A few years ago on a trip to the Cairngorms, we did a rather long, boggy hill walk on the Glenlivet Estate, which was mostly spent walking in a cloud. It wasn’t the most enjoyable walk I’ve ever done, however, as we neared the end of the walk and started dropping down the hillside, the clouds cleared and we had a lovely view of Ben Rinnes to sustain us pretty much all the way back to the car. It was immediately added to our ‘future walks’ list, and last year we finally got around to climbing it.
Ben Rinnes is a popular walk, being straightforward, easily done in a half day (if you’re reasonably fit) and with fabulous views of the Moray countryside. As we did this walk on an absolutely beautiful late August day, I was absolutely convinced it was going to be mobbed, so I dragged Sam out early to get there for half eight – and I was obviously slightly over thinking it as we were the first ones there!
We followed this 4.75 mile linear walk from Walkhighlands. There is a small, free parking area with space for around 10 cars at the very foot of the hill path, meaning you can get straight onto the hill with no road walking – always a bonus. After passing through a gate we picked up the main track, which takes you all the way to the top of the hill – nice and easy! The path heads uphill steadily and I was feeling rather smug and complacent about my fitness level until about two thirds of the way up, when the going steepened and I rapidly dropped quite a long way behind Sam. I got to the top in the end though – and it was a good excuse to stop and take lots of photos on the way up.
There had been a bit of cloud lingering over the summit on our way up, but we managed to time it perfectly and get there just as the cloud lifted. The view really was wonderful, a panoramic vista of the surrounding countryside which we had all to ourselves. If you continue on past the summit a little, there is a plane crash site on the side of Ben Rinnes a way past the trig, before turning around to follow the main path back the way you came.
Despite having no issues getting parked, it was still worth getting there early: as we descended, we started to see a trickle of walkers coming up the hill towards us, which increased in frequency as we got further down. I love hills like this, where you see all sorts of people out enjoying the outdoors – from small children early in their hill bagging careers to older people revisiting old favourites. Everyone was having a fantastic time, whatever their age.
Dog friendly rating – 4/5. This is a great dog walk and should leave your dog nice and tired when you get home. There are no stiles or other obstacles to worry about, however, it’s open and exposed so on a warm summer day you may wish to take some water for your dog. We didn’t see any livestock on the hill, but there was a sign on the gate at the bottom asking for dogs to be kept on leads, so we respected this.
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