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Day 1 (of 5) of my 2013 Scotland Trip - Blair Atholl to Aviemore.
The last few years have seen me finding time for a week (Mon-Fri) in Scotland and this year was no exception. Having been in the Western Highlands around Fort William for the past few years, this year I wanted to explore more to the east. Also, with all the discussion and argument over wind turbines I also wanted to spend a bit of time in the Monadhlaith Mountains before they succumbed to development. With only five days walking it always ends up as a bit of a compromise but the route I took gave me a bit of both and left me with many ideas for future years.
The route for the whole five days looks like this, but I have treated each section as a separate posting so hopefully it will generate enough interest for readers to follow the links to take you though each day.
Day 1 saw me deposited in Blair Atholl at 06:30 by the Sleeper Train. Weather was dry with cloud / mist down to 300m.
- Blair Atholl early in the morning
The plan for the day was into Glen Banvie and up Glen Bruar to a wild pitch at the head of the glen, with a possible diversion up on to Beinn Dearg, which is basically what happened.
Not knowing if I could get through the grounds of Blair Castle, and with locked gates in front of me, I took the longer way round along the road via Bridge of Tilt and Old Bridge of Tilt before following the track on the northern side of Banvie Burn through the plantation. By this time the cloud was being burnt off, the sun pushing through and the temperature rising. I removed my fleece and put in the pack, where it was to stay for the rest of the week.
Once past the deer fence and into the open it continued to be a gentle pull up the track. Looking back there was a little cloud lingering, but mostly it was clear.
- SW down Glen Banvie and Blair Atholl
By 08:20 I had reached the Lady March Cairn.
- Lady March Cairn - Glen Banvie
and was starting to be able to see Beinn Dearg which, given the excellent weather, I could hardly leave out.
- Glen Banvie to Beinn Dearg
With a brief stop for a snack at the Allt Sheicheachan bothy, I then followed the Allt Sheicheachan to the point at which the estate track turns into a stalkers path and ascends the shoulder of the Meall Dubh nan Dearcag as a series of zig-zags. By this time it was becoming clear that the day's temperatures where going to put water at a premium so it was time for another stop to replenish water carriers before leaving the burn. At the bothy I was caught up by two baggers who had cycled up the glen, and which interestingly were the only two people I was to meet on the hills for the whole of the first four days.
- Allt Sheicheachan
The heat (and this was only 10:30 a.m.!) was getting to the point where even with factor 50 sun cream I knew it was going to be a strong risk of sun stroke, so peaked hat with neck flap (not a great look) was called into service.
Something else I had never experienced before happened as I worked my way up the zig-zags - a southerly breeze was getting up and every so often I was hit by a wall of warm air as the breeze pushed the air from lower down up the mountain side. An amazing feeling.
The climb up to Beinn Dearg was also where I experienced what was to become a feature of the week - multiple path choices. In this case they were all walkers / stalkers paths, but as people had opted for slightly different routes, given the lack of defining points in the terrain there were a number of options. If you look at the map, I took what is not usually the classic route and the one on many maps, but it was a clear and well used path. I didn't find this a problem, but it did serve as a reminder to keep aware of where I was and wanted to be - it is all too easy to follow a path because it is there in front of you, and end up where you don't want to be. (Throw in the random deer tracks and mountain bikers tracks of later in the week, and even in the brilliantly clear weather it added another dimension to the walking).
As the clock reached top dead centre (12pm) I reached the top of Beinn Dearg. Excellent views all round.
- Summit cairn Beinn Dearg
- NE to Cairngorms
After stopping to enjoy the view and a spot of lunch I went further northwards for a few hundred metres before descending towards Allt Beinn Losgarnaich. As ever I started my descent too early and had to pick my way through boulders and outcrops on a fairly steep section, before I ended up in the peat bogs of the water catchment. Another thing that was very different to previous years was how dry it was - what would usually have been very difficult and taken some picking round became just a slog across the tussocks and peaty areas. After overshooting the stalker's path that runs along side Allt Beinn Losgarnaich I dropped down on to it and followed it down the very steep sided cut into the hillside into Glen Bruar.
- Allt Beinn Losgarnaich
Then is was another 3-4 miles along Glen Bruar until I reach a point where there was a good place to pitch for the night.
- Looking up Glen Bruar
- Wild pitch in Glen Bruar
For the
Minigaig Part 2 click here.
Regards,
P.
