Clobre one

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Clobre here.

This route is on rough paths, really only suitable for hikers and fell runners, although I suppose you could get a mountain bike up there... I've spent time building up my skills, to walk on these hills you need the right equipment, skills and knowledge, an excellent source for these is Mountaineering Scotland website.

The route is immediately onto the steep climb from the Clova Hotel up to Loch Brandy, a good path alternating steps and steep gravel paths, you need to stay on the path to minimise further erosion.

From here the path climbs up the right hand side of Loch Brandy, this is a less well made path climbing steeply up through boulders, large stones and muddy patches.

At the top you turn right onto a path over rough level ground to a deer fence. I crossed at the stile and turned left along the fence line and followed it. (There is a path to the right but that takes you down to Loch Wharral below). As this is a deer fence the stile is quite high, I took my pack off, lifted it onto the top step and lifted it down once I was on the ground the other side.

I carried along beside this fence right up to The Goet, this is gently undulating uphill, there isn't really a path, just peat hags alternating with rough grass, with some bog and a couple of lochans. As long as you're walking alongside the fence you're fine.

You'll know when you get to The Goet. A rough stone wall shelters a trig point from the prevailing wind, which was very strong the day I was up there. Sat and ate my lunch looking out onto a fabulous view south right to the Sidlaws above Dundee and beyond.

Back at the fence line there is a small stile, cross here and you will see your path below to the right snaking down Black Shank. You can cut the corner, it's rough grass and peat, or you can follow the 4x4 track down the hill until it curves left and goes down over Black Shank to the ford at Shieling of Saughs, where I happily took my boots off to walk across and refilled my water bottle.

Glen Lethnot is one of the quietest of the five main Angus glens, I didn't see anyone from when I climbed down Black Shank until the morning of the next day, and even on a Saturday this was only one group. Streams come down from the hills above into the Water of Saughs, which tumbles down the glen between heather, rowan and birch, and crags.

Here on in the path is down Glen Lethnot on a 4x4 track, apart from a smaller path climbing down from a promontary by the West Burn. This can be very wet, and icy in cold weather.

This is about the 10 mile mark, and was where I camped because I can't walk 25miles in one day even without a full heavy pack.

The 4x4 track continues down to Waterhead where there is a car park. Bearing right you are now on the tarmaced road down the Glen.

At Blackhaugh the SlowWays route maps a path up onto the hill above below Tamhilt. There was no break in the fence line or clear path and to get across the field steeply down to the marked bridge I would have had to cross a field with lambs and ground nesting birds in, so I continued on the road instead, which snakes alongside the Water of Saughs through the Glenlethnot estate to Bridgend and then Burnfoot.

The marked route is round the side of the Catherthuns, but if you want to go over the top between the iron age forts it's a spectacular view. Otherwise the road is a climb and a downhill the other side.

I took the road right down to Kirkton of Menmuir and turned right there as again there were livestock in the field and no clear path where the SlowWays route tracks.

I followed the road down to the Balnamoon estate, this was all on roads but very quiet ones. At Balmanoon I didn't take the first entrance as this goes into the estate farm, but instead the second one a bit further down the road between two spectacular stone gateposts.

The path is now on gravel sweeping round the from of a rather lovely big house to the right on a rough tarmac track through trees and rhododendrons to a lane crossing the path.

The route indicated that I should have been able to go straight on here on an offroad track to Gowanpark. However, the track was blocked by fallen trees from Storm Arwen so I turned right following the lane down past Mill of Cruick and left at the end to reach Little Brechin.

The road between Little Brechin and Brechin is the only bit of main road you will need to be careful on, the rest is all little lanes with little traffic.

Even over two days this was a tough ask for me, but beautiful and very varied, right from bare windy hilltops through moor estates to pasture and onto country lanes, lots of lambs and curlews and lapwings and swallows.

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