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After doing the Minigaig route a couple of years previously, I’d been thinking for a while about another similar walk. I’d read reports in the press about rumours that there was once a plan to build a road from Deeside and Speyside through Glens Geldie and Feshie, so I decided to have look at this route for myself.
So, at around tea time on 9th July 2005, I left the car in the Old Blair car park and set off up Glen Tilt. Rather than following the boring estate road next to the river, I went up past Fenderbridge and along the old Right of Way past Kincraigie, which is a very pleasant stroll on a grassy track high up the side of the glen, passing through patches of birch woodland. There are some pretty decent views of Blair Castle from there.
View of Blair CastleThe right of way beyond Kincraigie The track joins the estate road just beyond Auchgobhal. It was a decent warm day, but a bit overcast and I kept stopping to look at pools and falls in the river Tilt. Well beyond Forest Lodge I found an ideal spot to pitch the tent, on a grassy flat near the river, the soft grass gave much needed cushioning.
Next morning was still overcast, but dry and warm and I set off at about 8.00am, just after an estate land rover drove past and back again. I made good progress up the glen, which was getting narrower and steeper sided. By the time I got to the Bedford Memorial bridge, the cloud was breaking a bit and the waterfalls there looked good.
The Bedford Memorial Bridge After the bridge, the path narrows and climbs high above the burn for about a mile before the narrow valley suddenly opens out among low, heather-clad hills.
Upper Glen Tilt At that point I took another break and watched fascinated as a big black and yellow dragonfly flew about 10m away and grabbed a large fly in mid-air.
Just after the watershed, I saw a large hairy moth in the grass next to the path.
Soon, the path turns once more into a land rover track (not indicated as such on the map) and to the right the rushing Allt Garbh Bhuide is replaced by Allt an t-Seilich, which meanders slowly and deeply down towards the ruins of Bynack Lodge.
From a rise in the track, there was a good but distant view of the Cairngorms, with Carn a Mhaim, Ben MacDhui and Derry Cairngorm clearly visible and some late-lying patches of snow.
Cairngorms in the Distance, with snow patches on Ben MacDhui A little further on are the ruins of Bynack Lodge and the first river crossing of the walk, but this time the Bynack Burn was so shallow after dry weather that crossing dry-shod was no problem. Bynack Lodge must have been quite a remote place to live and I wondered what it must have looked like when occupied.
The ruins of Bynack Lodge, with Cairn Toul and Devils Point in the distance Nearby, there’s a section of seasonal riverbed, on this occasion dried up, with large patches of Moss Campion growing among the stones, the only splashes of bright colour to be seen.
Moss Campion Less than a mile further on is the Geldie Burn and another difficult river crossing in wet weather, but no problems this time. My way then turned West, following the Geldie Burn and rising almost imperceptibly towards the low watershed between the Geldie and Feshie. At the top of a gentle rise, a view opened up of the shallow moorland valley ahead, the ruins of Geldie Lodge and the rounded hump of Carn an Fhidhleir.
The track past Geldie Lodge junction Beyond the Geldie Lodge junction, the path is quite good, fairly firm and picks out a reasonably dry route, rising barely 50m in around 2 miles to the Geldie - Feshie watershed , before descending slightly to the bridge over the Eidart. At the bridge ( a steel framework construction ) there’s a pretty waterfall in a gorge with a deep green pool below, with Silver Birch trees and heather overhanging the gorge sides.
Upstream, the Eidart disappears in a series of small falls towards the wilderness of the Moine Mhor, with Monadh Mhor and Beinn Bhrotain shaping the distant skyline.
Once the path leaves the Eidart, it all but disappears among deep heather and grass, passing near to a semi-ruined shelter. There were various argo-cat tracks through this terrain, but all of them at some stage went through very swampy ground. The easiest way was nearer the river Feshie and after much twisting and turning, avoiding wet areas, the path suddenly appears again and drops down to the gorge of the Allt na Leuma. It was only about 4.00pm, but it was hot and I was tiring, so I pitched the tent in what is possibly one of the prettiest spots in the Cairngorms. There’s a small, grassy and fairly level area next to the All na Leuma where it appears out of a beautiful, narrow gorge.
Allt na Leuma GorgeJust beyond there, the burn tumbles over a small tree-lined waterfall into the river Feshie. It’s a camping spot that is well sheltered, being in a hollow and I lay in the sun for a while, being disturbed only once, by a walker heading in the opposite direction, who was hoping to reach Braemar that night.
I didn’t sleep well, it was too hot and I was woken next morning by even more heat as the sun shone down on the tent from a cloudless sky. I explored the Allt na Leuma gorge for a while before I had a cold wash in the stream while I waited of the dew drying from the tent, then packed up and set off down the glen on a fairly new land rover track. At first the glen is shallow, with heather covered hills and the banks of the Feshie are lined with Silver Birch, but then the glen sides steepen and there’s a good scattering of mature Scots Pines.
Occasionally, as the glen broadens, the track is little more than a pleasant grassy lane across the valley floor, occasionally meandering among pine trees.
At one place the land rover track has been destroyed by landslides and diverts across the river, while the walkers path crosses precariously over the scree, high above the river.
From there, the track goes through the beautiful pinewoods of mid Glen Feshie, where, on that day, there were dozens of beautiful blue dragonflies, zooming about where I sat by the rivers edge with, my hot feet dangling in the cool water. It was hot, very hot and I watched a group of horses trying to keep out of the sun under a pine tree.
Much as I wanted to, I couldn’t shelter, but I picked a route among the pine trees that had as much shade as possible, passing close by the Ruigh-aiteachan bothy and the ruin of Landseer fame.
My car was being taken to Glen Feshie for me, but rather than cross the river at Carnachuin, I stayed on the east side of the glen,
crossing the Allt Garbhlach then following the river to the bridge upstream from Achleum, where there’s some fine rapids in the river.
I reached the car at about 2.30pm and the thermometer on the car read 35c. It had been a long, but very satisfying route, perfect for 2 to 3 sunny summer days, one to savour and take in the vast moorland expanses of the Geldie, beautiful Glen Feshie and long Glen Tilt.