Tom Buidhe

Tom Buidhe is a Munro in the Grampian Mountains of Angus, rising 957 metres above a broad high plateau. Its Gaelic name means ‘yellow hill’, though the slopes are mostly grass rather than yellow. The mountain stands between the Cairnwell Pass to the west and the White Mounth plateau to the east, where the neighbouring Lochnagar reaches higher. To the north lies the slightly taller Tolmount, while the White Water burn cuts a shallow valley on the eastern flank. Southwards the plateau drops steeply into Glen Doll, and a kilometre away The Dacies walls plunge into Canness Glen. The climb demands long approaches because the hill sits far from roads and villages. Walkers usually pair it with the Tolmount, starting from Auchallater beside the A93 south of Braemar. From there Jock’s Road, an old drove track, crosses the plateau at the foot of Tolmount before reaching Tom Buidhe. Another route begins at Glendoll Lodge in Glen Clova, following the South Esk’s upper waters up to the same plateau. A third option follows the Cairnwell Pass eastwards over the Cairn of Claise before joining the high tableland. Visitors find a modest, rounded summit of close-cropped grass with only small rocky ribs on the east face. The view stretches across the wide moorland expanse towards Lochnagar and the White Mounth. To the south-west the plateau rolls on towards the Cairnwell and the Cairn of Claise. Glen Callater and Glen Clova lie far below, their burns threading through heather and bog. The air is often clearest at dawn, when the plateau’s quietness is broken only by the cry of ravens.