free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
So this weekend, was a foray into the Gorms with Dougie and Dad..
There was some scepticism about whether Dad would make it over the Lecht or if Dougie would make it over the Cairnwell, but we one by one, made it to the Fyfe Arms..
So at about 9, we all piled into the one car for the short trip to Linn of Dee.. T’was a beautiful clear night with a million stars and the moon blindingly bright, despite being almost new. The track was hard with frost for the hours walk in to Bob Scotts, where we were greeted by a pack of barking dogs..
Oh so much barking! A quick cuppa and we set up the tent.
T’was a chilly night to say the least, tent was frozen inside and out when we put it away in the morning..
So the plan was to walk over Beinn Bhreac and Beinn a Chaorain, up to the hutchie hut, then Beinn Mheadhoin on Sunday before the walk out.. Easy enough route you would think!
![GEDC0620.JPG]()
- Leaving Bob Scotts
So we set out in high spirits on Saturday morning at about 10AM.. Along, through the beautiful pine forest in lower Glen Derry. The ground was solid but the weather fine and the winds light. Before long, the wee cairn was found and we weaved our way up the stalkers path, the going increasingly snowy underfoot.
![GEDC0621.JPG]()
- Up into the clag
We saw a party far up ahead, I didn’t think we would catch them, but they stopped a while and we did.
Turned out to be a troop of fellow Walkhighlanders! After introductions were made we set off together.. I’m nae good at talking whilst going uphill and was trying to keep up with Dougie so we ended leaving them behind us as we ascended into the mist.
![GEDC0622.JPG]()
- Who are these strangers lol
Hopefully they will catch up later so we could have a proper chat I thought, but the snow and wind was unforgiving and even when we did meet again at the top of Beinn Bhreac, conditions had got too bad for hanging about..
Visibility was only a few yards, the wind was strong and there was a constant pelting of snow to contend with. Dougie and I waited patiently for Dad to have a rather long kit faff.
Dougie said he wanted to go down, but Dad has this way of getting people carry on.. ‘We’ll just go to the bealach and descend to Glen Derry from there’ he said. Sounded reasonable, but I knew he just wanted to carry on. I was well used to his tactics – that’s what has made me grow up so tough!
So we set off, Dad first, me next, Dougie behind. Wind and snow in our face, trudging through the snow which was actually quite good underfoot – fine and grippy without too much sinking. Navigation was very difficult, I was keeping tabs with my GPS, Dad had a bearing he was following, we would confer every now and then to check we were both happy with the direction of travel. I offered to go in front at one point, as I knew breaking trail could be tiring, but I just led the party round in a circle!
Dad was back in front in no time..
Dougie was grumpily quiet.. He doesn’t like challenging weather.
So after a couple of hours of heads down into the wind, the odd rock sticking out of the snow being the only feature in an otherwise whiteout, we started to ascend again toward the summit of Beinn a Chaorainn.. I could tell dad was knackered as he fell behind a bit and I had to wait a couple of times to keep him in sight.
Too close to turn back now.. The terrain flattened out, and then it was just a case of trying to find the cairn. So different to the first time I had done this hill I thought - I had basked in the sunshine, and got given a bunch of grapes by a kind stranger.. This time though, I couldnt find the cairn. I saw shapes through the mist, went there to find nothing
we did eventually find a large snowy cairn with a couple of footprints round it.
We stopped briefly for a quick munch, before heading down on a bearing. Easy gradient to begin with, but the final descents down to Glen Derry were steep. We stopped for a cigarette and both Dougie and Dad said that they wanted to bail, so we set off back toward Bob Scotts
The conditions hadn’t improved with the drop in altitude. Visibility was so poor that after a way, Dad asked me where the turn off for Etchechan was, and I had to inform him it was a couple of km’s back!
The wind was at our backs though and so we were wearily blown back to Derry Lodge, and the warmth of Bob Scotts. Oh we were a cold and achey lot, so after a 3 course dinner, and a banter with some MBA guys that were in, it was to bed before midnight.. Oh what a day!
Sunday was cold and wet, so nae regrets about nae doing Mheadhoin – The hour walk back to the car was enough.. Nice soup and scones in the café in Braemar was just what the doctor ordered before an early drive home.
Sorry for the lack of photos, didnt seem like much point in the whiteout
