the recumbent type particularly common in this region. There is a large granite block on its side which would have been flanked by two upright stones although only one remains. After looking at the stones and a photo opportunity the group carried on with the wood on our left and took a track up Green Hill. Walking through the wood up the first slope there was reasonable protection from the wind and rain. Coming out onto the hillside, we lost that protection and made it up to the windswept, wet top of Green Hill. After a very short stop with not much of a view, a group photo was taken with walkers trying to muster a smile and some determination to keep on going. The one good thing about this rain period of biblical proportions – no mountain bikes to avoid / be aware of, or be run over by! There is always a silver lining to almost everything. The track then descends into a wooded area where it was decided to have the morning coffee break but with no dry areas to sit down we had to make the best of it. We then ascended Cairn William trapsing up a track that had turned into a mini stream, but fortunately not a torrent! The top of Cairn William did not seem so windy but was just as wet as we stood at the trig point looking for the illusive views. The route then winds down a good zig zag track to the main track where lunch was taken. Then as if by magic the rain eased and stopped, hooray – deep joy! The group enjoyed the rest of the afternoon along the forest track having views and the novelty these days of some blue sky. In the end an enjoyable walk and back at the cars ever so slightly drier. The main theme of the day – the weather!

The Saunter was going to be a walk to the summit of Cnoc Dubh and a circuit of Loch Kinord but this was changed to Cambus o’ May late in the day in case the path by the Loch was under water. Weather forecasts were closely and regularly consulted just to be sure that Sunday was going to be slightly better than what had gone before and with the Norwegians at yr.com giving an optimistic outlook off we went. Driving out in the lashing rain with the road awash I felt I should have consulted the Shipping Forecast I was after, all navigating round floods and seemingly bottomless potholes as if they were rocks in the sea!

My passengers peered out through the wet veil looking around for the life belts but as we travelled west the sky brightened a little and by the time we reached the car park we had emerged from the lengthy cloud burst to find the others ready to go. That’s ready to go on the Saunter as everybody was enthusiastic, cheered by the thinning of the cloud and a brightness we hadn’t seen for days.

Apart from puddles in the car park the path was dry and progress was easy up into the trees but the main track to the quarries was running water, of no great concern to us as we were to leave the sodden track very soon, just as soon as I could find the start of the little used footpath but a little heather bashing later a line though the moss was discerned and we progressed. Not long after we diverted onto an even more vestigial path to seek out an unusual building that we hadn’t visited before on previous Saunters in the area. Standing just above the path is a small rectangular granite building with a curved concrete roof, its front door sheathed in rusty steel bearing two padlocks neither of which was locking the door. Opening the door revealed a wooden lining still in good condition. This had been a very important building for the quarry operations as this was where the explosives had been stored, the magazine, far enough away from the work to ensure safety if a catastrophe occurred.

Back on the main path before it turns at the first of a number of hairpin bends we stop on a terrace made from quarry waste and appreciate our surroundings, scrubby plants at our feet just surviving in the mix of hard packed granite rubble and dust but elsewhere Scots Pine and Birch trees have naturally colonised the landscape, completely softening the industrial impact that must have been visible from miles around when the quarries were at their busiest. At this time of year the pines stand evergreen, the birches leafless but not bare as the twigs and branches are heavy with lichen. Water droplets also cling on to the tips of twigs reflecting what light there is. Hereabouts the location of the aforementioned bend is not where it should be, not as I remember but intuitive guesswork and a couple of determined strides reveals the way ahead and its up to the the next terrace bounded by a ridge of huge sharp edged stones. Here we’re above the trees, the high point of this part of the walk, below a man made scree long ago tipped from cart and barrow, a flat surface to stop and take in the view, east to see a tower of the Cambus o’ May suspension bridge, south to Pannanich Hill shrouded in trailing cloud gently moving west on the breeze to join the heavy greyness blocking our view to Lochnagar.

Now we contour along the terrace, a bit narrow in places and visit the quarries that are not immense holes in the ground but cliff faces that have been substantially cut away into the fabric of the hillside. What’s been left is an unnatural architecture of some high walls that appear impossibly smooth and perpendicular unweathered apart from tiny ledges and cracks that zig zag their way across the crag. Other aspects have enormous blocks and flakes that look ready to crash down at any time and join the ruin on the quarry floor. Close inspection reveals rock climbers’ bolts to ensure safety on the routes all of which look very challenging.

The quarries were in use from the 1880s to the 1930s supplying stone to Ballater and the surrounding area. Rail and road developments also used local stone.

Leaving the climbing for another day we make our way down to a terraced track that has the look of the bed for a railway line but even if there was never a rail the short but flat track here would have aided removal of the rock down to the road and Deeside line railway. It’s dry and grassy as we go into the trees and follow the winding path that takes us to the ford of the Culsten Burn. The burn was apparent long before we saw the rushing, noisy water racing down a deep and narrow channel. It’s almost as if the water has life with its restless, lusty urgency to surge down the hill, getting its business done as fast as possible. At the ford the water has taken a breather and spread out over the grass but still far too deep for us to go any further in this direction and we retrace our steps down the main quarry track also carrying a substatial stream and in due course we return to the car park, not to depart but to have lunch as there’s a convenient picnic table for some of us. A fine place, dry overhead, calm with a hint of blue sky and the hope of sunshine, who would have thought it likely? Possibly only those Norwegian weather forecasters.

After lunch we set off again on the second leg of the walk down to the Deeside railway line turning into a large field currently occupied by a flock of sheep. This area is dominated by a hill of 219 metres. Sounds a lot but as we were standing at an elevation of 200m it wasn’t doing much dominating but it is one of the most charming and delightful wee hills to enjoy yet hardly anybody goes there. It’s a grassy hillock of yellow sand studded with old birch trees sadly showing no signs of regeneration offering a definite ridge to ascend to the Farquharson Needle. This is an obelisk celebrating the life of William Farquharson of Monaltrie 1753-1828, who continued his uncle Francis Farquharson’s work establishing Ballater as a health spa. Francis, whose sentence to hanging, drawing and quartering post Culloden in 1746 was commuted to 20 years exile in England, had been able to buy back his forfeited estate in 1788 and returned there to improve agriculture in the area. When the monument was erected it could be seen from Ballater, now the hill has to be climbed to fully appreciate it. Today the fine view of Lochnagar was lost in the clouds. After an easy descent (nothing’s difficult on a Saunter!) we stopped at the Cambus o’ May Cheese and Milk Hoose Cafe for refreshment before a much drier drive home.

Two short walks for the price of one! What a bargain! Ideal for a brief winter’s day, we tackled both these two lowly eminences (tho both are Marilyns - hills with more than 150m prominence) (and note, a considerable no of Munros fail this test, including Cairngorm and Derry Cairngorm, Driesh and Mayar).

A cold and icy start up Fourman Hill, near Huntly, soon gave way to old but crisp snow to the summit with its tremendous views of the River Deveron winding its sinuous way below us to the sea. A 20min drive then took us to Hill of Tillymorgan, where a sunny start, again with vast views across the snowy land below, led snowily up past the modern wind turbines to wander among the old 19th c slate quarries on its summit. Best of all, Morgan Mcveigh’s was only a 2min drive away – no wonder there were 16 of us out for the walk!