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During Lockdown, other than being horribly ill, I decided that I would like to understand my camera better, partly so I could take better photos at night, and also because I wanted to take those long exposure photos of waterfalls that everyone else can do
So far I felt like I understood what to do, but hadn’t had a chance to try it out, as I’d barely left the couch. It was a nice day and Malky wanted to climb a heathery lump (Carn Eilrig). I didn’t – well, there was no way I’d manage it, so we started off together and then he would leave me and my camera to our own devices…
We set off from the parking area at Whitewell, down the track and dropped height past the house (depressingly, as it meant we had to come back up again!) It looked a bit cloudy towards Braeriach…
This is the very end of the Sgor Gaoith ridge (so plans of walking the whole ridge now scrapped due to intense heather
)
A quick pause at Lochan Deo
Despite being a bit overcast the views were pretty nice, and there was plenty of bog cotton around to encourage me to stay on the path
Nice easy path
Oooh the sun came out
We reached the Cairngorm club footbridge which had some sort of waterfalls!
Malky abandoned me here and left me to potter, while he went in search of heather to fill his boots
I played around for a while, passed by plenty of walkers and mountain bikers
Eventually I got bored and decided to walk around Loch an Eilein – a relatively straightforward walk that could fill some of the time until Malky was back. I passed this sign and it took me a long time to work out that they were talking about pine cones, not traffic cones
Although it was beautiful here, it didn’t look so pleasant higher up!
Any excuse
Despite being broad paths at a low level, it felt really good to be outdoors enjoying the good weather, after so long of being cooped up!
The path dropped down towards Loch an Eilein – great, another bit of ascent on the way back
I decided to go anti-clockwise, just because, which meant the path climbed for a short distance
Despite being windy higher up, it was fairly sheltered here
Approaching the car park and toilets end of the loch it got a lot busier. I avoided people by following little paths which dropped me down closer to the loch
Time for a rest
The purple flowers on the heather were lovely, I was just glad that I was only looking at it, not walking through it!
At last I reached the beach – there were people going in for a dip, but not as many as I’d expected!
At this point I realised I was going to have a lot of hanging around if I went straight back, so thought I’d see how I managed Ord Ban – it was only a couple hundred metres ascent so ought be doable, with care, I hoped… I got over the stile and discovered that it was a lot more overgrown than when I’d been up in February last year
But once the climb started the path was much clearer!
Climbing out of the trees
High above Loch an Eilein
Out of the trees, the terrain became more rocky
But the path was clear the whole way
Smashing views towards the Cairngorms
Nearing the summit – breeze was definitely picking up!
South to Loch Inch and Creag Dubh
Finally making it to the summit, the views opened out in all directions
Looking North
Meall a’ Buachaille
Cairn Gorm and the Northern Corries
Summit of Ord Ban!
I hid behind the trig point and had a breather – Malky had sent me some pictures from his heathery lump so I was able to send some back
Sun hitting the Northern Corries
I got going again, heading back down the same way and spent a while trying to take pictures of bees on the flowers. I gave up after I started scaring them away!
Back down into the jungle
Back at the loch I continued on my circuit, sticking to the shores of the loch initially
Wee duck
Carn Eilrig just poking out
The wee crannog on an island
At this point the shores of the loch became a bit overgrown so I headed back to the track to make a bit more progress…
Heading around the tip of the loch
Loch Gamhna
Ord Ban across the loch
Looking back along the shoreline
Sun peeking through the trees
Starting to climb away from the loch again
Eventually I was all the way around and had to climb back up to the main track….
I was tired…it took a while!
Braeriach had cleared again – in fact it had turned into a beautiful afternoon
The tree has taken over
Back on the main track, I now had to climb up past the house….ughh….the views of the Lurcher’s Crag were good though!
And looking back (any excuse to stop…
)
No idea what sort of flower this is, but I liked the colour
A last glance down the Lairig Ghru as I stumbled the last few metres to the car, where Malky had got back only about 10 minutes before me.
It was time to head for home, with a sneaky wee stop at Miele’s on the way, because…reasons