Bennachie's secret waterfall

Oh the perks of being the mum of a teenage Aberdeenshire Council volunteer Ranger! Every time Sam has a mentoring day with the Garioch Ranger, he takes me to the same sites at the weekend and does the full ranger talk as we go along our way.

I had no idea Bennachie had a waterfall, and with the ruined folly to view it from, it's like Aberdeenshire's mini version of Perthshire's Hermitage. The area around the waterfall has a very different feel to the rest of Bennachie because it's in the Pittodrie Estate; it's very dense and unmanaged. Perfect moody feel for the waterfall. Long forgotten forbidden trysts or political plotting must surely have been played out here, at the edge, overlooking the water.

Tis the season of autumn good and proper, russet and auburn leaves, squirrels checking their caches and darkening fallen pine needles underfoot.