Duchary Rock

We've been very fortunate in the wide range of walks we've been able to enjoy over the last year or so, most of them straight from the house, but we've been slow to look for new challenges; so today we took the car to the crofting township of Doll, just this side of Brora, and walked up through woodland until we came to a gate beyond which....

....lay miles of open moorland and, almost as important these days, a rough track for us to follow.

Everywhere, amongst the other wildflowers - tormentil, bog asphodel, heathers, cross-leaved heath - we found heath spotted orchids in a range of colours from almost pure white through to rich shades of royal purple.

Every now and then, through the haar rolling in off the sea, we had glimpses of Loch Brora, an elongate loch divided into four sections by sediment brought down by the burns draining the surrounding hills.

This was our objective, a ridge called Duchary Rock on the OS map. It's seen here end-on - the path skirts it to the left - at the far end of which....

....there are the broken walls of what was once a quite substantial hill fort.

The fort gave us a panoramic view of Strath Brora, though it was disappointing that the haar never quite cleared to allow the sun to come out.

So we have a new walk to enjoy into the future, and at least two other walks from the spot in Doll where we left the car. I don't think many people walk this way as this roe deer, spotted in the woodland as we returned to the car, seemed both surprise to see us and very reluctant to run away.