To the west and south of Glen Esk lies Glen Lethnot, which in its lower reaches is known as the West Water and joins the North Esk below Edzell. From its upper reaches, known as the Water of Saughs there is a good mountain walk following the stream to its source near Muckle Cairn and down past the deep, glacier-cut corrie of Loch Brandy to Milton in Glen Clova. 

Another path from the middle reaches of Lethnot leads north through the narrow glacial melt-water cut gap of the Clash of Wirren to Tarfside in Glen Esk. This was a section of the Whisky Track by which the produce of the illicit stills of Deeside and further north was conveyed to the thirsty consumers in Strathmore and beyond. In the 18^th century it was known as the Priest’s Road and was used by the Episcopalian priest from Tarfside who served both communities, walking over to minister to his Jacobite flock in Glen Lethnot, much to the annoyance of his Presbyterian colleagues who, in both Glens, were of Hanovarian sympathies.  

The Glen itself is something of a backwater, its road meandering along its length through gentle hilly countryside. It's one of those places you could lose yourself in and never regret a moment that you were lost. It was a regular haunt of mine when I was a youngster and along with fellow members of our Scout troop I'd often head for Lethnot on weekend hikes and camping trips. On one occasion three of us were squeezed into a one-man ex-US Army tent.............on a slope..............and in the middle of the night I found that I had rolled out and down the slope.

On another occasion we managed to cadge a lift from a milkman from Angus Dairies as he made his morning deliveries to the various farms and cottages along the lower Glen. He dropped us at Pirner's Brig where we spent the day "guddling" for trout and skimming stones along the river. The wooden bridge spanning the West Water at this point is allegedly so-called either because bobbin-makers crossed it to get birch-timber in the adjacent copse to make their pirns, or because a pirn-mill once stood near it.

Happy days.
    

On the southern edge of the glen, the road to Brechin crosses a ridge separating the glen from Strathmore, and on either side of the road at the top of this ridge lie the Caterthuns, one Brown, the other White. Of the numerous Iron-Age hillforts in this part of Scotland, these are two of the largest.

The Brown Caterthun has no fewer than six lines of defence enclosing a wide area of the hill-top and for the most part these defensive rings are built of heather and turf......hence the description of "brown".

The Brown Caterthun was at some stage abandoned in favour of the White Caterthun, so-called because its ring of stones shows up white on the hill-top.

Up here on a clear day, you can see east to Montrose, north into the Braes of Angus and south-west down the length of Strathmore to the Tay beyond, with a hint of Dundee over the Sidlaw Hills.

Both Forts are thought to date from about the time of Christ and provide impressive evidence of a pre-Pictish society capable of mobilising very impressive manpower.