Plan the Walk; Walk the Plan..Monadh Mor and Beinn Bhrotain

[gordon l]

After a fantastic day doing the Cairn Toul-Braeriach traverse we felt there was enough juice left in our hillwalking tanks to get out again next day. Dalraddy Holiday Park had been a great value camping base for us and its location a few miles south of Aviemore meant that a cycle and stroll to Monad Mor and Beinn Bhrotain seemed to make perfect sense. That’s where a bit of a chink in the plan appeared. I had read of an approach from Achlean that looked like ideal cycling territory, perfect if you don’t want a long tramp after the mega-miles of yesterday. However as we started on the path it seemed a fair bit steeper than I had anticipated, not at all suitable the bike. It must level out, I thought. Please level out, I thought. Well, actually it didn’t and by waypoint 6 Leonide had ditched her bike in the trees. The path continues to climb steeply out of the forest and onto the open hillside leading up to the Moine Mhor plateau.

I gamely/ stubbornly ploughed on drawing some quizzical walkers that passed me. The simple reason that the path seemed steeper was that it was the wrong one. I had read of one promising route from Achlean and downloaded a different GPS route, also starting from Achlean. Oops. This meant that we were in for another big day on what was probably the hottest day of the year. Character building.

Once I realised my mistake I left my bike on the heathery hillside and pushed on up to meet Leonide who was waiting for me at Caringroms Cross.

I don’t know the real name (if any\)for this junction but it is an interesting wee spot in the middle of nowhere. It is a point of convergence for 4 or 5 paths which all stretch off into nothingness in an area with very few distinguishing features. In short, this is an area where it would be very easy to get lost and quickly find yourself a long way from the planned route. I wonder how many Monadh Mors have become Sgor Gaoiths or Mullach Clach a Bhlairs when a wrong turn is made. After my previous blooper I wasn’t going to make (or be allowed to make) any more stinkies so after a check and a check of the check we were off to Monadh Mor and beyond.

The journey across is not filled with eye-catching features in the near or far distance although the emerging cliffs of Sgor Gaoith do command the attention as you pass on their left.

The River Eidart and then the Allt Luinneag are forded in fairly barren terrain before a rocky pull up to the summit area has to be negotiated over bouldery ground.

Here the views really do pick up with the south side of Carn Toul and the Devil’s Point particularly eye-catching.

The heat meant we were not for rushing and it was a meander rather than a march that took us to Leac Ghorm where we ditched our rucksacks and set off for Beinn Bhrotain.

For us, the best views of the day were down at the bealach before the ascent of Beinn Bhrotain begins.

The Devil’s Point, Carn a Mhaim and Glen Geusachan were the attention grabbers from here.

On the way up Beinn Bhrotain a clear path suddenly disappears and what is left is a patient negotiation of boulders that eventually pop you up on the top.

We took turns to have a seat on the summit trig where we admired the hazy 360 degree vistas. We had completed our 6th munro of the weekend and felt pretty pleased with our efforts. We also felt pretty tired.

After several hops, skips and jumps we were back down at the bealach and ready for the ascent back up the scree to our rucksacks. The journey back across the Moine Mhor was uneventful although as my limbs wearied a wee voice kept nagging me about my wrong route mix up.

Anyway, I did my best to enjoy some MTBing on the path back to Glen Feshie but it wasn’t easy and it probably wasn’t very sensible either. The white boulders sunk in to the path every 20m or so to prevent erosion made for interesting obstacles but when the decline steepened I had to swap two tyres for two tired feet. It had been a long, day which added to yesterday’s distance made for a total of 65km of wanderings. Time for a break. Monday's route was planned and checked meticulously. As temperatures soared to 28.5 degrees we followed a route south on the A9, heading home via a spot of sport climbing at Bennybeg and a scoop of icecream at Pitlochry.