by Bonusred » Mon Aug 17, 2020 2:14 pm
Wish I read this report before my adventure at the weekend. I started form Glenshee Ski Centre, planning on Carn an Tuirc, Tolmount, Tom Buidhe, Carn of Claise, Glas Maol and Creag Leacach in that order.
Started at 7am, the weather was perfect, little bit of mist lower down, but the sun woudld make short work of that. I reached Carn an Tuirc at 8am, Tolmount at 9:11am and Tom Buidhe at 9:37am. This is where my day took a turn for adventure. Standing at the Summit of Tom Buidhe, I could see the top of Corrie Fee, and Mayar to my South East. Having made brilliant time on my first 3 summits of the day, and having been frustrated by ot being able to do Mayar and Driesh about 6 weeks earlier, I thought l, wow, I can knock those two off whilst I’m up here, I’ve already gained the height, and it’s not that far.
Two big underestimations, 1 what looks close isn’t always as close as you think, and 2. Walking across peat bogs will always be slower and harder than you think. A third underestimation was the weather, whilst it was perfect on top of Tom Buidhe, you could see the clouds/mist down in the glens, but hey, it’s still early the sun will burn all that off. Pretty soon, the South Westerly breeze started to lift the mist up from the glens onto the plateau, my lovely view of Mayar, vanished.
Eventually, after a few minor mis-directions, I finally joined the standard Mayar and Driesh path, and finally reaching the summit of Mayar at 12:17, definitely time for lunch. I was pretty tired from the 2 hour bog-trot and ascent of Mayar, so after a spot of lunch, reached Driesh at 13:07. Unfortunately, the beautiful Corrie Fee wasn’t to be seen from either Mayar or Driesh
Then the long walk back, up Mayar again and then back in as straight a line as possible to Tom Buidhe, but veering west before going up its summit to try to head for the mid ground between Tom Buidhe and Cairn of Claise. Some of the ground I covered was 100% bog, very hard going, plus the visibility was still very poor, and straight lines are not possible across bogs and peat hags. On the plus side, I saw hundreds of voles, even managed to step on one, but thankfully he was ok, ran away as soon as I lifted my boot, and saw an Owl, think it was short eared owl, first time I’ve ever spotted an owl on the wild. Also found a complete dear antler, which I took home for my dog (they are crazy expensive in a pet shop).
Finally, and total exhausted by this stage I got back onto the “path” between Tom Buidhe and Carn of Claise, reaching the summit at 17:03, finally achieving the 4th of my planned day, some 7.5 hours after my 3rd, from there it was head down and carry to complete the circuit. Glas Maol was achieved at 18:02, and on there saw my first ever Fog-Bow. Then onto Creag Leacach reaching the summit at 18:50. By now there was next to no visibility, and the descent down was through full blown fog, a long slow descent, although I suspect that with fresher legs it would not have been so bad. My foray to The Glen Doll munros added 7 hours or so to my day. Finally reached the end point at 8:30pm, 13.5 hours of walking, 75000 steps, 8 munros (9 if Mayar counts twice), not sure how many miles, an owl, and two very very sore feet.
