The Caterthuns: Twin Hillforts With the Big View

Some places you have to work for a little, and they pay you back tenfold. The Caterthuns are exactly that sort of place.

They sit up in the Angus hills, an easy run from here, and I'd wager plenty of people drive past the turning without ever knowing what's up on the ridge. One of those spots locals half-know and most visitors miss entirely.

So let me talk you into it.

Two forts, one ridge

The Caterthuns are two Iron Age hillforts sitting about a kilometre apart, cared for by Historic Environment Scotland, and here's the best bit: they're free to visit and open all year. No booking, no closing time, no fuss.

There's the Brown Caterthun and the White Caterthun, and the names alone are enough to make you curious.

The White is the showstopper. It's encircled by a massive collapsed stone rampart, a great tumbled ring of grey stone that has been sitting up there since long before anyone was writing any of this down. You walk right up to it and it's hard not to just stand and think about the hands that piled it.

Both forts command wide views over the countryside, and that is putting it gently.

The walk up and the big reward

The climb isn't long, but it is a proper hill, so you'll feel your legs by the top. Take your time. There's no prize for rushing.

And then you crest the ridge and the whole of Strathmore opens up beneath you, with the Grampians stacked along the far edge. On a clear day it goes on and on.

It's the quiet that gets me, though. Up there it's mostly the wind and the skylarks, that endless rising song they do somewhere overhead where you can never quite spot them. Take the binoculars if you're that way inclined. You won't be disappointed.

Pack a flask. Find a sheltered spot in the lee of the rampart. Sit for a bit. That's the whole day made, right there.

Go prepared, and pick your day

Now, an honest word, because I'd rather you knew.

This is open hillside. There's no cafe at the top, no handrail, no shelter if the weather turns. So this is a fair-weather outing. Pick a clear day, check the forecast, and if it's socked in with cloud, save it for another time, because the view is the entire point and a grey wall of mist is a long way to walk for not much.

Wear proper footwear. The ground can be rough and wet underfoot even when the sun's out, and good boots turn a slog into a pleasure.

Layers too. It's always a few degrees cooler and a good bit breezier on top than it is in the car park.

Do those few small things and it's one of the loveliest, easiest wee adventures in Angus.

Make a morning of it

The two forts are close enough that you can do both if you've the energy, wandering from one to the other along the ridge. Or just do the White, sit with that great ruined rampart, and call it a triumph.

Either way it's a morning or an afternoon rather than a whole day, which I rather like. It leaves room in the day.

And that's where I'll do my usual gentle nudge. Spend the morning up on the hill with the skylarks and the big view, then come back down and home to the quiet. A hot bath, a cup of tea, the peace settling in around you. That's the Foresterseat way, and after a hill it feels earned.

If you're thinking of basing yourself out this way for a few days of exactly this sort of thing, you'll find us over at foresterseat.co.uk. Come and use us as your quiet corner of Angus.

Take the boots. Take the flask. Pick a clear day.

Emma x