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Braeriach Traverse - a greatest hits compilation

Braeriach Traverse - a greatest hits compilation


Postby JWCW2014 » Tue Jan 31, 2023 11:19 pm

Route description: Cairn Toul - Braeriach traverse

Munros included on this walk: Braeriach, Cairn Toul, Sgòr an Lochain Uaine, The Devil's Point

Date walked: 13/08/2022

Time taken: 16 hours

Distance: 36.2 km

Ascent: 1859m

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I’m usually someone that tends towards the obscure and lesser known rather than the popular or well-liked. I like modal jazz and Mahler but don’t get along with Ed Sheeran or Beyoncé. I prefer Infinite Jest to Harry Potter. Sometimes, however, it’s the right time to concede to something easier to love. On a very hot and clear day in August I opted for this route on that basis, which is probably something of the 3 minute pop single of longer standard multi munro walking routes.

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Starting at the sugar bowl car park at around 8am there were already 5 or 6 cars parked. My car thermometer read 20c and it was forecast to rise much higher. My plan was to complete half the route, camp at the bealach by the Devil’s Point and then head up to Ben Macdui or time allowing include Carn a Mhaim though the forecast was for potential thunderstorms around midday and I didn’t fancy being up on the plateau to find out the accuracy of that prediction…

My pack was far heavier than it needed to be but I’d opted for significant extra water given how dry it’d been and being unsure on how much access to water there’d be on the route.

Leaving the car park the and across the road a made path winds down towards the Allt Mor through the trees. The heat and sunlight came through the barer patches between the trees and that lovely smell of vegetation you get in the warmth followed me down the path.

Reaching the footbridge to cross the river I was already sweating and had made little distance.

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Bridge over the Allt Mor


I followed the path up the short slope and along towards the Chalamain Gap. The infamous gap is possibly slightly terrifying (with good, and sometimes tragic reason) under snow but in the dry and heat posed no difficulties. The worst of it for this arachnophobe was concern over some large webs that filled many of the holes between the boulders.

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Chalamain Gap


The gap from this direction acts as a sort of secret entrance to the main attractions of the Lhairig Ghru and surrounding mountains, not visible from the road. Even from the relatively lowly corbett Mheall a’Bhuachaille by Glenmore Lodge it is seen as a gap in the armour of topography that blocks any views of what feels like a hidden space.

As you exit the gap, the real views of this hidden inner space open up:

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I’d ascended very little as I reached the river crossing st 650m and noted I’d already taken on over a litre or water. There was no breeze and it felt like the heat was reflected from below and from all directions.

I began the pull up the path that rises above the Lhairig Ghru towards Sron na Lairig. With a heavy pack and in the heat I made hard work of the ascent. I passed two people who advised that there wasn’t a lick of breeze all the way from Cairn Toul back here.

Moving at something of a shuffle now I reached the 1296m marker just passed Coire Bhrochain. Photos can never do it justice, particularly given the vast scale of the scenery, but the view across to Lochain Uaine through the haze and heat was other worldly.

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I reached the summit of Braeriach shortly after. I sat down and took on more water though was starting to run out and I was conscious that the heat was affecting me a lot. I tried to find a bit of shade the opposite side to the sun by the cairn and got chatting to a guy (‘D’)who was also taking a breather. As I often do on sunny days, I dozed off for 20 minutes or so.

On waking and being slightly perturbed at being on top of a mountain rather than in my bed I pressed on. I walked with D towards the wells of dee and then up the shoulder of Sgor an Lochain Uaine.

It’s a relatively easy walk down and then ascending to Cairn Toul though at this point of the day in the heat, despite having consumed a large amount of water, I was moving at a really slow pace. The lack of vegetation and heat haze made it feel saharan rather than Scottish (notwithstanding the presence of reindeers).

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The route takes you over boulder fields and down a good track towards the bealach by the Devil’s point which from this direction is a bit of an anti-climax appearing tiny after a high level route over the earlier taller giants.

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View from the Devil’s point


I said goodbye to D at the summit who was hoping there was room at corrour bothy. Back down to the bealach there were a few tents already pitched so I found a relatively flat and grassy spot as far from others as possible. I’d barely finished my (admittedly flavourless) rehydrated dinner with saucisson and I was asleep.

I woke just after 5.30am (having young children it was about the longest uninterrupted sleep I managed in 2022). The sun was just coming up above the other side of the Lhairig Ghru and it looked to be another clear day. I opted for cereal bars for breakfast rather than porridge to make the most of the coolness of the early morning.

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I don’t use social media, but this is fairly Instagram ready


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Feeling refreshed and needing an extra layer in the morning coolness I made quick work of the descent down to corrour bothy. The route back up the Lhairig Ghru looks shortish with the eyes but after a fair interval you realise the scale of the landscape is tricking you. The sun was just coming up and falling across the hills and the temperature rising.

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I met a man by the Pools of Dee who was considering whether to press on to linn of Dee where his lift would await or to turn back, given the forecast. He opted to turn back and walked along with me for a period, through the Chalamain Gap and he stopped by the river to take lunch and kill time before being collected later back at sugar bowl car park.

The temperature was up again and as I edged closer to my car there were tourists and visitors walking along the path. I was conscious that my shirt was soaked through and I probably looked a bit of a state at this point.

I reached the car late morning and headed back down the A9. The thermometer in the car reached 29c and I was glad to have the air conditioning on at its most arctic setting.

It might be a bit of a honeypot route and it’s fairly manicured with good paths and trails for the most part but on a clear, hot day I’m not sure there’s many places in Scotland I would prefer to be.

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User avatar
JWCW2014
Walker
 
Posts: 451
Munros:112   Corbetts:5
Fionas:1   Donalds:1+0
Sub 2000:12   
Islands:11
Joined: May 31, 2022

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