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25/12/2021 - Dog Falls from Glen Affric: 7km, 190m ascent, 2 hours 30 minutes.Having hit a low point in October, Jackie has gradually been getting out and about again over the last couple of months, mostly restricting herself to shorter, flatter walks. In retrospect it was obvious that a lot of what she did prior to that was not doing her any good, and more rest and relaxation was required. The good news is that she has generally felt pretty good on these shorter days unlike previously when she would drag herself out regardless of how she was feeling. This meant that we would be able to make use of the sunshine and go somewhere nice on Christmas Day, even if it wasn't a romp up a snow-capped peak. Instead, we opted for a stroll from the Dog Falls carpark in Glen Affric. The weather was cold and sunny although in retrospect the choice was perhaps not the best as most of the walk was in the shade on north-facing slopes.
River Affric We had last done this route in June with my parents and Jackie had struggled greatly, with me having to shove her up some of the uphill bits. Happily today was much more enjoyable even if it was a little chilly.
Meall Mor We stopped for lunch at the west-looking viewpoint with a great panorama of Glen Affric summits in front of us. Then we backtracked briefly to reach the track that contours round towards Coire Loch. The smaller path that goes around the lochan from here was in the sun and the lochan was frozen - spectacular!
Beinn a Mheadhoin and Sgurr na Lapaich 
Toll Creagach 
Mullach Fraoch Choire across Loch Beinn a Mheadhoin 
Sgurr na Lapaich to Mam Sodhail 
Coire Loch 
Coire Loch 
Jackie on the Coire Loch path 
Sunshine on Coire Loch 
Gnarly tree 
East to the Balmacaan area Then it was down to the footbridge over the Affric, avoiding the ice slicks, and over the river to try and see the Dog Falls. These are well hidden away in a deep gorge (despite being right next to the road) and without high water levels were impossible to see. I love this area though - it has a really wild feel to it that you only really get where there has been extensive replanting of native trees (Strathspey and Linn of Dee are similar).
Footbridge over the Affric 
Above the Dog Falls Walk enjoyed, we headed home to open more presents.
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26/12/2021 - Findhorn wander from Ruthven: 7km, 100m ascent, 2 hours 30 minutes. The next day I was scratching around for somewhere to go that wasn't too far from home. The weather was greyer and we didn't want to walk too far. Turns out I'm quite bad at finding flatter walks as I keep dismissing places that are nice but seem too short to be worth the drive. I had originally been looking at the little summit of Tom na Slaite, but we opted for a flatter walk starting from the same place. I had done it on the bike before and also as the walk-out from an aborted attempt to get up Carn nan Tri-tighearnan, so although I knew this bit of the Findhorn was nice I hadn't considered that we could fill a decent afternoon here.
We parked in a large open area just short of Ruthven itself (a single house) and wandered down the track. There were large patches of ice to dodge but other than that it was a gentle stroll.
Ruthven 
Start of the track 
Across the river 
Creag a Chrocain There are a couple of ups and downs that I had forgotten about, and after a time we popped out on the floodplain near Shennachie. The river goes through a lovely steep-sided glen here, like a mini-version of Glen Feshie. We stopped for lunch before carrying on down to the far end of the floodplain. At this point, the river cuts into the northern bank and there is no place for the vehicle track that goes this far. The river can be forded to reach the track on the far side, but an easier alternative is to follow a narrow deer track contouring across the hillside for a short distance. This is fairly poor but the steep contouring section is short. We weren't going any further than this today but we climbed up a bit for the view.
Findhorn at Shennachie 
Across the Findhorn 
Creag a Chrocain 
Looking along the steep bit of the Findhorn 
Cnocan MorJackie was tiring a bit so we headed back to the car. Fortunately she was nowhere near as shattered as she used to end up after walks, but she was definitely due a rest day after this.
