Half a winter walk

[PeteR]

Catching up on walk reports again

Well, not quite half a winter walk this one, but certainly half the Munro account I had originally hoped for. In the end I had modified my plans on route and despite the disappointment of only bagging one of the two hills planned this was still an enjoyable day out in the hills

Dropping MrsR off at work I headed straight for Braemar and the Linn of Dee car park, rather than head home for a kip first. I think I’ll be taking this approach more often in the future. It must be psychological, but four hours sleep and waking up at 6.30 was much better than 4 hours sleep and waking up at 3.30

On the road up I did have to stop for a while............ just to stand there and admire the spectacular night sky! The lack of light pollution resulted in an amazing display of stars and constellations One day I’ll give myself the whole night on a wild camp to enjoy the spectacle some more Any passing motorists this time round must have wondered what this nutter was doing standing by the side of the road staring up to the heavens

Arrived at Linn of Dee a little before 2 a.m. and was surprised at just how many cars were there already. I imagine most, if not all, were away bothying, but not wanting to wake anyone who might be kipping in their car I attempted to be as quite as I could getting my sleeping bag out of the boot and settling down for a few hours kip. In the end my efforts failed, as I initially managed to get into it back to front and probably made more noise trying to sort myself out than if I had simply banged and crashed about in the first place

Waking up just after 6 a.m. and things did not look promising. Those wonderful clear skies of a few hours before had been replaced by clouds. Not only that, these clouds had rain in them and it was being deposited on my car

Eventually (thankfully) it stopped as I was getting some breakfast together and readying myself for what would be a long winter walk. Slightly later heading off than I had planned at 7.30 a.m but I was pretty sure I’d be well on my way back to the car before daylight was lost.

Heading off from the car park to White Bridge and beyond

It’s a long walk in which means, given where I’d be descending off the hills it would be an even longer walk back I quite like these long approaches though, so it was a good steady pace to White Bridge and then on my path toward Glen Geusachan. Up to White Bridge the views ahead weren’t perhaps the most exciting I had ever seen, but there were still some reasonable views behind me.

View en route to White Bridge

Things improved as I turned toward Glen Dee, as views toward my first (and ultimately my only) destination opened up.

Early view of Bhrotain as the path moves into Glen Dee

The Devil’s thing-a-me-boaby was also peaking through, but views of it would improve significantly later in the day

Reached the small cairn marking where I was to leave the Glen Dee path and head over (boggy) heather toward Carn Cloich-mhuillinn. I can’t say, looking at this section of the route, that it had me “jumping” particularly, but the reality was that I was over the worst of it fairly quickly and easily. Although there is a path to follow it is pretty boggy in places. Well, this is Scotland and boggy is pretty much par-for-the-course on most hill walks Nice views at this stage to the south? and west? toward An Scargosh and its pal as well as Beinn a Ghlo and the hills further south, etc.

View back as I start to gain height on the boggy path

An Scargosh and its pal

Beinn a Ghlo I think

Hill view

Carn Cloich-mhuillinn #1

Carn a Mhaim and Macdui - nearly missed this view as I had my head down plodding up the hill

Carn Cloich-mhuillinn #2

Another view back from where I had come

I was noticing by now that the wind was steadily picking up strength. Once up to the snow line walking became a bit tougher too. I’m sure there was a path, but this was increasingly lost under the white stuff. What snow there was was also soft (as was the ground underneath it) and slippery, which made progress over rocks somewhat “interesting” at times as I did my best not to break an ankle or have a fall Even so I was soon standing (just) on the top of Carn Cloich-mhuillinn looking toward Beinn Bhrotain I say “just” because by now the wind was giving me a right “doing”, blowing straight into my face to the extent that it was hard to breathe standing next to the cairn at this minor summit The good news I was able to benefit from the exfoliating benefits of spindrift being hammered into my face

View to Bhrotain from Carn Cloich-mhuillinn

View back to Carn Cloich-mhuillinn from the bealach with Bhrotain

The descent off Carn Cloich-mhuillinn is I imagine fairly straightforward in normal circumstances. With the slippy covering of soft snow , the wet slippery rocks underneath and the gusty wind due care and attention was needed as I picked my way down to the bealach and the short trip across to the final climb to the summit.

While there was a goodly amount of blue sky and the broken cloud was generally all above the summits this section of the walk saw an increase in banks of lower cloud and clag rolling in. Never anything too bad and frankly the wind was that strong that any low cloud that did come along didn’t hang around for long. Toward the BB side of the bealach the going got a bit boggy and I was having to pick my way through. Then it was the final, short climb. Given the softness of the snow and the slippery rocks I plotted a route, as best I could, up a grassy bank avoiding the rocks as much as possible. By the time I was at the summit, with the wind still giving me a doing and spin drift being blown in my face, the extent of the wind chill was very apparent. Even with gloves and glove liners on (albeit not my winter gloves I’ll admit) my fingers were freezing

Bhrotain summit trig

Monadh Mor from Bhrotain descent

I wasn’t for hanging around at the summit. So, after a few summit pictures I was off, picking my way down the rocks to the saddle with Monadh Mor. By now I had shelved plans for this hill (I may try from Glen Feshie side another time). I was surprised how much I was feeling the wind chill, and although it was possibly only another hour tops to go up and down the hill I was decided to head back instead. Nice views toward the Devil, Carn Toul and the other Cairngorm hills as I stood on the saddle and also as I made my way down Coire Cath nam Fionn and then into Glen Geusachan.

Devil's Point

Carn Toul and the Devil

That old Devil again

The descent from the bealach into Glen Geusachan was interesting at first. A bit of a steep drop initially, with the wet snow adding to the experience. The steep was over very quickly and then it was a reasonably gradual drop down into the Glen and the trek back to the main path and the route out.

The route of descent

The Devil from Glen Geusachan

Ben Macdui

Cue bog trot. Actually, cue rotten, horrible bog trot At this stage I was happy with my earlier decision to shelve plans of tackling Monadh Mor. I would not have wanted to be walking through this muck in failing light or worse still darkness. As it was I got filthy enough with a couple of slips in the bog (took two washing cycles to eventually remove the c**p out of my troosers ). Nah, not a place to be in the dark. There was a path of sorts in the early stages, but as well as being boggy it struck me at times that it was a little “occasional” too.

Devil's Point again

Experienced a bit of mild panic at one point, when I managed to convince myself I’d taken way too long to get off the hill and onto the (boggy) path home My error. Part way through the walk basing my time on the camera clock and not my wrist watch......as I had been doing up to that point. The reason? I haven’t adjusted the clock on the camera for the end of BST P****ck* Had me picking up my pace for a short while

View back down Glen Dee into the Lairig Ghru

With my time keeping back on track the bogfest is eventually replaced by a noticeable improvement in the path condition. This certainly helped increase my speed and it wasn’t long before I was passing the marker cairn indicating where I had left the main path earlier in the day.

Bhrotain again, on the way out

The “home straight” so to speak (quite a long home straight it has to be said ). I was feeling it a bit by the end as I marched myself home.

Fading light

Although I eventually lost the light as I headed into the forestry just before arriving back at the car park I didn’t need to resort to the head torch at any point.

Another good day on the hills

[Alan S]

Nice one PeteR some crackin pics especially of the devils point

[JB likes a beer]

Great trig point photo ,well done good report

[rockhopper]

That's a long walk in wintery conditions for one hill pete - well done ! Like you I also dropped down into Glen Geusachan and followed the burn to the Lairig Ghru round by the bothy - it certainly seemed to take a very long time, full of boggy "ups and downs". Hope you get better conditions when you go back via Glen Feshie as it's a lovely area - cheers

[wilkiemurray]

nice report - I can also relate to trying to get into a sleeping bag quietly and making more noise than you want to

enjoyed the video montage

[pigeon]

Done this walk recently pete so know what you mean about the bog trot on the way back,although sounds like you had a much tougher time than us.Was up Glen Feshie at the weekend and Monadh Mor could be done from Mullach Clach a Bhlair,bit of a detour but on a longer spring or summer day perfectly do-able for a man of your calibre Good report and clip as always,well done

[gammy leg walker]

Long walk at this time of year Peter,as rockhopper says do Monadh Mor from Glen Feshie its a braw glen thats how I did these two.

[PeteR]

Nice one PeteR some crackin pics especially of the devils point

Cheers Alan. It may be a small little hill compared to so many others, but the Devil certainly dominates the view

[PeteR]

Great trig point photo ,well done good report

Cheers JB

[PeteR]

That's a long walk in wintery conditions for one hill pete - well done ! Like you I also dropped down into Glen Geusachan and followed the burn to the Lairig Ghru round by the bothy - it certainly seemed to take a very long time, full of boggy "ups and downs". Hope you get better conditions when you go back via Glen Feshie as it's a lovely area - cheers

Cheers rockhopper. Just about recovered from the bog now Glen Feshie is a great glen, so think this will be a good alternative to Monadh Mor when I eventually get to do it.

[PeteR]

nice report - I can also relate to trying to get into a sleeping bag quietly and making more noise than you want to

enjoyed the video montage

Cheers wiliemurray. I think if I do this again I may need to colapse the back seets and set up my inflatable matress in advance next time in order to make a bit less noise

[PeteR]

Done this walk recently pete so know what you mean about the bog trot on the way back,although sounds like you had a much tougher time than us.Was up Glen Feshie at the weekend and Monadh Mor could be done from Mullach Clach a Bhlair,bit of a detour but on a longer spring or summer day perfectly do-able for a man of your calibre Good report and clip as always,well done

Cheers pigeon. Glen Feshie's a nice area to walk. Having done MCa'B recently I think I shall definitely give that particular hill a detour Can't say it was the most exciting hill I've ever been on

[PeteR]

Long walk at this time of year Peter,as rockhopper says do Monadh Mor from Glen Feshie its a braw glen thats how I did these two.

Cheers GLW.