Carn Ealasaid - a nice leg warmer

[BlackPanther]

Carn Ealasaid is an easy, flat-topped hill and can be climbed from two opposite directions. For advanced climbers it's a leg warmer rather then a proper climb. The route we took follows a good track from the start point to the very top of the hill.

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Weather looked good when we arrived at Corgarff Castle parking, but when I tried to open the car door... Forecast predicted gusts to 50 mph but I think it was even more than that. Fortunately, the wind didn't have the cold wintry edge any more, so we decided to give it a try.

Carn Ealasaid from Corgarff Castle car park

From the car park we walked a short distance along the road then turned to a track past Allargue Hotel. The track goes up to an uninhabited farm of Loinherry. From there, it branches uphill and becomes a bit steeper and the walk offers good views to the south:

Views south from the slopes of Carn Ealasaid

After about 1km of meandering up the hill we came across a line of grouse butts:

Grouse butts

Close-up to one of the butts

As long as we were sheltered by the hillside, the wind wasn't that bad. As soon as we reached Cairn Vaich and the more level ground, we were hit by the western gusts again. Well, at least we had some adventures during our little trip Walking against strong wind felt a bit like swimming in the sea Eventually we climbed up to the tiny cairn. Views were really nice, especially towards the Cairngorms. We wanted to spend some time on the summit but windy conditions persuaded us to quickly turn and walk back down the track

Blue sky, white Cairngorms

The track on the top of Carn Ealasaid

Clouds are coming!

The summit cairn

The return was easier as we walked with the wind, facing the best views:

The whole jaunt up Carn Ealasaid, even with the wind slowing us down, took only about 3 hours. We still had some time to spend, so we drove 15 miles east to visit Glenbuchat Castle. It's an interesting, free-of-charge ruined Z-plan tower house, dating back from the 16th century:

Again, we encountered a local family

baaa-baaa black sheep :)

A good exercise, but I hope to do longer walks soon - if I don't get around to climb a few higher hills, I'll have more Corbetts ticked off than Munros

[ChrisW]

That looks a nice little walk BP, great pics too. The way I see it any hill is a good hill, I don't care what they call 'em or how high they are as long as it's a nice walk with some good views to be had it will do for me

[Jockstar]

Good views on this wee walk and an interesting castle at the end. It looked a fine walk and with the wind clearing away the clouds gave you some great piccies.