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a battle of Glenshee

a battle of Glenshee


Postby litljortindan » Tue Jun 15, 2021 6:44 pm

Munros included on this walk: Glas Tulaichean

Date walked: 07/06/2021

Time taken: 7 hours

Distance: 20 km

Ascent: 800m

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Clearly a sheep and not a railway track.

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Easy going to start with but a bit boggy later.

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The alternative to following the railway track.

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Sleepers.

I made the mistake of cutting off from the railway track before the bridge that I now realise is there. That meant a nervous and unnecessary burn crossing. Still, that served to wake me up a bit.

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Glenlochsie Lodge ruin. I note from other reports that the roof collapse (I assume its roof collapsed) was relatively recent.

The morning brightened, as forecast. However, the mainly dull first half of the final ascent via the landrover track did not really inspire. A bit higher up though some views of distant neighbours did enliven the walk.

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The last little steepening before the summit, after cutting off from the main track at a cairn, initially left me struggling to get going after such an easy ascent up to that point. However, once I'd stopped and started a couple of times I seemed to get a spring back in my step.

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It was good to see the summit cairn. It meant that I could still climb a Munro. However, since climbing Munros isn't something I'm intrinsically interested in, I was actually more satisfied with the ascent climbed and distance covered meaning that I was still fit enough to go hillwalking in a general sense. No particular reason why I shouldn't be but sometimes I worry that I don't do enough exercise to maintain that elusive hill fitness.

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Ben Vrackie.

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Possibly Ben Lawers on the hazy horizon.

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Loch nan Eun.

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Morven.

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I debated about whether to retrace my fairly dull steps or to make a loop walk. Retracing my steps would have been easiest as I had to get back to the car for about 5pm. However, the ridge ahead looked a far more interesting option. So I opted for the latter, knowing I would have to push myself a little bit to cover the extra distance.
That started off very optimistically with a jog along the summit grass/moss. That lasted about thirty seconds though as my three season boots brought me back to earth.

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Carn Bhinnein.

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Looking back up the north ridge.

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I made a mistake in cutting east before the 858m bump. There was initially a narrow path to follow but that seemed to disappear or else I lost it. That said, the terrain between there and the path I was aiming for was easy.

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Summit and small waterfall from descent oath.

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The descent path was surprisingly steep and rocky in places but eventually I reached a landrover track though that still left a couple of easy water crossings to negotiate.
During the descent the cloud had started to break up.

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With about 5km to go I was struggling to keep up the "pace" but I made up a 5km song to lift my spirits and mixed that in with my own Shooby Taylor tribute.


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litljortindan
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Re: a battle of Glenshee

Postby Gordie12 » Tue Jun 15, 2021 7:21 pm

I'm surprised your worried about your hill fitness - you do a fair amount of walking!

Assume from your map you chose to start in the village and walk up the road to the hotel rather than using their car park?

It's a shame to see that the roof of the ruin has caved in - didn't realise it was a gonner.
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Re: a battle of Glenshee

Postby BlackPanther » Wed Jun 16, 2021 9:26 am

Shame about Glenlochsie :( I found a picture of the building in my library:
glas tulaichean 009.JPG
Glenlochsie Lodge when it was still roofed (2014)


Good vistas from the top, we did Tulaichean in pouring rain... Somehow Kevin talked me into adding Carn an Righ, climbing the second Munro was easy enough, but the return route was hell: bog, peat hags, rivers in spate :roll:
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Re: a battle of Glenshee

Postby litljortindan » Thu Jul 01, 2021 6:43 pm

Gordie12 wrote:I'm surprised your worried about your hill fitness - you do a fair amount of walking!

Assume from your map you chose to start in the village and walk up the road to the hotel rather than using their car park?

It's a shame to see that the roof of the ruin has caved in - didn't realise it was a gonner.



I don't think I do enough exercise outside of hillwalking but I do feel limited by various niggles (hamstring, knee, ankle...) so I tend to gravitate towards doing just enough rather than any sort of optimum.

For some reason I didn't register that there is a walkers' carpark. I did recall that you can pay to park at the hotel but it was late at night when I decided on my route and I didn't think to ask. Probably needed the extra walking anyway.
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litljortindan
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Re: a battle of Glenshee

Postby litljortindan » Thu Jul 01, 2021 6:59 pm

BlackPanther wrote:Shame about Glenlochsie :( I found a picture of the building in my library:
glas tulaichean 009.JPG


Good vistas from the top, we did Tulaichean in pouring rain... Somehow Kevin talked me into adding Carn an Righ, climbing the second Munro was easy enough, but the return route was hell: bog, peat hags, rivers in spate :roll:



Glenlochsie looks formerly quite substantial in your photo. It is sad to indeed to see its demise but it also makes me feel glad that we got our roof fixed this summer!

I would have liked to extend my walk but was on a schedule and actually a bit fatigued on the walk out so probably for the best. I may well wander back up Gleann Taitneach though as it is a pleasant walk -more enjoyable, I found, than the track up Glas Tulaichean.
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litljortindan
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Munros:153   Corbetts:67
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Sub 2000:47   Hewitts:12
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Joined: Dec 11, 2011

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