It started in spring last year, 2024. Sitting in the Lidl’s car park, Sarah, casually mentioned a litter of 7 Bosnian rough coated puppies looking for new homes. It had been 3 years since our last faithful hound, Tara, had passed away, a life well lived. We looked at photos of them with their loving “choose me” eyes and I looked across at Sarah with her puppy dog eyes and knew trouble was ahead. “As long as it’s the gentle natured girl” I said. A couple of phone calls later and we had secured a boisterous boy who we quickly named Ted.
look at those eyes - Ted around 4 months old
Months of settling in and training followed while I patiently waited for Ted to grow and gradually gain his strength, increasing both the length and the elevation of walks on our local Ochil hills. We’ve bonded despite his love of tearing up everything in sight and my love of chasing him round the house shouting, which is peak fun for him.
A rare free weekend appeared and the weather looked promising, an ideal opportunity for a boys day for Ted and I to head for the hills while the girls did their own thing. But where to go? Ideally something 3-5 hours to stretch a now fully grown Ted, but not too long to knacker him (and me!).
Mayar and Driesh are a classic pair of Munros which, growing up in Angus, still feel like my local hills. Despite now being a couple of hours drive away, it still feels like going home. Glen Doll at the head of Glen Clova is a special place that holds a lot of great memories growing up. My sister Jen and I going camping with Dad as kids and spending our days playing in the rivers with friends walking to the Clova Hotel and playing with the water wheel. It’s strange how things can change, but the core feeling you get from a place stays the same regardless of time passed. That’s how it was as we drove past the hotel and headed to the to Glen Doll along winding singletrack road shared with our sheep friends. The shiny new visitor centre (it’s now 7 years old!) and well signposted car park mixed with the old memories of the river and campsites either side, although only the boys brigade site remains with the public campsite returned to nature.
Driesh in the distance
A check of the MWIS and Met Office for the latest weather (sunshine with small gusts) and we were on our way heading up the path from the car park. 10 minutes in and a quick treat for Ted and I pulled my car parking ticket out with the treats. Back to the car park to display the ticket and we were on our way again, much to Ted’s annoyance.
The path opened up into the beautiful bowl of Corrie Fee, scooped out from the rugged mountainsides by a glacier during the Ice Age. It’s known to be the hunting ground of golden eagles, but unfortunately none were gracing us with their presence. Ted was happy enough though as we had a dip in the river on the way through the Fee and met a few doggy friends. The climb up out of Corrie Fee alongside the waterfall definitely woke me up and stretched my knees that have been grumbling after recent running injuries, but I was distracted with some great chat with 3 guys from the north of England, exploring the glens for the first time.
The view from the top of Corrie Fee back towards Glen Doll and Clova is fantastic and worth the steep walk alone.
The wide grassy path presented itself and to be honest it’s a bit of what feels like a neverending slog up to the top of Munro number 1 of the day, Mayar. An immediate reminder of why the weather forecast can change in an instant hit us on the side of the face as the wind gusted from the south and drove large hailstones into our faces providing an instant natural skin exfoliation. The day was relatively clear though so a quick stop at the summit and taking in the view of Craigie Thieves and we were on our way back into the dip and headed for Driesh.
Still being pounded by the wind, but with the protection that comes from dropping elevation, we made our way along the Kilbo Path before starting final ascent to wide dome shaped summit of Driesh.
Ted being blown about on the Driesh cairn
With the hail dying down but the wind still laughing at us trying to stand up, we dropped down the far side of the summit to shelter for lunch. At home Ted’s diet is 99% dog related food, but a hill walk signals shared lunches so the pork pies, cheese sandwiches and salt and vinegar crisps vanished in seconds.
Ted tucking into lunch
Lunch done and some energy back to power our legs, we turned back on ourselves for a short time to descend the upper gravelly flanks of Driesh and turned to head down the Shank of Drumfollow
Down and down we walked, crossing the Burn of Kilbo before dropping back into Glen Doll and the car park. Of course we arrived back early afternoon to beautiful sunshine and the temperatures starting to soar. To finish off the trip a mandatory coffee stop in Kirriemuir, the birthplace of ACDC front man Bon Scott and coincidently the weekend of Bon Fest. Dodging thousands of pissed up rock fans spilling out from the pubs with Highway to Hell and Hells Bells blasting out while grabbing a Costa at the COOP was a great end to the day.