Loving the land I live in

Yesterday I climbed to the top of our local hill - Bennachie (pronounced Ben-a-hee!)

This is not remarkable in itself but the land and the landscape are.  Though here in my home county of Aberdeenshire, we talk of climbing Bennachie, this is not one but a range of hills with several peaks.

Most prominent and rugged is Mither Tap with its iron age fort but Oxen Craig is higher.  Craigshannoch is the third peak with Millstone Hill an outlying spur.

Though not particularly high at 528m - Ben Nevis, Scotland's highest mountain is 1346m - the mountain is very prominent  and dominates the skyline.  The range of hills is isolated from other high ground and the surrounding land is relatively flat so Bennachie tends to dominate the skyline.

Here's how it looks from the village of Oldmeldrum.  Bennachie features on lots of local logos.

Climbing Bennachie is a favourite family outing - this was taken on Boxing Day 2006 when 9 relatives made it to the top with four of our neighbours. 

I created my own embroidered landscape from this photograph.  This became a present for my sister-in-law, Fiona, who grew up seeing Bennachie everyday but no longer lives nearby.

So it was a joy to climb to the top yesterday in the company of my daughter, Eilidh, who remarked what beautiful countryside we live in.  I couldn't agree more!