From dawn till dusk; just mac du it...
Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2011 11:23 pmIt's been a while since I've posted a report; horrible things like work have been getting in the way... I've a few reports to catch up on but for now I'm determined not to fall a further one behind... Two weeks since I've been up to Scotland; and therefore I was in need of a good hill fix... The best of the weather was in the Cairngorms so my friend Scraggles and I figured we'd make the most of that. We decided on a longish route taking in four Munros starting at the ski centre.
The sky was still pink when we set off some 20 minutes ahead of sunrise; but we made fairly brisk work of the ascent up Cairngorm... A fairly uninspiring hill; the skiers can keep it I think... From there our route was along the plateau to Ben Macdui; the second highest of these Munro things...
It was easy going along the plateau; just easy high level walking with in the main a good path...
Scraggles and Rocco were making a bee line for the summit of Ben Macdui; we'd placed a Sat Nav device on Rocco; it's always been a source of interest how much more ground her covers... Sadly though, this will need more practice; lost reception poor signal meant he'd covered less ground than we had!!
I'm sure we could have had a lot of fun picking out the various summits if it wasn't for the fact we were bathed in clag
It's never a warm place; the Cairngorms; and today was no exception; any longer than 5 minutes sat about and it was freezing; onwards then...
Derry Cairngorm was a go; it was inside 10:00 AM and we'd bagged the first two; so we figured we had time to add in the 3 km detour and collect the extra summit...
We chose to follow the path on route to Derry Cairngorm; though I think staying up on the ridge might have been a better call; especially as a slight error in the navigation due to wandering along looking at the scenery had us reascending more than we needed to... No matter...
Not much to say about Derry Cairngorm; not because it's not nice; but because the ascent of it was in cloud... It's a short pull followed by a half km or so of scrambling across rocks. Fortunately they're grippy rocks!!
On the descent we did have a brief view back over to Ben Macdui...
Then it was a good haul up to the summit of Beinn Mheadhoin; and a short easy scramble to the top of the tor that we decided was the highest...
By now the legs were feeling it a little bit; but buoyed on by the achievement of all four summits and with just the 8 km hoof back to the car; off we set... The walk back will take you through some fairly stunning scenery...
There's even a beach or two...
The climb up the waterfall from Loch Avon is fairly steep; and the legs will hurt a little bit after today with the walk nearly touching 2 km of ascent. I was thankful for the top; and turning around the view from where we'd come was a good looking one; and we could now be confident we'd win our race against darkness...
By now the sun was setting for the day; and the landscape was beginning to turn golden... A well timed walk we thought to ourselves and with climbing done for the day we began the easy descent initially along Fiacaill a' Choire Chais before dropping down into the landrover track and following it back to the car. Job done and another 4 bagged.
Clearly there are quicker ways around these four; chiefly by doing Ben Macdui first or last; but we didn't know the terrain and this route left us options later in the walk; for example we could have left out either of Derry Cairngorm or Beinn Mheadhoin if time started getting critical in terms of daylight... All in all; an enjoyable route; with a punishing last ascent.
The stats, this walk just about do-able at this time of year - at least when there's no snow; would be a different matter in the white stuff...
The sky was still pink when we set off some 20 minutes ahead of sunrise; but we made fairly brisk work of the ascent up Cairngorm... A fairly uninspiring hill; the skiers can keep it I think... From there our route was along the plateau to Ben Macdui; the second highest of these Munro things...
- The route from Cairngorm to Ben Macdui
It was easy going along the plateau; just easy high level walking with in the main a good path...
- Looking back at Cairngorm now bathed in early morning light...
Scraggles and Rocco were making a bee line for the summit of Ben Macdui; we'd placed a Sat Nav device on Rocco; it's always been a source of interest how much more ground her covers... Sadly though, this will need more practice; lost reception poor signal meant he'd covered less ground than we had!!
- Scraggles and Rocco near the summit of Ben Macdui...
I'm sure we could have had a lot of fun picking out the various summits if it wasn't for the fact we were bathed in clag
- 2011 - 11 - 19 - Ben Macdui 6
It's never a warm place; the Cairngorms; and today was no exception; any longer than 5 minutes sat about and it was freezing; onwards then...
- Me on the summit of Ben Macdui
Derry Cairngorm was a go; it was inside 10:00 AM and we'd bagged the first two; so we figured we had time to add in the 3 km detour and collect the extra summit...
We chose to follow the path on route to Derry Cairngorm; though I think staying up on the ridge might have been a better call; especially as a slight error in the navigation due to wandering along looking at the scenery had us reascending more than we needed to... No matter...
- En route to Derry Cairngorm...
- The view across Loch Etchachan
Not much to say about Derry Cairngorm; not because it's not nice; but because the ascent of it was in cloud... It's a short pull followed by a half km or so of scrambling across rocks. Fortunately they're grippy rocks!!
On the descent we did have a brief view back over to Ben Macdui...
- The view across to Ben Macdui from Derry Cairngorm
Then it was a good haul up to the summit of Beinn Mheadhoin; and a short easy scramble to the top of the tor that we decided was the highest...
- The summit of Beinn Mheadhoin
By now the legs were feeling it a little bit; but buoyed on by the achievement of all four summits and with just the 8 km hoof back to the car; off we set... The walk back will take you through some fairly stunning scenery...
- The walk home...
There's even a beach or two...
- The Walk Home...
The climb up the waterfall from Loch Avon is fairly steep; and the legs will hurt a little bit after today with the walk nearly touching 2 km of ascent. I was thankful for the top; and turning around the view from where we'd come was a good looking one; and we could now be confident we'd win our race against darkness...
- The view from the summit of the climb up the waterfall from Loch Avon
By now the sun was setting for the day; and the landscape was beginning to turn golden... A well timed walk we thought to ourselves and with climbing done for the day we began the easy descent initially along Fiacaill a' Choire Chais before dropping down into the landrover track and following it back to the car. Job done and another 4 bagged.
- Sunset; looking toward Loch Morlich from the top of Fiacaill a' Choire Chais
Clearly there are quicker ways around these four; chiefly by doing Ben Macdui first or last; but we didn't know the terrain and this route left us options later in the walk; for example we could have left out either of Derry Cairngorm or Beinn Mheadhoin if time started getting critical in terms of daylight... All in all; an enjoyable route; with a punishing last ascent.
The stats, this walk just about do-able at this time of year - at least when there's no snow; would be a different matter in the white stuff...
- The Stats...
But, as usual, great all the same... and photo's xxx
