A quick jaunt up Bynack More before we caught our train

[edinburgh36]

Monday was the last day of our 3 day Munro bagging weekend. Not having a car limited our options and the fact that our train left Aviemore at 15:23 and flight to London at 20:30 limited our options further. As we were staying at the Cairngorm hostel at Glenmore (very nice by the way!) we decided just to do Bynack More before making the journey back South. We told a couple of people in the hostel our plan to be on the road by 6am and back to get our stuff and go at 2pm – we were met with a few raised eyebrows and doubtful looks…

But, legs aching after 2 big days out (Braeriach followed by Creag Meagaidh) we were out on the trail at 6:20am.

6:30am in Glenmore Forest - going to be a nice day

Glenmore forest

There was hardly a cloud in the sky - the way we were heading anyway, and it stayed like that most of the day. We had decided not to do Cairngorm & Ben Macdui due to the lack of time but when we saw the big mass of grey cloud that sat over them the whole time we were in the sun, we were pretty pleased with our choice!

The walk in is long but really easy to navigate and climbs very gently which is exactly what we needed this day. The scenery is not as dramatic as other walks but there is something really nice about the vast expanses and I can only imagine are even more stunning when the heather is at its best.

It doesn’t take long for Bynack More itself to start dominating our view – we were power walking afraid we’d end up missing our train!

Bynack More dominating the view

There was no need to have worried, by 9:20 we were at the summit having passed a few snow hares & Ptarmagins just as we reached the top.

Nearly there Vanessa - you can do it!!

I was pleasantly surprised by this hill. As we approached I didn’t think much of it, but as you get up the rocks / boulders are pretty amazing! It’s an interesting summit. The views back over the Cairngorms were great, and those out to the East went on forever!

A bit windy at the top!

interesting rocks!

It was rather cold and windy at the top so we sheltered further down by the first set of large boulders and had a quick cuppa and ‘lunch’. Even though we didn’t have to rush as we’d made pretty good time on the way up, we headed back after about 10 minutes.

We went back via the same route which I don’t normally like – I like a loop! But I always forget that you see all that wonderful stuff that was behind you going up when you are on the way down.

Looking back at Srona cha-no ( I think...)

Meall a Bhuachaille

Stac na h-lolaire to the West

Although the walk itself isn’t hard, we were pretty tired with the mileage we’d done in the 3 days, and we were struggling a bit as we neared Glenmore. The increasing sunshine over Loch Morlich and the rising temperatures kept our spirits up (and the knowledge there was a chilled bottle of wine waiting back at the hostel!) and we kept up a good pace, making it back to the hostel exactly 6 hours after we started and an hour and a half ahead of schedule.. A couple of photo stops for pictures to send to mum along the way!

An Loachain Uaine in all it's glory!

Almost back at Glenmore :-)

That meant time for a very pleasant picnic and wine while we waited for our bus. Didn’t see the doubters to let them know we’d managed it
Back in London now counting down the days till the next bank holiday and 6 more Munros to add to my count….