Geal Charn

Rising above the head of Strathdon near Corgarff, this rounded heathery moorland summit marks a quiet corner of the eastern Highlands. Classified as a Hump and Tump, it offers a straightforward ascent through typical Aberdeenshire upland terrain, rewarding walkers with clear perspectives across the high Lecht road.

• •The name is derived from the Scottish Gaelic 'Geal Charn', meaning 'White Cairn', a common descriptive name for hills with light-coloured rock or those where snow patches linger long into the spring.
• •The summit provides a grandstand view of the 16th-century Corgarff Castle in the valley below, once a strategic military base used by government troops to patrol the Lecht road against Jacobites and whisky smugglers.
• •The hill overlooks one of the highest points of the A939, famously known as the Lecht Road, which frequently features as the first major route in Britain to be closed by snowfall each winter.
• •Looking southwest, walkers can spot the distinctive granite tors of Ben Avon, one of the most remote and sprawling massifs in the high Cairngorms.
• •Despite the name promising a 'white' hill, for much of the year, the terrain is more accurately a persistent shade of peat-brown and heather-purple.