Heritage Path of the Month.
Cryne Corse Mounth is our Heritage Path of the Month for August 2026.
More about Cryne Corse Mounth:
This old route leaves a small parking area at its north end and rises up a steep tarmac road which is the access to the Durris transmitter. Just before reaching the transmitter site, turn left onto a track at a waymarker (NO765900). After a short distance, a right turn (south) is made onto a footpath following a break in the forest used by power lines. This path is followed until it crosses a forest track at NO766886, then head downhill until making a right turn (southwest) at a sign onto a main track. This is followed south until a left turn at another sign (NO764873) to cross the Cowie Water by a concrete bridge. The road rises and passes the Lady’s Leys ruin (NO764871), the waymarked line ascending Laird’s Leys and onwards to a junction at NO765860. Here, the historic line heads southwest towards Cleuchhead and out to the public road. Alternatively, from that junction continue southeast to NO773857, where turn right to the small car park at Quithel.
OS Landranger 45 (Stonehaven & Banchory)
This old path has been used for many centuries as an alternative crossing of the Mounth to the nearby Slug Road. It is said to have been used by Edward I in 1296, and also by William Wallace. Long after the Wars of Independence, it was by the Cryne Corse Mounth that the Marquis of Montrose reached Aberdeen in September 1644, following his victory against a Covenanter force at the Battle of Tippermuir.
The Cryne Corse Mounth was used by drovers to get to St Palladius’ Fair (Paldy Fair) on Herscha Hill, north of Auchenblae, by Fordoun. According to ARB Haldane’s 1952 book The Drove Roads of Scotland, it was a tryst of some importance. In 1795, it was said that up to 3000 cattle were sold at this Fordoun cattle fair each July, and that most of them had come from the north. The site of Paldy Fair can be seen clearly marked on OS 6″ second edition mapping (1892-1905) and also on OS 1″ mapping until at least the 1950s.
Cryne Corse is also known as Cryne Cross, as corse means cross or crossing. The origin of Cryne is less clear; in Grampian Ways (2002), Robert Smith gives a number of theories such as the pass having perhaps been named after a local Aberdeen family called Cryne.
ScotWays has long-promoted recreational use of this historic right of way via its book Scottish Hill Tracks. It also features in an ebook – The Mounth Passes – written by Heritage Paths’ first Project Officer, Neil Ramsay, and Nate Pedersen (one of its earliest volunteers) with photography by long-standing ScotWays member, Graham Marr. In July 2026, the ScotWays volunteer team replaced one of our remoter signs on this historic right of way with the co-operation of Forestry and Land Scotland.
More about Heritage Paths
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Photo: ScotWays signpost at NO 766 879 in Fetteresso Forest © Neil Birch