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Day 2 (of 5) of my 2013 Scotland Trip - Blair Atholl to Aviemore.
After the first day which saw me walk from
Blair Atholl, via Beinn Dearg and Glen Bruar the day dawned with clear sky again. It had been clear and cold overnight so there was a heavy dew on the tent, which I decide not to wait for to clear so walked with the small amount of extra weight.
Setting off just after 8am the Glen Bruar was looking beautiful.
- Looking down Glen Bruar
For today my plan was to walk over The Minigaig and then drop down to the Allt Bhran and into Glen Tromie. From there I was going to cut over to Glentruim.
Again, the day was rapidly warming up and soon I climbed up the slopes of Uchd na h-Analach and on to Carr Uchd a'Chlarsair. The path was obvious and easy to follow and there was plenty of evidence that it was a well used mountain bike trail, although I met no one on the two days I was on it. This use did mislead me at one point, and following what I though was the main path ended up walking alongside Caochan Lub - a very beautiful burn of small water falls and pools - but when I found myself crossing the burn and scrambling past the steep banks of the burn where it had cut into the hillside, I realised this couldn't be right. A quick scramble up the slope and I found the real Minigaig running along the top of slope. A lot of other people, and possibly because it is more bike friendly have made the tracks closer to the burn, so I got pulled in as well - as I had found the day before, just because it looks like a path, it doesn't mean to say it's the one you want...
The vista was opening up with great views all round. This part of the route is well marked by a series of regularly spaced white quartz cairns / stones.
- Slopes of Uchd na h-Analach into Glen Bruar
As the path went steadily higher, the surroundings started to change into the high moorland of the Caingorms and the Gaick Forest. Wildlife was plentiful. I saw 15-20 red deer in small groups, always on the skyline, plenty of grouse and loads of frogs. This has been the same the day before - having to keep an eye on where I was placing my feet as there were a multitude of frogs and not just near water.
- Minigaig and Gaick Forest to the Cairngorms
At the highest point of the Minigaig I could look back into the Atholl Estate -
- High point of the Minigaig looking south
and forward into Glen Tromie. As I started the descent what struck me was how Glen Tromie gave the feel of being much more "managed" with visible signs of human intervention. I'm not suggesting that the Atholl Estate is not managed, but they have achieved it without leaving behind evidence of "management" - basically not using vehicles that churn up the top soil leaving little chance of regeneration, of which caterpillar tracks seem to be the worst offenders from my observations, and IMHO. As it was, I was to see worse when I crossed over to the Monadhlaith.
- High point of the Minigaig looking north to Strathspey
Leaving behind the Minigaig and dropping down to Allt Coire Bhran the path became boggy and indistinct. At times I was casting around for what was a sensible route and at other times picking up a good line that would then peter out.
- Minigaig looking back to Beinn Dearg
As the path came and went there was a fair amount of heather bashing and it might have been easier to cross the burn at the dam and walk the estate track on the other side, but I stuck with my path and was rewarded with good views of how the Allt Bhran had cut into the hillside forming steep gorges in places.
- Allt Bhran to Meall Chuaich
- Allt Bhran looking towards Glen Tromie
Allt Coire Bhran turned in Allt Bhran and then into Glen Tromie proper.
At this point, with water getting lower and still a fair few miles to go I started to concentrate more on the route and getting there, so stopped taking photographs which, now, after the event was a sad mistake.
I walked down Glen Tromie, past Bhran Cottage to the Dailriach Bridge (the old Soldiers' Bridge I think) where I crossed the River Tromie. There then followed a plod over the Blar an Liana Mhor, which had it not been so dry would have been much harder work. After a while I picked up an estate track and dropped down to Milton Burn before crossing over to Lynmore and taking General Wade's road to Phoines. From there it was tarmacked road to the A9 and Glentruim where I camped at the Inverhavon site.
- Tuesday night pitch
Day 3 of my walk -
Newtonmore into the Monadhlaith is here.
Regards,
P.
