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Munros: Creag Leacach, Glas Maol, Cairn of Claise.
Date: 19/08/2021.
Distance: 17.5km.
Ascent: 970m.
Time: 6 hours, 15 minutes.
Weather: Cool and misty. Low winds but no views.
Deciding to meet up with people for a walk a couple of weeks in advance is always a bit risky, but it would probably be the only chance I'd get to catch up with Nick and family this year. They were staying in Bridge of Cally, so somewhere between Glenshee and Ballater was an obvious destination. Given the lack of views on offer I didn't think it would be worth fighting with the rest of the world trying to get into the Spittal of Glenmuick carpark, so I suggested the Creag Leacach/Glas Maol/Cairn of Claise trio (with plenty of add-ons available if required). What we ended up doing was essentially the same as my first walk in Scotland after moving up to Dundee to be a student almost 21 years ago. Having spent my youth going on holiday to the west coast, this first taste of the Grampian hills seemed a bit tame and bland. I've grown to appreciate the area now, but this route was picked more for convenience than its aesthetic qualities.
Leaving Inverness after 7:30am, I made the rollercoaster drive south to the Devil's Elbow carpark, arriving at about 9:30am. Nick, Pat and Thomas had arrived a few minutes earlier, and we got going fairly promptly. Pat was off back to their caravan as she didn't fancy a day of murky hills. We crossed the Allt a' Choire Sheiridh and soon I was leading us through heather along the south side of the Allt a' Bhathaich. Oops - should have stayed on the other side where the path was!
Devil’s Elbow 
Allt Choire a’ Bhathaich We cut diagonally up the north flank of Meall Gorm, eventually meeting the path we should have been on. It didn't really matter as the ground was quite easy. Above the col, we were into the clag where we would remain for most of the day. It wasn't quite raining but the air was distinctly wet
. Still, the conditions were pretty benign for walking with low winds and reasonable temperatures.
Approaching the summit of Creag Leacach The downside of the dampness was the slithery limestone scree and rocks on Creag Leacach. I'm sure this is one of the best summits in this range, but we couldn't see far. The slithery rocks continued for another km or so after which the walking became really easy. Nothing exciting up here other than the occasional large hare, but it was nice easy ground for chatting and catching up. Tom had been to some university open days in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen in the last few days so it was interesting to hear what he thought of them.
We stopped on Glas Maol which confused things briefly as the path is not obvious right at the cairn. Which direction had we come from? My guess was completely wrong but a quick check of the compass put us right. We actually missed the path towards the Cairn of Claise initially and ended up taking a parallel route a little to the east, but it didn't matter - the ground was easy.
Tom and Nick on the way to Cairn of Claise 
Useful gate above Glas Choire Once on the path it was another easy stroll to Cairn of Claise. I would often prefer to follow the ridgeline (and fence/wall) in good conditions but there was nothing to see today so sticking to the vehicle track was easiest. We had to make a short diversion over more slippery rubble to the summit but Nick and Tom both agreed that this was the easiest Munro bagging ever
.
Tom and Nick on Cairn of Claise 
Descending from Cairn of Claise Perhaps if we had been more organised we could have persuaded Pat to pick us up on the north side of the Cairnwell and continued over Carn an Tuirc, but instead we retraced our steps before contouring around the top of the Glas Maol ski tows and dropping onto Meall Odhar.
Ski tows 
Meall Gorm from Leacann Dubh Good paths led us back to our starting point where Pat was waiting. We had soup and rolls here and a beer before saying goodbye. It had been nice to catch up even if just for a day. Next time I go up these hills, I will hopefully go via Glen Isla and Caenlochan Glen which looks more interesting (although this approach would have been wasted on today's weather).
South down Glen Shee