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A heavy workloads means I've got to make this a short trip report.
So - Parked at the Sugar Bowl car park on Thursday mid afternoon and set off down the Lairig Ghru. All pretty uneventful really - nice walk, nice weather. Felt like it took longer than it actually did, although not in a bad way. I camped across the river from Corrour Bothy on a nice flat pitch. I wanted to camp on the Bealach above the bothy on the Devils peak but the wind was still quite strong when i was setting up camp. Wish I had actually as the wind died down as I was chomping away on my soggy dried dinner.
Asleep by 23:00, up at 05:45 and ambling off up the Devils peak in windless 20 degree sunshine at about 07:00. Only took 45 minutes to reach the Bealach, although I suspect I must have sweated off a good couple of stone. I dumped my rucksack, turned left and trotted up the Devils Peak. As I approached the summit, through the sun and sweat I saw a man crouching down on a rock. No bloody way did someone beat me up here this early I thought. Then he jumped off the cliff, turned into a golden eagle, spread his wings and climbed the anabatic winds high into the air. Bloody show off.
Back down to the Bealach to find a couple of reindeer across the plateau. Lots of creeping, sneaking and sliding got me with decent camera range just as their heads perked up and they did their little bird style bobbing thing. That was a waste of time I thought, until they ran right up to me. Still a waste of time I suppose. Once they determined I wasn't going to feed them I became less interesting and they carried on chomping the grass while I shouted, whistled and stomped in an attempt to get them to pose properly for the camera.
After than it was pretty much Stob Coire an t-Saighdeir - Cairn Toul - Sgor an Lochan Uaine - Carn na Criche - Braeriach, then back to the car. Unfortunately I'd thought it would be a good idea to give me pasty white legs a bit if an airing and had zipped my trouser legs off for a couple of hours in the morning. Big mistake! It's amazing how quickly sunburn does it's thing. By the time I got to Braeriach the pain had really began to set in - the heat on the trousers was just making the burn worse. Every step was complete agony but I didn't dare stop incase I couldn't get started again. By the time I got home parts of my legs were actually dark purple. The next day my legs, ankles and feet had swollen up like balloons. Oddly my legs are back to normal but my unburnt ankles and feet are sill swollen.
Despite the sunburn, it was a thoroughly enjoyable walk. I'm really beginning to like these Cairngorm things.
Some piccies (sorry for the wonky blueness of the sky in some - they're stitched panoramas and I had the polarising filter on - I would fix it but I'm too lazy):
Golden eagle taking off from the Summit of the Devils Point - just managed to grab a snap
Reindeer
Muppet of the Glen
Golden eagle soaring above Cairn Toul - different one I think, this one was smaller.
Ridge leading down Stob Coire an t-Saighdeir
Looking over Lochan Uaine to Ben Mcdui from the summit of Sgor an Lochan Uaine
Carn na Criche from the Angels Peak
Pinnacles Buttress
Sgor an Lochan Uaine (the Angels Peak)
Sgor an Lochan Uaine from Carn na Criche
Braeriach
Carn na Criche, Sgor an Lochan Uaine and Cairn Toul
View over the Lairig Ghru from the West Gully on Braeriach
View from East Gully the summit of Braeriach
Lairig Ghru
edit: if I've messed up the naming on any of the pictures, please let me know (time and all that)
