It’s great when everything comes together to
create that perfect combination of time and place. In terms of colour, the natural environment
and hillwalking conditions, the Scottish Highlands are at their best just now. And so it was that we’ve just enjoyed a great
week in the southern Cairngorms,. From
our base in Braemar we have walked many miles and made good use of mountain
bikes to access some very remote hills.
Carn Bhac
First though we needed a relatively short and
simple day. The best way to do this was to
split up the Glen Ey hills into 2 more manageable days. This would also make Day 2 shorter, although
not by much! We decided to walk to Carn
Bhac from Inverey; this took less than 5hrs and very pleasant it was too.
A gentle walk down a verdant Glen Ey for 3kms
took us to the ruined farm of Auchelie.
Here, an excellent track climbs out of the glen and heads W over grouse
moors to Carn nan Seileach (675m).
Oyster catchers, lapwings, curlews and golden plovers all provided an
entertaining - and welcome - accompaniment to our mountain stroll.
Golden Plover
The track eventually stops 200m S of Spot
Height 731m where we took a direct line across grassy slopes to the shallow
bealach that leads up gentle heathery slopes to the flat stony summit of Carn
Bhac (946m; hill of peat banks).
We returned the same way, serenaded once
again by the birds that were to be such frequent companions throughout the
week.
The Glen Ey Hills
We finished off the Glen Ey hills on a dry
and bright Day 2, biking down the glen for 9kms from Inverey to Altanour
Lodge. Difficulty in crossing the Allt
Beinn Iutharn prompted a rapid re-plan and we swopped our original clockwise
route for an anti-clockwise one. And so
it was we continued straight ahead and up the steep E shoulder of Beinn Iutharn
Mhòr.
The stunted heather soon gave way to grass
and gravel tundra and the going was easy.
There were expansive views all across the eastern Highlands and I could
even see the distant line of the Pentland Hills far away to the south! A dotterel and several ptarmigan provided
added interest, as did a herd of red deer.
The N slopes of this impressive mountain, the highest in the group, are
uniformly steep without being precipitous and are quite striking. Beinn Iutharn Mhòr (1045m; big sharp-ridged hill).
From this fine summit, we turned S and
traversed the W slopes of Mam nan Carn before descending to the narrow bealach
that led to our next peak. Thirty
minutes of easy climbing on a good path put us on top of the isolated peak of
Carn an Righ (1029m; hill of the king).
Carn an Righ
We were now mid-way between Blair Atholl and
Braemar and our accommodation seemed a long way away! Our old friend Beinn a’ Ghlo appeared very
close to the SW.
Returning to the bealach, we headed S up steep
grassy slopes to the skyline and intercepted one of the several hill tracks that
cover this hill and which lead directly to the summit: Glas Tulaichean (1051m; green hill). Just before gaining the skyline we came
across another dotterel and its chick - a rare sight indeed!
Glas Tulaichean
From Glas Tulaichean, more deer and golden
plovers witnessed our descent to Loch nan Eun where we left the grass behind
for some troublesome heather and a peat-bog bealach. Tired and weary from our wanderings, we
rather toiled up the steep quartzite scree that led us to our final summit of
the day: An Socach (944m; the snout).
An Socach From Glas Tulaichean
Then it was down very steep heather slopes
directly back to Altanour Lodge and a really helpful bridge over the Ey Burn
that enabled us to retrieve our bikes with dry feet! We were back at Inverey in 45 mins!
Glen Quoich
Day 3 gave us our biggest day by some
margin. The price of today’s 4 Munros would
be over 30Kms on foot and 15Kms by bike; and it was always going to take the
best part of 12hrs! Having biked up beautiful Glen Quoich, we
forded the Quoich Water without difficulty and left the bikes in the woods at
the 500m contour. From here, an
excellent path climbs up the flanks of Carn Allt na Beinne to reach the skyline
on the heathery shoulder of An Diollaid at 750m. The path continues upwards, although it’s not
really required as the stunted vegetation makes for more comfortable walking
and a more direct line can be taken to the summit plateau.
Eventually, we reached the plateau and a mile
of flat, easy walking led us to the neat stone cairn that marks the highest
point of this huge mountain: Beinn a’
Bhuird (1197m; table hill). The high cloud had already enabled us to see
our next goal - an ominously distant-looking Ben Avon far away to the E. The walking remained easy, however, and we
made good time traversing around the intermediate top of Cnap a’ Chlèirich and
down to The Sneck (the notch), the
distinctive saddle that separates these 2 big mountains.
A short re-ascent out of The Sneck and back
on to the plateau led to the final kilometre of path to the summit of Ben Avon
which is crowned by a large granite tor called Leabaidh an Daimh Bhuidhe (1171m; couch of the yellow stag). This is easily climbed, the granite giving
reassuringly good grip with holds just where you need them. This massive mountain has more ground above
900m than any other hill in Scotland.
Then it was all the way back to, and over,
Beinn a’ Bhuird. Passing the summit cairn we continued W, descending easy
slopes to the wide flat expanse of the Mòine Bhealaidh. More
ptarmigan and grouse witnessed our passage, but we only saw 4 people all
day! Once on the Mòine we
turned N and climbed 200m to the summit of our 3rd Munro of the day:
Beinn a’ Chaorainn (1083m; hill of the rowan). We were now mid-way between Aviemore and
Braemar and our accommodation seemed even further away than it had the previous
day!
South from Beinn a’ Chaorainn, we traversed
quickly across the featureless grassland of the Mòine with our sights set firmly on our last
hill of the day. Eventually it came and
we were celebrating our 4th Munro of the day: Beinn Bhreac (931m; speckled hill). The day still had a sting in the tail though
and after being entertained one more time by a couple of dotterel, we were soon
wading thigh-deep in thick heather down very steep slopes back into Glen
Quoich. Once in the pine woods, the
heather gave way to easier blueberry but it still seemed to take forever to
reach the bikes. The midges were out so
we wasted no time pedalling back down the glen, exhausted after our big walk
and looking forward to a well-earned day off!
The Geldie Hills
Doctor Jon joined us on Day 4 as we headed W
from Linn of Dee on our bikes for the long ride to upper Glen Geldie and the 2
most remote hills E of the A9. Leaving
our bikes beside the Geldie Burn, we boulder-hopped across and followed the
track the short distance to the ruins of Geldie Lodge. From here, the old track has now become a
landscaped path but it still provides good access further W to the Allt a’
Chaorainn and the E slopes of our first peak of the day. After all the cycling and approach walking,
it was almost a relief to start climbing and it was only 300m to the
skyline.
Geldie Lodge
Once up, a path appeared and we
followed this to the summit and celebrated Matt’s 100th Munro: Carn
an Fhidhleir (994m; hill of the fiddler). This hill marks the meeting place of the
counties of Perth, Inverness and Aberdeen and is a long way from anywhere!
Grassy slopes led us down to the intervening
peaty bealach and our 2nd climb of the day up to Matt’s 101st
Munro: An Sgarsoch (1006m; place of the sharp rocks).
Half-way up, a pair of dotterel appeared and Jon disappeared for 10mins
with his 400mm lens for an impromptu photo session…
Heading N from the summit, we intercepted our
outbound path and reclaimed our bikes for a surprisingly quick return to the
Linn of Dee. You can walk to these 2
mountains in a very long day, or you can always take a tent and camp out if
that’s your scene. But I’d recommend
getting your bike out and experiencing the remoteness of upper Glen Geldie and
these 2 peaks whilst being able to return home in time for tea!
Beinn Bhrotain & Monadh Mor
Returning to the Linn of Dee, we biked as far
as White Bridge but then left the Geldie track and took the path that follows
the infant Dee up towards the Lairig Ghru.
A quick succession of drainage channels makes for difficult cycling and
we abandoned the bikes close to a small plantation and took to our feet. We headed W up the Allt Iarnaidh and climbed
the SE slopes of an ex-Munro: Carn Cloich-mhuilinn.
Traversing around this outlier led us to the
grass flats of Coire an t-Sagairt and then the final summit slopes and trig
point that crown Beinn Bhrotain (1157m; hill
of the mastiff). The welcome sight of a couple of snow buntings prompted another photo shoot for a delighted Jon!
Snow Bunting
A great view across
deep Glen Geusachan revealed the high Cairngorms and a sun-lit Devil’s Point
from an unusual angle.
We descended W to the high bealach before
climbing up and over Leac Ghorm and traversing the long, flat green ridge that
stretches out to the NW to reach its highest point at the cairn of Monadh Mòr (1113m; big hill). This was Jennifer’s last Munro E of the A9, a
significant - and commendable - milestone after only 4 years!
For Jenn & Matt, their milestones
achieved, the week was over. Jon,
however, had one more day so we played catch-up and returned to Carn Bhac where
the birds were still singing and the greenery of Glen Ey remained
undiminished. It had been a memorable
week with up to 15 Munros climbed for some of us, many miles walked and cycled
and a couple of memorable milestones passed!
Well done everybody! And that includes me!
Happy to Serve!
Check out my plans for this summer at: http://www.hillways.co.uk/
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