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Firmly back in the saddle it was time to ensure normal practice was resumed as I tackled another challenging day in the hills.

So, it was the Devil’s thing-a-me-boabie and his pals Cairn Toul and Sgor an Lochain Uaine – approached from the Linn of Dee.
I had slightly mixed feelings as I set off, returning to the same area as I had been in just the week before when I had tackled Cairn a Mhaim. Not that I don’t like the area or the initial walk in to Derry Lodge; it’s a great area to walk in. It’s just that I like a bit of variety in my walking, preferring to walk in a different area from the weekend before if I possibly can. I had a long walk in to the Corrour bothy to do on this walk and I was hoping I wouldn’t be bored and lose my focus repeating a big section of last weekend’s walk.
I needn’t have worried

Weather conditions seemed better than the week previous, and a bit of early morning sunshine gave a different perspective on the autumn colours as I walked along Glen Lui to Derry Lodge
- Early morning sunshine
And the walkers today seemed much more cheery – as witnessed by two very chirpy chaps passing me on their mountain bikes early on
I tend to break my routes down into bite size chunks, in order to give myself a series of targets to achieve rather than just tackle a route as a whole. It seems to work for me and helps me decide whether I’m on target for the planned day out or whether age

(or alcohol consumption

) has played it’s part in slowing me down and changes to plans are required. I had the route to Corrour bothy broken into three sections (Derry Lodge, Carn a Mhaim junction and Corrour bothy) with a total walk in time of 3 hours. Up to Carn a Mhaim I knew the path was excellent (excepting a couple of boggy areas, which while still boggy seemed less boggy than a week before thank goodness). Beyond this point the path did get a bit rougher, but never anything bad and so I was pretty pleased with a time of around 2.45 hours to the bothy.
- Early view of the Devil's Hoot-en-nanny
- Into Glen Dee
By now there was a bit more cloud and I’d witnessed a few rainbows along the way, but the Devil looked clear and I was hopeful the cloud would lift on the other two peaks as the day went on. I wasn’t to be disappointed
- The Devil from near the bothy
- Corrour bothy
At the bothy I thought I deserved a short break and time to take in some fluids. It was also a bit on the breezy side, so before heading up into Coire Odhar and onto the saddle between the Devil and Cairn Toul I decided to don my jacket. About 30 seconds after having set off from the bothy I then decided it might be worth donning my gloves too
After nearly three hours of walking the initial walk up into Coire Odhar suddenly seemed a bit tough

but the stream the path zig-zags up by was enough to keep me entertained, especially higher up near where the path hits the saddle between the Devil and Cairn Toul’s southern top, Stob Coire an-t Sailghdeir.
- Allt a Choire Odhair
Met three people coming down as I was heading up and as I was making my way up I could see the two cyclists I had seen early on hitting the saddle and making their way up the Devil. Appreciating they stopped up there for a while they both looked a bit shocked to see me so close behind them given I’d walked in and they had cycled. We shouted a few words at each other – it was fair blowing a gale up on the saddle

and they then made their way down, as they were only doing the one.
From the saddle it’s an easy walk up to the summit of the Devil and some amazing views toward Carn a Mhaim, into Glen Geusachan and down into Glen Dee
- Glen Geusachan from the Devil
- Cairn a Mhaim from the Devil's summit
- View to Glen Dee and beyond
- Corrour bothy from the Devil
I spent a little while on this summit. It’s my type of hill. Big and pointy. And the wilderness aspect of it just added to the sense of enjoyment and achievement. Apart from a chap heading up to the summit when I was headed down I met no-one else all day, so was totally isolated and miles from civilisation. Fantastic

No sound of cars, motorbikes or anything else mechanical. In fact I think the only sounds I heard were wind, wind and more wind, running water and a plane or two flying high overhead.
- The route ahead
Heading down off the Devil the path up onto Cairn Toul looked quite easy to follow. Funny then that when I was on it I had a devil of a job to locate it.

And as the wind was fair gusting at times I wasn’t too keen to be walking along the cliff edge too much. The result was a lot of clambering over rocks and then higher up boulders (some big boulders too

), which was sapping the energy from my legs like nobody’s business. The decision a few hours earlier to leave the walking pole in the boot of the car suddenly didn’t seem so sensible as I was hoping and skipping over these big boulders. Twinkle toes in walking boots
- View back to the Devil
I did make the odd foray toward the cliff edge higher up and the view of Cairn Toul was simply breathtaking (not that my point and click camera can really do it justice at all).
- The Angel from Cairn Toul south top
- Cairn Toul
The shadow of the clouds racing across the hill gave me the impression of a rainbow effect moving across the rocks, which looked very impressive as I stood on the summit of the southern top admiring where I was headed.
Again the path looked easy to follow, but when I was on it I found myself doing the foxtrot over more big rocks and boulders up to the summit (which is the second of the two cairns, but it’s good views all round from both)
- Braeriach from Cairn Toul
- Macdui
- Carn a Mhaim from Cairn Toul
- Cairn Gorm?
- The Angel
By now I could feel the effects of the wind chill when I took my gloves off to text MrsR with my usual summit message to let her know I was ok, so there was no hanging about as I headed off to the third and final summit of the day, Sgor an Lochain Uaine or the Angel’s Peak. It’s only a short hop and a skip down to the saddle between the two hills and then a short walk up to the summit. Cracking views of Lochan Uaine and Braeriach
- Braeriach and Lochan Uaine
Unfortunately the good luck I’d had so far ran out on the way up onto the Angel, as a bank of mist descended and the great views I had hoped to see into the Lairig Ghru and the Falls of Dee were hidden from me this time

(an excuse to do this route all over again some other time

)
- The Angel's misty summit
All I got was another misty view of Lochan Uaine, which was a little disappointing as a celebration of passing the half way point. 142 down and currently 141 to go
- The mist covered lochan
The route back involved bypassing the main summit of Cairn Toul from it’s saddle with the Angel’s Peak by traversing the hill and heading to the saddle between Cairn Toul and its southern top. Very nicely the weather decided to turn a bit for the worse, as the mist looked to me like it would be hanging around for while. Oh, and it started raining

Nice
Not wanting to traverse too low I decided to head a little higher than perhaps I needed to, but my thinking was that it would be easier in the long run than having to gain height onto the southern top. The downside was more rocks and boulders to navigate, sapping more energy from my poor aged legs

It wasn’t too long before I was heading back to the southern top’s summit, which had been a bit easier than I had expected. And there was an excellent path down to the saddle with the Devil, which kept me well clear of the cliff edge and made for easy going.
It was then a steady plod down to the bothy and the simple task of an approximately 2.5 hour walk back to the car

I really thought this walk back was going to destroy me, but despite the old legs stiffening up toward the end it was a good march back. I even succumbed to the desire to jog a little of the way too
But before that urge took over I was able to get a final view of my day’s conquests, as well as another rainbow sot and a tempting view of Coire Sputan Dearg and the ridge to be taken off Ben Macdui. One for another day
- Last look back at the Devil
- Rainbow
- Coire Sputan Dearg
By the time I was almost back at the car it was almost dark, but I couldn’t be bothered to stop and make use of my head torch for the final few minutes, so just plunged myself into the darkness of the woods

Spooky
All in all a great day out and a walk I will certainly want to do again.
As a postscript to this report, when I set out at 8 a.m. on Sunday morning I had it in my head this was only a 19 mile walk which the man from Cicerone said should take me as near as 10 hours as makes no difference. When I got home and checked out the route it turned out it was a 23 mile walk, which the man from Cicerone reckoned should take nearer 11 hours
Whoops
Still, coming in at 11 hours 15 minutes I was pretty chuffed as I can never hit the suggested times in the Cicerone guides.........on account of the fact that old age seems to slow me up on the descents
