Walk 17 Auchtavan

Date: Tuesday 22 February 2011

Summary: Walk to Auchtavan and see what Braemar Community Limited have spent some of their money on.. lunch at Auchtavan

Distance: 5.5 Km =total 11 km Altitude 430 metres

Sunrise: 07:24 Sunset: 17:24

Grade: Easy : height gained 133 Metres

Highlights: Views of Glen Feardar & the Balloch Plantation and Auchtavan

A very brief history of Auchtavan:

Auchtavan is a rare survivor of a traditional Highland clachan or fermtoun.

Small communities like these were homes to countless generations in the centuries before the Industrial Revolution. Most of these settlements have disappeared and their houses are now only scattered stones in the countryside. Auchtavan is Gaelic for ‘the field of the two kids’. Traditionally,the rental paid for the land to the laird of Invercauld was two young goats.

Auchtavan is located at the head of Glen Feardar (the ‘glen of high water’), some 430 metres above sea level and looking cross the River Dee to Lochnagar. The lands around the Dee are very fertile and good for agriculture. Even this high up on the mountainside the farmers coan grow corn and raise livestock.

People farmed here for at least two hundred years before the last occupant left in the mid-1900s. In 1861, William and Margory McHardy were living here with their seven children, a ploughman and two farm servants. Life at Auchtavan would never have been easy, and eventually everyone would have left to find jobs in the towns. Many people emigrated to find new opportunities in places like America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Meet:

Time: 10:30 Location At Braemar Car Park behind the Butchers shop. From the Car Park drive to the start of the walk map ref: 234938 hopefully we can car pool?

Start time: At Inver 11:00 Estimated finish time: At Inver 14:30

Maps:

Explorer Map 1:25 000 No:388 Lochnagar Glen Muick

Landranger Map 1:50 000 No: 44 Ballater & Glen Clova

What to bring: packed Lunch & hot drink

What to wear: Suitable clothing for weather conditions
Advisory equipment: Gaiters, walking poles camera, binoculars

A 1st Aid kit, emergency shelter and phone, will be carried.

Foul Weather Alternative: Nil