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The cycle in up Glen Ey was wonderful, despite a gusting headwind slowing the ascent, but on good track all the way up to the atmospheric ruin of the Altanour Lodge (just over 9 km from Inverey). Just beyond the lodge it turns to mush and I parked the bike there. It took well over an hour to get in in the morning but I raced down with a following wind, trying to beat the soaking rain, in about 40 min. Stats above are for the hike only.
- Early(ish) view towards the Linn of Dee from the roadside on the way in to Inverey from Braemar
- Excellent estate track which winds up alongside the Ey Burn and feels wonderfully remote in the upper half
- The track turns to mush with added water features shortly above the lodge and I stashed the bike there.
- The path has been seriously churned up, but mostly with good ground to either side. Still it is a long (~4.5 km), but fairly gentle approach to Carn Bhac. Here looking southwest to Beinn Lutharn Mhor, the next objective for the day, with a much steeper and more daunting-looking approach
- A couple of lads in JCBs doing erosion control works high up on Carn Bhac - hopefully they also plan to fix the erosion caused by getting those machines up there on the way down!
- Several options for a summit cairn, as well as a good shelter for some morning snacks. The cloud drifting in and out
- Expansive views when the cloud lifted off the top
- Fabulous views back down Glen Ey from near the shoulder after a pathless crossing of the Allt nan Clach Geala and zig-zagging up the steep NE slope of Beinn Lutharn Mhor, following a line of grassy ramps to avoid the steepest bits
- Lochain Uaine
- The cloud obliged to stay just above the tops to give some great views from the summit of Beinn Lutharn Mhor
- For the descent I opted to go down the intriguing-looking coire between Beinn Lutharn's Mhor and Beag. The going was quite challenging, being pathless and tricky in the middle section with a steep-sided gully down to the burn that either had to be climbed above or scrambled along. At the bottom though I popped out right in front of the next objective of An Socach, contouring round Beinn Lutharn Bheag to the right to eventually join up with the main path up An Socach
- Reaching the An Socach path, with some relief after the hard going across deep heather on the N side of Beinn Lutharn Bheag
- Loch nan Eun coming into view
- Its another summit with multiple options for a summit cairn, but it was worth it for the views to wander round them all, and some of them marked the way down off the north ridge back towards Glen Ey
- And I was pleasantly surprised to find a well-trod path on the way down the north ridgeline
- The rain started to sweep in from the southwest as I approached the Altanour Lodge ruin, where I picked up the bike for an attempted race with the rain back down the glen (it won, but it was a quick run back down with the wind and slope)
- Haunting ruins of the Altanour Lodge.
I met a couple of people on the way up the glen and a party of three coming down off An Socach, but this still felt like a very remote place, with quite a bit of travel over pathless ground. An atmosheric day of solitude in the hills - perfect!
