Where is this?

[richardh1905]

Bennachie from somewhere to the south? It is quite a distinctive top.

[BuzyG]

Bennachie from somewhere to the south? It is quite a distinctive top.

I think you may have that one. The view from the visitors center matches perfectly.


http://www.bennachievisitorcentre.org.uk/whatson.html

[Bigfoot_Mike]

Bennachie from somewhere to the south? It is quite a distinctive top.

Right again Richard. The right hand summit is Mither Tap. The photograph is taken from the Howe of Alford and is a view from the south. Although Bennachie is not particularly high (Oxen Craig, the highest peak is 528m) it stands out from the surrounding countryside and can be seen from a long way. The views from the summit are extensive. There are many paths and several summits, a waterfall and history back to the Bronze Age.

[richardh1905]

It is a hill that I had been planning to climb whilst on one of my regular training courses in Aberdeen - but redundancy and early retirement put paid to that. Can't complain though - retirement is great!

[Bigfoot_Mike]

I think you may have that one. The view from the visitors center matches perfectly.


http://www.bennachievisitorcentre.org.uk/whatson.html

The main route from the visitor centre to Mither Tap is the busiest and least interesting in my view. The Rowan Tree and Back O’ Bennachie car parks are far better starting points. Hermit Seat and Watch Craig at the western end of the range are much quieter.


You don’t get that view from the visitor centre, which is situated in woods to the east of Mither Tap.

[BuzyG]

The main route from the visitor centre to Mither Tap is the busiest and least interesting in my view. The Rowan Tree and Back O’ Bennachie car parks are far better starting points. Hermit Seat and Watch Craig at the western end of the range are much quieter.


You don’t get that view from the visitor centre, which is situated in woods to the east of Mither Tap.

I mearly looked at the pictures on the visitors center website, after Richard got it.  Looks very similar. Slight difference a village is in shot from there.

[Bigfoot_Mike]

The main route from the visitor centre to Mither Tap is the busiest and least interesting in my view. The Rowan Tree and Back O’ Bennachie car parks are far better starting points. Hermit Seat and Watch Craig at the western end of the range are much quieter.


You don’t get that view from the visitor centre, which is situated in woods to the east of Mither Tap.

Correction: I should have said that everybody should go to the Bennachie Centre and climb Mither Tap from there. The other end of the range is desolate and silent and you will only find grumpy walkers there that want to be alone  .

[Bigfoot_Mike]

A new one to identify for Friday.

[richardh1905]

I spy columnar basalt. Shiants?

[Owen]

Kilt rock?

[Bigfoot_Mike]

Richardh, how do you do this every time? Ok, which one of the Shiants?

[richardh1905]

Read a book about the man who owned the Shiant Islands some years ago, and I think that they featured on a TV program too. The columnar basalt is very distinctive, and is not that common. Fingal's Cave and Kilt Rock are the most well known examples, but it didn't look like them. There's also an outcrop on the south side of Arthur's Seat.


No idea exactly which island though - I could go trawling through loads of photos online to find out - but I'm not going to. 

[BuzyG]

Skye

[Bigfoot_Mike]

The island is Eilean an Taighe (house island), which is joined to Garbh Eilean (rough island) by a rocky isthmus. There are over 100,000 puffins in the Shiants, mostly nesting on Garbh Eilean. I walked from the isthmus up to the top of Eilean an Taighe, but saw no puffins there, only Great Skuas. The number of sea birds here has to be seen to be believed and the sky turns black with birds when a sea eagle flies overhead.


Puffin



Bonxie (Skua)

[Rob Goes Walking]

Richardh, how do you do this every time? Ok, which one of the Shiants?

He's got a device like the Marauders Map from Harry Potter but it covers the UK instead of Hogwarts and in addition to locating people it shows you locations when you throw photos at it.