Meluncart

Rising above the southern banks of the River Dee near Aboyne, this rounded, heather-clad Hump offers a quiet alternative to the busier Cairngorm peaks. Its broad, moorland slopes provide a sense of isolation, rewarded by clear perspectives across the Deeside valley towards the granite mass of Morven and Mount Keen.

• •The name likely derives from the Gaelic Meall nan Ceàrd, meaning the 'Hill of the Tinkers' or craftsmen, potentially marking a historical campsite or route used by travelling smiths as they moved between Deeside and the Mearns.
• •Positioned on the fringes of the Forest of Birse, the summit provides an excellent vantage point for surveying the transition from the rolling Aberdeenshire countryside to the rugged eastern Grampian mountains.
• •From the 525-metre high point, the distinctive whale-backed profile of Morven dominates the horizon to the north, while the cone of Mount Keen—Scotland’s easternmost Munro—is clearly visible to the southwest.
• •The hill's dual classification as both a Hump and a Tump sounds more like a minor ailment than a geographic status, a feeling often reinforced by the knee-jarring deep heather encountered on its trackless upper slopes.