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Another beautiful weekend in Scotland and another chance to work towards my 10 Munroes in 1 year resolution. After an e-mail from a friend (Cally) on Friday suggesting we get back out and take on some more I turned to a Craig at work who only had two remaining Munroes in the Cairngorms to do, just so happened that they were Beinn a Bhuird and Ben Avon, so he decided to join as well.
We arrived at the carpark near Keiloch at 8am (was supposed to be 7am but some of us slept in, namely me) and were on our way by 8:30. All three of us had agreed to cycle to the fork just after the ruin at the bottom of Meall an t-Slugain and it was definitely the right decision. Whilst the cycle was hard going and portions were walked the idea of the downhill back made it worth the while and the time saved would be crucial in achieving this in around about 9 hours.
After reaching the climb to Beinn a' Bhuird's Southern Top we decided to have a quick rest and something to eat before beginning the more difficult part of the ascent. I now deem this to be the most difficult thing I have done yet in my Munro adventures (although i am sure there are worse to come).
Looking down
Still to go!!!!
After what seemed like forever, and with my thighs burning we finally made the top although Craig had disappeared over the brink a good bit before Cally and myself, and had already reached the South Top. This shows what 100+ Munroes will do for your health incomparison to my pitfull 8 to date.
Craig photographing back at us from the South Top
Hear are some photos from what I believed to be the more scenic end of Beinn a' Bhuird:
After catching up with Craig, the three of us carried on to the North Top. This was easy going and gave the legs alot of time to recover as the ground is flat and never reaches a noticeable gradient. You get a great view of Ben Avon of in the distance but it still seems a long way off.
The North Top of Beinn a' Bhuird
After another easy walk along to the edge North East edge of Bein a' Bhuird we realised that we had slightly missed the proposed route and a bit of impromptu scrambling downhill was required in order for us to meet back with the path across to Ben Avon. By this time the wind speed coming up through the valley was getting high and the idea of climbing the winding path up Ben Avon was starting to seem a little daunting.
Never the less we pushed on, Cally hunched over on hands and knees at times due to the high winds speeds and the fact that despite how much she wants to fight it she can be a bit of a girl (saying that i was last to reach to the top of the winding path). The view from the top of the path alone is spectacular:
Then with the final stretch to Craig's last Munro of the Cairngorms ahead we set off again:
I don't know if any of you have ever played journey on the PS3 but this reminded me of that
With the wind still howling around us we made it to the final challenge, climbing the rock formation to it's highest point. One a windless day this would have been a doddle but I'll dmit the knees were shacking the whole way up and if it wasn't for the Mountain Man Craig doing it first I would never have made it across (pier pressure).
Craig's Final Munro in the Cairngorms!!!
We departed Ben Avon heading directly south and cut down the steep heather covered south face of Carn Eas (thanks for that one Craig!) to rejoin the path that would have taken us down the valley at a nice steady gradient. We walked the distance back to the bikes and then proceeded to have 20 minutes of pure downhill mountain biking, I was putting my new Ghost SE 3000 through it's trials. The climb atop Ben Avon and the adrenlin rush from the bike ride back made this an amazing day out!!!
We returned back to the cars around 5:30pm, making it approximately 9 hours since departure. A brilliant day but definitely would be easier doing it counter clockwise,
For all the photos please visit:
http://s1243.photobucket.com/albums/gg5 ... 20Munroes/
Cheers
Stuart
