Stretching my legs on the Monadhliath Trio..

[Coutts94]

Today was going to be a "little" leg stretcher, the Monadhliath three munros.. A'Chailleach, Carn Sgulain and Carn Dearg.

The forecast was stunning for the early morning, so i made my way there nice and early. These are in my local tier area so not too far away either.

Early morning

It was a nice easy walk in, through a couple of farmers fields then up the well built track, the opening to the monadhliath looked pretty majestic from my drone

Drone

About a mile up the track it got pretty boggy, the track turns into an ATV track and then swings left over a small bridge.

The Bridge

The bridge looks as if its buckling under my weight here (Lockdown has been tough )

From here it was basically pathless until I was at the bottom of Carn Dearg. Unfortunately the mist and cloud had came in a bit on the ascent up the "ramp" towards the summit.

Carn Dearg

The "Ramp"

I was pretty surprised how unfit I had become, struggling up the face towards Carn Dearg, having to stop every 5 minutes for a break.. definitely did not do enough exercise during lockdown!!

But eventually made it to the top of Carn Dearg.. Munro #42

Summit

Still some cornices left

Summit Cairn

Sadly the views were not the greatest as the cloud came in, I didn't hang around long as the wind was picking up and there wasn't alot of shelter up there.

I then made my way across to Carn Sgulain, I have to say this is a bit of a slog.. the ground is boggy, rocky and pretty much looks all the same.. I was expecting this (by reading Walkhighland reports ) But eventually made it across to the 2nd Munro of the day.

Carn Sgulain

Munro #43 - The views of the Cairngorms were actually pretty good from here. The Munro itself is featureless and undistinguished as Walkhighland describes, but a nice easy one to tick off the list!

Finally made my way across to A'Chailleach, it looked pretty close from Carn Sgulain, but the route takes you down a gully (unavoidable), this added a little time to the walk as it was full of snow. By this point my legs were starting to ache a little, but I got a nice sheltered rest at the top of Munro #3.

Summit of A'Chailleach

I quickly made my way down from here, where the ground got pretty boggy again, by this point I didn't really care as I knew all the ascent was done for the day! I explored a little metal shelter that was on the path on the way down:

The Shelter

It looked pretty run down but interesting none the less. It was then a case of following the river back to the land rover track..

The river Allt a'Chaorainn

I had attempted to cross the Allt a'Chaorainn river, with no success I checked my map and it said there was a bridge further down, so I made my way down a bit further and lone behold a nearly brand new bridge boy was I glad to see it..

The Bridge

Allt a'Chaorainn

This was a fantastic circuit, really enjoyed it. Even though the bit from Carn Dearg to Carn Sgulain is a bit of a slog, it was still just amazing to be on the Munros again. Will never take a day out for granted again!

Here is a video of the day out if you want to see it in full:

For anyone following my channel, Yes it is turning more and more into the Munro show But I hope you enjoy watching as much as I enjoy doing them!

Cheers, James

[gaffr]

Hello... Good to hear that are enjoying getting onto the hills again...and also to see that the old Bridge has been replaced. same map location for the bridge?

[Coutts94]

Hello... Good to hear that are enjoying getting onto the hills again...and also to see that the old Bridge has been replaced. same map location for the bridge?

Not long now until everyone will be back on them Yes same location, was very surprised to see it.