It was 2020 when I first visited Waughton hill and Mormond hill. The former is the most prominent hill in the area, and a far outlier from the range of Marilyns in the Cairngorms.
The hill can be started from Strichen town centre, initially walking up a tarmac track to a farm. From there, a path can be followed, through a couple of gates, and finally onto a path up the side of the hill. It is here that the horse on the side of the hill is reached.
You can’t miss it – the path walks right past the head of the horse. After paso g this, the way continues until reaching a farm track and line of trees. Following this east you will come to a ga at which point the old house ruin can be seen. This is the way to the summit of the Marilyn.
After passing this, it’s a little trickier to find the true summit. Time to get the map out. After wondering through the field of sheep the summit cairn can be found… though it’s a stretch to call it a cairn!
At this point a hill bagger can turn tails and head home. For the explorer or those interest in the stag need to continue on to Mormond hill. The summit lies to the east and is a short walk through the fields. The summit of this hill is littered with masts and is unreachable.
When you reach the fence circle round clockwise to the far side. Where the hill starts to become steep and more overgrown, you move be able to see the clear stones of the stag. Usually the stag is cleared of overgrowth and is much larger than I expected.
After having a good look around at the stag it was time to head back. The easiest approach to this is heading back around the fence to where you reached it. Continuing round there is a track which leads down the hill towards the old ruin. This curves down to the left to meet the farm track used earlier. Rejoin this and follow it back to where you split off before to the ruin. And from here it’s a simple retrace of your steps back down past the horse to the road and down to Strichen.