Mt
Keen / Fungle Road
9th March 2003
It was all John MacEwan's idea, choosing a date in early March when we were still too unfit for such an epic. Start from the carpark at Tarfside (NO490797), ride along Glen Mark and up Mt Keen, descend on Mounth Rd into Glen Tanar, stop in Aboyne for a couple of pints, and then head home on the Fungle Road back to Tarfside. Thirty five miles - easy! Steve Blennerhasset, Ian PV, Douglas Shearer and myself were mad enough to say "yes", so early on a Sunday morning we headed north, not entirely convinced that we had not bitten off more than we could ride.
After checking we all had sufficient food, water and tools to allow Douglas to travel light we headed off very nervously on the big adventure.
Start as you intend to finish - John pushes up over the shoulder of Knowe of Crippley.
It was clagged out on the top of Mt Keen, so discretion being the better part of valour and all that stuff and nonsense, we chose to bypass the summit. We still climbed to 773m though!
The gang wait for me at the start of the descent off Mt Keen to Mounth Rd.
Looking to Glen Tanar.
A big, long bouldery descent awaited us. The burning smell was disc brake pads.
Lunch and a chance for brakes to cool on the descent of Mounth Rd.
A superb high-speed run into Glen Tanar was our reward. Steve and John grin as they check that the GPS agrees with the map. We also gave the couple of pints a miss, but it was a close call.
After a brute of a climb out of Aboyne, a rooty, twisty track awaits. Douglas amuses himself by getting air on a burn.
A long climb through the Forest of Birse (how can a forest not have any trees?) to Birse Castle, at Ballochan.
Then the fun started...The route past the burn of Allanstank is evil. It climbs up at an angle just too steep to ride, particularly if you face a strong southwesterly wind as we did. Then the track narrows down so that there is not enough room for man and bike, so you end up shouldering the bike. Sheep lie down to die in the middle of the track too. The joker is that the final section of climb is vertical.
Climbing to Burn of Allanstank.
Fungle Off!!!
Sleeping beauty snatches a moment's respite.
At the top of the final climb looking back to Ballochan.
All we had to do then was descend back to Tarfside, so we did.
Notes: A cracking ride, but only for the fit and prepared (which we were). We were out for 8 hours, covering a total distance of 35miles. Summiting Mt Keen would have added considerably to this. The Tuck Inn in Edzell does excellent bacon rolls and is open until 8pm on Sunday!
Contour Map including the summit of Mt Keen.
Bypassing the summit takes you to 770m rather than 993m
Tracklog -
Associated file: Text from file 'MtKeenFungleTracklog0303.txt'.txt
A GPS Utility file may be downloaded containing route information and a GPS tracklog for the route from the carpark at Tarfside. The route includes the summit of Mt Keen and has been divided into two to facilitate use of GPSU. The tracklog includes our diversion to bypass the summit of Mt Keen and also goes off the waymarked route between Mt Keen and Corrach. We made the mistake of descending on a LandRover track towards Black Burn, before we realised our mistake after a couple of hundred metres and cut back to the correct track.
The above information is provided for planning purposes only and I accept no responsibility with regard to its accuracy. Always carry a map and a compass and prepare for the unexpected. Please leave these hills in a state where we can continue to enjoy them.
© Crispin Bennett 2003
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