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Another weekend of 'iffy' weather, where could we head that would hopefully keep us dry, the south, SW and the central belt were scheduled for the usual damp stuff. So I suggested to Parminder we head a bit further afield than our recent trips, sorted. We would head up past Dalwhinnie and tackle Cruban Beag first, then into Ralia Cafe for a for a coffee & bacon sarnie & then up to Kingussie to finish off with a stroll up Creag Bheag.
Parminder's turn to drive but that plan was soon abandoned as the engine cover underneath hadn't been replaced correctly after his last visit to a garage. So a quick 180 and we jumped into my car and headed up the A9, first time for a few months.
Cruban Beag, 1hr 55mins, 421m, 5.47km
The River Truim taken from the bridge
Truim again the other way
We picked up the track - right of way to Laggan
Nice house, the building on the right contains 3 garages
The way ahead
We would soon be swinging right
We didn't follow this track for long as it was going in the wrong direction, we opted for the direct & more challenging ascent
Looking back, the tracks can be seen further down - Parminder head down & loving it
Plenty of dead bracken we would be heading up to the left above the scree line
Looking NE
Southish
Making progress, heading up to the left
Heading up there staying on the high side of the scree
The way ahead
Parminder skirting round the scree
Looking south, also shows how steep the gradient was
Heading up there
Looking back
Parminder loving it
NE from on high
Looking down on Parminder
Heading for the gate
Following the fence for a while now
Looking east, the fence is protecting the trees below
We had a choice follow the fence & then turn right, I opted to turn right before that & head north
The way ahead, before turning left
Looking down on the A9
Trig now visible
South towards Drumochter
To avoid the very steep descent we opted for a different route headed south initially
Heading down to follow the fence
A path
The fence has obviously been in situ for a while, quite a few places where the fence was down
Following the fence, steep but much easier than our route up
Looking back up
The track now in view
A few photo's from below the bridge over the river Truim
Creag Bheag, 1hr 20mins, 244m, 4.52km
After our coffee stop we were raring to go and we parked in the large car park by the Medical Centre. Won't do a route as there is already one on WH.
Handy map in the car park
Nice new Health Centre
Plenty of rather large houses in Kingussie
Walk through the western edge of Kingussie takes us past a few large pads
One mile, should be able to manage that
A nice new house, walkers are being diverted
Explains it all
Well trodden path
Not sure that classes as a road?
Nice walk gradually uphill through the forest
Plenty of storm damage, the path is not affected
A few bags of hardcore in position to improve the path
The tools for the path makers
Half way there, so the sign post informs us
Summit in the distance
A very well made path, probably one of the best I have been on
Looking back
Map & boots not required
A bench with a view, naturally we had to try it out
The view from the bench NE
Nice very gradual ascent
Large cairn on one of the 2 summits
Kingussie from the summit
Kingussie without the cairn
The cairn from the other top
Large shelter on the other top
The path continues if you are doing the circular route
Golf course
Loch Gynack, SW end
The other end of the loch, nice large house in a stunning location
I really enjoyed the day, Cruban was certainly a bit more challenging than it probably should have been - but still fun.
