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Sunny Schiehallion - and my brother's first Munro!

Sunny Schiehallion - and my brother's first Munro!


Postby MusicalHiker » Wed Jun 27, 2012 9:41 pm

Route description: Schiehallion

Munros included on this walk: Schiehallion

Date walked: 29/04/2012

Time taken: 4.5 hours

Distance: 10 km

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Hello walky peeps!
Here's our report from our ascent of Schiehallion, on April 29th on the most perfect sunny day!
I was staying in Braemar for a week with my other half, to do some serious walking, but he has bad knees and usually stays behind doing something sensible and relaxing.
I fancied a walk with my brother PM who lives in Stirling, so I took a map and put my finger halfway between Stirling and Braemar. This was the one I chose! We each drove for over 2 hours to get there. It was a long but spectacular road to Pitlochry then to the Braes of Foss and were very relieved to see "Schiehallion Road" which happily led to the car park!
Now, there is meant to be a toilet here, and there isn't. The building itself has been removed. I knew it was going to be a fairly long walk and was concerned for my other half Graham who had Crohns disease and has an ileostomy bag and needs to be near a loo every now and then. Not good to turn up and find that the promised loo has disappeared. The car park was full and we parked along the verge.
After ten minutes my brother appeared in his Yaris, and bounced out wearing a Mexican poncho.
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"you're not wearing that?" I enquired. "And have you got any proper shoes?"
"I was just going to wear my trainers" he said.
"No you're not" I said. "Put your walking boots on. And have you got a coat?"
"Wasn't going to bother" said he. After all, it was warm and sunny in the shelter of the car park.
"Take a coat" I told him, bossy - sister fashion. "It'll be freezing up there. Look, it's SNOWY!"
He compromised with a hoodie.
So off we went, me over-dressed at the bottom in my North Face jacket, gaiters, gloves, the lot - and him in his T shirt with a hoodie in the bag.
(Graham stayed with the car, with a picnic and a book, and hoped he didn't need the loo.....)
The snowy top from the car park....
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The path is very well made, a bit tame for our liking but the weather was perfect and the snowy peaks around us were stunning.
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We were lucky to see a ptarmigan! What great camouflage.
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PM laughed at me at this point as it got colder and I changed my headband for my hand-knitted-fleece-lined super-luxury-warmest-ears-in-the -world model.
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As we climbed higher, the snow appeared. It made things a lot more exciting and very bright - could have done with sunglasses.
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It didn't feel like very far before we were up into the boulder field and having fun in the knee deep snow. Here, I looked about right with all the gear, and he stopped laughing at my gaiters when he got snow in his boots and I was toasty dry! mwahahahahaha
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At this point I must introduce Spazzy, the tiny dog who comes up most of the hills with us. He generally gets carried everywhere but sometimes likes to indulge in a spot of rock climbing and snowsports....
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At the summit, Spazzy made a snowman!
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We stopped for half an hour and had lunch, marvelling at the incredible views all around.
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The way back down was easy, especially for PM, who bounds up and down all sorts of hills and says his legs never feel tired! I thought I was fine but ended up feeling totally knackered in the evening :?
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We stopped en route for some jumping photos, as is becoming the tradition....
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All in all it was a very enjoyable walk made even more spectacular by the excellent weather and the snow. My brother's first munro as well! :clap:
Last edited by MusicalHiker on Sat Jun 30, 2012 6:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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MusicalHiker
Mountain Walker
 
Posts: 130
Munros:17   Corbetts:21
Fionas:7   
Sub 2000:10   Hewitts:16
Wainwrights:22   Islands:22
Joined: Dec 26, 2011
Location: Beauly

Re: Sunny Schiehallion - and my brother's first Munro!

Postby mrssanta » Wed Jun 27, 2012 10:44 pm

fantastic!
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mrssanta
Mountain Walker
 
Posts: 3132
Munros:281   Corbetts:12
Fionas:3   
Sub 2000:10   Hewitts:43
Wainwrights:41   Islands:13
Joined: Jul 18, 2011
Location: north yorkshire moors

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