Munros Two Hundred and Fifty Two to Fifty Five

[Chris Henshall]

Friday, 2nd. June
I had been blown off Lochnagar in November, 2021 so today was an opportunity to re-visit the hills clustered around the head of Glen Muick in rather better weather. Accordingly, Chalky and I paid our parking dues to Brian and headed out along the south eastern shore of Loch Muick on a track which morphed into an enchanted and idyllic pathway once we got beyond the Black Burn zigzags and drew opposite the fairy tale (if rarely occupied) royal lodge of Glas-alt-Shiel. The loch side path and the subsequent climb to Coire Chash with views into Dubh Loch were, however, truly magical and only compromised to a degree by the rather bland terrain above. Still, if the topography was relatively uninteresting, the views from the slowly ascending staircase of Broad Cairn, Cairn Bannoch, Càrn an t-Sagairt Mòr, Càrn a' Choire Bhòidheach and Lochnagar were worth the ticket.

The route taken

By the time we reached Lochnagar, the verticalities of both the mountain’s north-eastern corrie and the Stuic had added some drama and we were able to spend time on the summit picking out the likes of Ben More and Ben Vorlich over 60 miles away as well as our first hill of the trip, Beinn a’Ghlo, climbed five days previously. Reluctant to leave the tops, we were nevertheless conscious that we had to pick up our other car from where we’d left it in Blair Atholl and then head south… so we headed down.

Chalky and me on top of Lochnagar (02.06.2023.)

Beautiful views aside, though, we had been conscious throughout the last week of the badly degraded hill environment through which we had been travelling as we walked east from Blair Atholl. A few mountain hares aside, the overgrazed, rank moorland grasses, the brittle, burnt heather and the bulldozed tracks of the sheep walks, the shooting estates and the skiing industry have conspired to create a truly impoverished ecosystem in which grazing sheep at low densities, shooting both deer and grouse and skiing have all been prioritised over true diversity; we hadn’t seen a single fox or raptor in six days and 100 miles of wandering on the hill. Where, we wondered, were the eagles of Eagles Rock and Eagle Ridge (on, respectively, Dubh Loch and Lochnagar), where were the eagles suggested by versions of the Gaelic “Iolaire” cropping up in the names of features and places in numerous locations?
In this respect, an even less impressive note is struck by the propaganda directed at a largely uninformed public by key stakeholders in the upland environment through the publicity on displays and noticeboards like those in the Balmoral Estate's Glen Muick Visitor Centre and those scattered through the ski areas. To misquote Calgacus, they make a desert and (with their references to “professionally trained hill keepers” and “wildlife management”) call it a diverse natural habitat. As anyone familiar with the regenerative efforts being made on the Affric, Feshie and Mar estates will be aware, the upland environments between Blair Atholl and Ballater aren’t in the least diverse, they doesn’t capture carbon (or, at least, as much carbon as they should) and they're as much an artificial as they are a natural habitat. There are hardly any trees for a start.

A noticeboard of misinformation sponsored by, among others, the Scottish Countryside Alliance Educational Trust, Scottish Land and Estates, the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust and, perhaps more surprisingly, by the National Park Authority (02.06.2023.)

Misleading information about environmental management at the Glen Muick Visitor Centre triggered some anti-monarchist sentiment from this intolerant passer by (02.06.2023.)

At any rate, all this put Chalky and me in an intolerant mood and we headed out of Glen Muick and roared past the gates of Balmoral playing “Burn the Castle” by New Model Army very loudly on the car’s sound system. Very childish but excellent fun.
Next Report: https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=124599.

[Munro Mary]

Hey Daddy-O,
Why is the intolerant passer by wearing a hat saying "Not My King"?
Munro Mary

[Chris Henshall]

Hiya Mary May!
Hard to say – could be for a range of reasons:
• Perhaps understanding that, like many of those who run other estates, those who run the Balmoral Estate continue to degrade much of the upland environment while pretending to conserve it?
• Perhaps being unhappy that innocent people exercising their right to protest at a recent parade in London got arrested, prompting the intolerant passer by to buy one of their yellow hats?
• Perhaps an awareness of the role played by the estate’s owner – I think that he’s called Charles or possibly Andrew – in perpetuating social inequality and even injustice?
Maybe all of the above… and maybe the intolerant passer by was born outside the UK and the estate owner is genuinely not his king?
How are the smoggy streets and orange skies of New York? Scotland seems to be on fire at the moment too – well, quite a lot of it around Cannich has been – but it isn’t as bad as Canada yet.
Fat Dad
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[Munro Mary]

But Daddy-O,
Maybe they'll come after you now? Can't the rich people put you in the Tower if you don't (pretend to) support them?
The air's ok in NYC now - getting clearer all the time... maybe because they're prosecuting one of the rich people called Donald over here?
Munro Mary

[Chris Henshall]

Don't be silly, Mary, they'll come after the intolerant passer by... nothing, obviously, to do with me.
That said, though, it does seem a bit odd that we have some unelected chap in charge (Charles or is it the pizza-loving Andrew?) who is able to influence the laws which are passed by our parliament, the controlling party of which has been elected by a minority of the population. It's almost as if privilege in society is self-sustaining and poor people get shafted - remarkable!!
All that said, the good thing about climbing hills is that those who do it are pretty blind to this kind of politicking and, rather than worry about either political elites screwing the system or royalty crucifying upland ecosystems, most people quite like arty pictures of temperature inversions.

[Munro Mary]

Well you just take care; those royals have ways of dealing with intolerant passers by!
Munro Mary
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