by JulieRsc » Fri Sep 29, 2023 8:22 pm
Date walked: 09/09/2023
Time taken: 3 hours
Distance: 12.5 km
Ascent: 668m
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After plodding up some local hills and realising I wasn't as horrendously unfit as I thought, I decided it was time to challenge myself to some munros.
I read endless articles about the 'easiest' and most 'beginner friendly' munros, and chose these based on the weather forecast for the day, along with the easy parking situation (something that usually stresses me out!).
Left the house at 645am, had a quick stop at Broxden for fuel and coffee then carried on.
Arrived at the Glenshee Ski centre just before 830am. This was well timed as it opens at 830am and you need to go in to pay for parking (you also have the option to pay online and print out your ticket if you wanted to start earlier).
I set off on the path to the right of the cafe which is quite obvious. Carn Aosda was my first target even though its only a short distance from the car park, it's pretty steep, about half way up I started to consider whether I had fooled myself into thinking I was fit enough to get up a munro!
As it turns out that was the hardest part of the whole walk thankfully!
I was at the summit of Carn Aosda within 25mins of leaving the car, blue skies, the sun was shining and it was a stunning morning ☀️ I didn't hang about for long as there were quite a few people arriving behind me, so set off for Carn a Gheoigh.
It was a fairly easy walk, a few boggy bits and some lovely views but I could see the clouds looming ahead. The path was very easy to follow. By the time I got to the summit of Carn an Gheoigh I couldn't see much at all for the clag. So no stopping here either, just onwards to the Cairnwell.
Everywhere else it seemed was still sunny, but Carn an Gheoigh even from a distance remained gloomy. Again, very straightforward paths to follow. Some nice views from The Cairnwell summit. It was getting busy with people coming up in the chairlift by now. I chose to decend the more direct route rather than go all the way back around and it wasnt too steep at all, looks like it may have been used by mountain bikes. I think from the summit of the Cairnwell back down to the cafe was only about 20mins.
I'm glad I chose these as my first munros, very straightforward, and having some facilities nearby certainly takes a lot of stress out of the whole experience, especially if, like me, you have anxiety about things like parking and toilets!