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It was a cold spell in the Cairngorms.
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
I was reminded of these walks that we did by a comment on my recent Beinn Bhuidhe TR (
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=109202) and an unusual thing that we saw, hidden from sight for perhaps nearly 60 years.
The car thermometer was averaging around -15 each morning, for our stay at Carrbridge. So when we visited Loch an Eilean, we were treated to the sight of people walking out on the ice. After some initial careful testing, we decided to try it too.
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
The WH website advice "Summer routes may not be viable or appropriate in winter" can occasionally be reversed.
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
The walk along the lakeshore, and the views of the castle and the Cairngorms, were magical.
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
I got the location wrong (it's Ruthven, apparently), but the children loved the story of being able to see across to the castle at night and glimpse the Wolf of Badenoch playing chess with the devil for his soul (
https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/otd-1394-wolf-badenoch-dies-after-chess-game-devil-583594. I had to tell then in the strongest terms that we were NOT going to try to walk across the ice to the castle.
There was no need for black magic. There was plenty of white magic to see from the shore.
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
Late afternoon sun on the castle.
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
The next day was just as cold, and after a morning at the excellent Landmark, we explored Loch Garten in the afternoon - these are the woods approaching the loch.
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
Wonderful scenes at the loch.
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
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Half Man Half
Titanium, on Flickr
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
A spot of sledging to round off the day
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
The next day we visited Loch Morlich before the long drive south.
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
The northern corries in the distance
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
My daughter called us over to look at something she had spotted under the ice
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
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Half Man Half Titanium, on Flickr
In the war, Loch Morlich was an SOE training area for Norwegian operations, including the amazing Telemark sabotage. I had read stories of military debris being found on the shore (see e,g,
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170111-the-surprising-place-where-wwii-agents-learnt-to-fight-nazis) but it was remarkable to see this shell casing lying on the floor of the loch, perhaps unseen since it dropped into the water all those years ago.