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Our friend Richard had been keen on Braeriach and the Wells of Dee for a while and when this weekend was suggested and we had nothing else on, plans were made. A few different routes were considered before settling on a straightforward out and back from the Sugarbowl car park. Not fancying the early morning drive, we decided to use the Cairngorm Mountain motorhome area at the Coire na Ciste car park - not really sure it's worth paying for but it meant a worry free night and relaxed morning in a lovely location.
- Not a bad view to wake up to
We met the rest of the guys at the Sugarbowl and set off under blue skies with great views of the coires ahead.
- Coire-an t-Sneachda and Coire and Lochan
Before too long we reached the Chalamain Gap which had been a source of some discussion in route planning because of worries about clambering over boulders and trying to decide if we should avoid it or not. In the end, we went on through the gap and generally decided it wasn't too bad, especially in the dry.
- Looking back from Chalamain Gap to Ryvoan Pass
- Boulders
From there to the Lairig Ghru we just followed the well maintained path and enjoyed the views of Lurcher's Crag and beyond.
- Lairig Ghru
And then came the big climb, up past the site of the Sinclair Hut and up Sron na Lairige. This felt quite hard going in the heat, but great views made up for it. We were passed by a few runners, and by a very nice chatty young man who was planning a night on Devil's Point.
- Carn a' Mhaim and The Devil's Point looking dwarfed by their neighbours.
- Lunch at the summit was lovely, sitting in the sun with spectacular views in all directions.
- Cairn Toul and Lochan Uaine
The second goal of the day was to locate the Wells of Dee which was simple enough thanks to the great visibility and relatively dry ground - I have a feeling that trudging through bog following a compass on the plateau would be a much less pleasurable experience. We found the white quartzite marker cairn and marvelled at the water coming out of the ground that would tumble down the falls and make its way to the sea at Aberdeen - it was a great place to visit with some interesting flora and we also spotted a small bird we think was a dunlin.
- The source of the River Dee
- Worst photo of a dunlin ever?
We filled up all the water bottles we had with fresh Dee water (it seemed like the right thing to do) and then set off on the return, first trying to get a better view of the falls of Dee, which we couldn't without going further out of our way round the coire towards The Angel's Peak.
- You can just make out the Falls of Dee in bottom let of this photo.
From there, it was more or less just a case of retracing our steps back past the summit cairn, past Sron na Lairige, down across the Lairig Ghru, through Chalamain Gap, back along the path to the Utsi bridge and the car park, all without real incident although I did get my foot briefly stuck between two boulders in the gap.
- On the way home
All in all, it was a great day out with friends in a beautiful place with great weather.
