Summary
Clare heads up Mither Tap, a distinctive hill in the Bennachie range in Aberdeenshire.
Leading the way are the Bailies of Bennachie, a group of volunteer conservators formed over 50 years ago as a “Voice for the Hill.” Peter Stock, Allan Will, Stella Gauld, Lorna Bell and Anne Watson are just some of the many Bailies who care passionately about Bennachie - its wildlife, archaeology, landscape, history and future.
Their walk begins at the Bennachie Visitor Centre. From there, they climb steadily towards the ancient Pictish hillfort that crowns the summit. After enjoying the views on a very blowy top, they head back down. On the way, they pause to hear the story of the Bennachie Colony and see the remains of this crofting settlement first established in 1825.
The Bennachie Visitor Centre: Grid ref NJ698216 What3Words: ///sedative.info.equal
Presenter: Clare Balding Producer: Karen Gregor
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
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| 0:32.7 | The weather is such an important part of planning for ramblings and originally... |
| 0:36.9 | Quite a lot of wet ones haven't you? |
| 0:38.2 | Yeah, we sure have. It's right there. |
| 0:40.7 | Originally we were meant to come to Aberdeenshire in January. |
| 0:44.3 | It was early January and those big snowstorms came in and we had to suspend our plans. |
| 0:51.0 | But how lucky to get the freshest, brightest spring day to really enjoy the scenery. |
| 0:58.3 | And I'm joining a group called the Baileys of Benejee. And we're meeting at the Benejee |
| 1:03.5 | Visitor Centre. It's northwest of Aberdeen. And we are at the base of a great hill to climb. |
| 1:11.9 | You can see it from miles away. |
| 1:13.1 | It's called Mither Tap. |
| 1:15.1 | And Peter, you're going to explain exactly where we're going to go. |
| 1:18.1 | And indeed, what you Bayleys do? |
| 1:20.6 | The Bayleys were established in 1973 as a conservation group, |
| 1:25.1 | and at that time, none of this was here, you know, just just fairly rudimentary paths and the baileys have worked over that 50 years to manage the environment on the hill we had a bit of a rebranding around our 50th anniversary and we adopted the slogan of voice for the hill and for for me, that captures everything the bailies does. |
| 1:45.9 | I need someone to look after, think about my future, |
... |
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