A Pair of Corbetts Show Signs of Age: Morrone & Creag nan Ga

[old danensian]

With a promising weather forecast on the horizon this was going to be a quick dash and grab to get some much-needed hill miles into my legs. Eleven years ago, a fortnight after moving house, I’d driven to Glen Shee and knocked off six Munros in the day. With the passage of time, I knew that would be an unreasonably optimistic expectation and a pair of Corbetts would have to suffice.

Despite the forecast, it was drizzling as I drove through Blairgowrie, and the ski centre was merely glimpsed amidst the cloud as I passed through. Yet I remained positive arriving in Braemar. Just maybe …

Morrone’s a well-trodden route, so I’ll simply let some photographs record the memory and main impressions.

Not too promising leaving Braemar

... and what's the collective noun for a serried rank of cairns?

Yet after a few hundred feet it's all worthwhile as the Cairngorms appear in the north across a sea of cloud ...

... and you can forgive the technical gubbins and debris behind you

And on the return those cairns convey a different impressions - are they in fact some mythical legend's Defenders of the Mists?

... and what a difference a couple of hours can make

With the bike already dropped off further up the glen, it was then off to walk up Glen Callater and traverse Creag nan Gabhar.
Again, the route up is clear and only the descent down the southwest rib leads down some pathless ground.

Glen Callater opens up to welcome a stroll ... from Auchallater

It may be a highway - but it's also a long way up the spine of Creag nan Gabhar

Morrone and the edge of the Cairngorm plateau from Creag nan Gabhar

And finally, there's a bike down there somewhere - I hope

It was dispiriting to look back at that report from 2012 – six Munro’s, over 27km and over 1234m ascent – all in just 7h 30m. At least my ageing legs had a bike for the 3 miles back to the car.