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I'm hoping to do An Sgarsoch and Carn an Fhidleir from Linn of Dee in the next couple of weeks so rather than start today's walk from the same place I chose a walk in from Glen Feshie.
Armed with the WH route and dogplodder's notes from his trip in 2012 on a Word doc I headed up the A9 for an 8.20am start from the car park at Achlean.
A few midges about but not too bad, off and walking for 8.20am heading along the road towards the farm and the track that would take me up towards Carn Ban Mor.
- Leaving the car park
- Leaving the tree line behind
- A snow patch on the north side of Meall Dubhag
Last time I was in Glen Feshie in May I did Mullach Clach A'Bhlair and Sgor Gaoith so came down the track I was now climbing. I remembered it was well built but was hard on the legs dropping down to the valley floor. This time round the climb was fine, one or two steeper sections but it was a relatively easy way of getting to 1000m.
- Good track through the woods
At the cairn where you can head left for Sgor Gaoith I stopped for about twenty minutes to see what the weather was going to do. The clag was down and it was cold enough for gloves whilst stopped (is it really only 3 weeks since I moaned about the heat
). I like climbing Munros but I climb them for the views so I was prepared to change my plans at short notice. Although there was a lot of low cloud about I thought it might clear so decided to carry on.
At the cairn I took the straight on option (heading slightly to the right of the cairn) and left Carn Ban Mor behind and headed for the landrover track where I would head left and follow it to it's end.
- Low cloud blowing around
The track ends abruptly and there is a small track that heads down to the Allt Sgairnich which is easily crossed on stepping stones. From here I climbed out of the gully that contained the allt and headed for Tom Dubh. There are a number of feint grassy tracks through the damp boggy area short of Tom Dubh that meant the feet stayed dry.
The drop down to the Allt Luineag was quite steep and as expected the water was fast flowing. Having read various reports I knew the river would be wider than you would expect at this height and the warnings are correct. But having done my homework it was time to get the old trainers out the rucksack, or at least it should have been but this is where things turned to mush. I forgot the trainers (left them in the car which was about 5 miles away), stepping stones were out the question so I sat by the bank for probably 15 minutes trying to decide what to do.
Decision taken, boots and socks off, trouser legs rolled up to above the knees and I would try to cross in bare feet. The river was too wide to throw the boots over to the far bank so with rucksack on and boots in hand I slowly started to cross. Everything was going fine till I got about 6 feet from the far bank, I was now in about a foot of fast flowing water and with my left foot on a smooth rock and my right now planted on another smooth rock a very slow forward split resulted in a head first dive straight in to the drink. I was soaked and in trying to get my balance as I fell the boots went under as well so on the far bank it was time to try and make the best of a bad situation.
The low cloud had rolled in again and I was in two minds whether to carry on or call it a day but having taken 3 hours to this point I decided I might as well carry on. I squelched my way on to the eastern end of the Monadh Mor and from there it was a straight forward walk to the summit.
- Monadh Mor summit
- Looking over to Beinn Bhrotain
From Monadh Mor it's a straight forward walk over to Beinn Bhrotain initially with a plateau walk with great views over to the Devil's Point and the two Munros further north (Braeriach top seemed to be in cloud all day) followed by a steep descent down to the bealach and a good track for the first part of the climb then a fairly easy boulder field to reach the summit.
- Looking over to the Devil's Point
- Beinn Bhrotain summit
- Beinn Bhrotain summit
- View from Beinn Bhrotain summit
Having had an hour and a half's walking since the river my trousers and top are drying out nicely by this stage, my boots have stopped squelching but I still have to cross the river again and to be honest I just want to get it over and done with so I didn't hang about at the summit. The cloud's had lifted but Monadh Mor top was again in clag so with the low cloud heading my way I decided on a quick turnaround as I needed to climb Monadh Mor for a second time.
- Zig zag path up Monadh Mor
- Looking back to Beinn Bhrotain
The boulder field was fairly easy in both directions and the climb back up on to Monadh Mor whilst steep is fairly short so it doesn't take long to get back on to the plateau and easier walking.
- Looking over to Devil's Point
- I really need to do the Devil's Point to Braeriach Munros soon...............
A quick stop for a photo on the summit ofr Monadh Mor and I was off along the plateau. Again I stayed on the top as long as possible but on the way down I decided on a different river crossing and headed for the waterfall in the below photo.
- Allt Luineag
- Waterfall - Allt Luineag
- Allt Luineag below the waterfall
Change of tactics for this river crossing, boots off, socks removed then boots back on and trouser legs rolled up. With the boots on the crossing was much easier. On the far bank I tried to dry my feet as much as I could as I needed to apply compeed and tape to my left heel which was completely void of skin and red raw (long story, 4th pair of Hi Tec Lite boots in 6 months and still having problems). The river is sheltered at this point and in my bare feet the midges took the opportunity to feed so I was glad to start squelching over towards Tom Dubh.
- Looking over to Sgor Gaoith with Loch nan Cnapan in the foreground
- Looking east
Once over the Allt Sgairnich I picked up the landrover track and headed back to Carn Ban Mor with the clouds having finally lifted off most of the tops.
The path down off Carn Ban Mor didn't seem to hurt as much as it did in May after coming off Sgor Gaoith, probably the blister on my left heel was distracting me.
- Looking down on Glen Feshie
Nearly back down to the treeline the sun peaked out from behind clouds for the first time, after about 30 seconds it was gone again.
- Looking back
All that was left now was the final leg through the trees, back down to the road and ten minutes of tarmac back to the car.
Down in the glen the wind was negligible so the midges were out in force at the car park and they had some fun while I got changed and got the boots off. With the car door open for five minutes whilst being a wimp trying to get the left boot off without too much pain in the heel a number of the little sods took the opportunity to join me in my journey down the A9 with some of them having a little nibble during the journey home
I nearly turned back at Carn Ban Mor and again after my unexpected swim but I'm glad I carried on to complete these two as I might not have fancied coming back to do them again (unless from Linn of Dee). Not a great day for views (or photography) but 24 hours on I'm glad I carried on and made the best of the day.
Time wise, mobile for 7hrs 14mins with 1hr 21mins faffing about which included decision time at Carn Ban Mor, staring at the river crossing for 15 minutes before deciding to go for it, ages drying out at the other side after my swim and a river crossing on the way back followed by drying out and a time out for first aid.
Might seem a bit strange, enjoyed that
