Ghosts of the past & white-tailed eagle in Glen Ey
Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2015 9:32 pm
We parked in the car park at Inverey where there was one other car already there, owner of which we met later. Inverey is apparently the last place in the east of Scotland where Gaelic was spoken. We took the track south along the Ey burn, passing a group of buildings on the way.
This house has a similar look to ones we saw on the Balmoral estate
Through tall pines to a gate
Track dropping gently to one of several bridges it crosses over the Ey burn
Track now on west side of the burn heading south
This glen has the slightly desolate air of an area that suffered from the infamous clearances with hints of past life and cultivation about it. On the long walk in there was plenty of time to reflect on what that life might have been like for the hardy folk who eked out a living here.
Possibly the ruins of abandoned farm at Auchelie
View south to the hills we're heading for
This level green area looks ideal for cultivation and cattle-grazing but there's none here now
Track crosses the Ey for a third time
On west side of burn again the track leads to a clump of pines at the old shooting lodge at Altanour.
Approaching Altanour Lodge
We found a place to sit on the grassy knoll across the track from the ruin to have a coffee and drink in the view to the south..... then noticed we weren't alone. A camper with his bike suddenly appeared from the burnside and asked if we knew the weather forecast for today and tomorrow, which we did. He'd climbed hills the previous day, camped by the burn and was heading for Linn o' Dee to access some remote hills from there. It was his car sitting in the car park. I think he was glad of company as was in no hurry to go and stood chatting a while before we wished him well and he cycled off.
Then we had a closer look at the ruins of the lodge. There was less of it left standing than I'd expected.
All that's left of the lodge
Here's a link to a photo of it in 1952, in need of some attention but still complete with its roof on.
https://cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2015/01/28/bygone-cairngorm-bothy-photos/
While we were packing our bags to leave the grassy knoll to the resident sheep a vehicle pulled up and spilled out a bunch of guys turning a place of peace and solitude into somewhere that suddenly felt quite busy. They looked official and wandered about with clip boards, taking notes and photographing the ruins of the lodge and the immediate area. We wondered if they had plans to rebuild it but they gave us no eye contact so we didn't ask.
We got on our way again following the track as it turned from gravel to grass and muddy tyre marks, seeing more forlorn evidence of former habitation in the glen.
More ruins and Beinn Iutharn Mhor
We knew we had to make a long rising traverse to reach the bealach between Carn Creagach and Carn Bhac but due to not looking at the map I led us further up the SE flank of Carn Creagach than we needed to go which was warm work in the sun.
Climbing the side of Carn Creagach
The upside of this slight navigational detour was having to stop to apply sun screen and seeing an eagle soaring overhead which we might not have seen if we hadn't sat down. Its wing span was huge and there was no doubt it was an eagle. Given the location I assumed it was a golden eagle but when we mentioned seeing it to fencing workers on our way back down the glen they said it would have been a white-tailed eagle as there's a pair nesting there. I've seen sea eagles on Mull but didn't expect to see one in Glen Ey and I was only seeing it from underneath so couldn't see the white tail! I'm sorry I didn't get a photo but as usually happens with me I was mesmerised watching it until it was a distant blur.
We also came quite close to a herd of deer - their coats a rich russet red in the sun. The sentry deer had been watching us for a while but when we reached the psychological point of unacceptable nearness to where they were grazing they loped off towards the bealach. It looked like they were responding to a pre-arranged signal and I'd love to know what that was. The bealach is where we were heading too so we traversed round the shoulder of Carn Creagach until we got our first view of Carn Bhac, which is so secretive and unspectacular looking it must be one of the least photographed Munros. Looking across the peat hags we could see two paths up and headed for the more substantial one.
Across the bealach to Carn Bhac
The path we followed led to a zigzag climb up a band of rocky scree, which was thankfully short, to top out on the stony summit plateau. From there it was a short walk over boulders and moss to reach the cairn from which the views north were spectacular, making up for the fact the hill itself lacks any features of great character.
Cairngorms from summit
Zoomed to Lairig Ghru
SW to Carn an Righ and Beinn a' Ghlo
Zoomed to Beinn a' Ghlo
Moira at summit cairn
Convenient seating in the windbreak for lunch
For variety we took a different line down heading further south to reach the burn which had a path alongside all the way to where we joined the outward track back to Altanour Lodge.
The path we took down
The burn we followed
View upstream to flat-topped Carn Bhac
The track back to the lodge
The return walk down the glen seemed to take longer than the walk in and we joked about how good it would be if the guys we could see working in the distance would knock off early and offer us a lift. But it was easy walking and on the way out we noticed the recently shorn sheep we'd seen in the morning (clustered around a feeding station looking bemused as if they'd just been shipped in) had all disappeared. Wonder what that was about. We passed the fenced off Piper's Wood (to protect them from deer as an experiment in regeneration) and the Colonel's Bed, a rocky hideout for a Jacobite on the run for murder. Following the Battle of Killicrankie in 1689 the redcoats were unable to find him so made do with plundering his castle while he remained hidden in the gorge..... but his loyal retainers made sure he survived to die of old age and he's buried in Inverey.
Sign for the Colonel's Bed
We reckon we had about 40 minutes to go before reaching the car when we heard the sound of a vehicle behind us. It was the fencing guys we'd seen earlier and joked about them giving us a lift - and that's exactly what they did! It may not have reduced our walking time much but it felt such a bonus to climb into that landrover and be deposited back to the car with no further effort. We still weren't going all that fast and managed a fair bit of chat on the journey, learning that the guys we'd seen at the lodge were prospecting for another forestry regeneration like Piper's Wood. They also told us the sheep we'd seen had just been brought in and dropped off where we saw them looking disorientated earlier and that the eagle we saw was a white-tail not golden. So all in all it was an excellent lift for which we were very grateful!
This house has a similar look to ones we saw on the Balmoral estate
Through tall pines to a gate
Track dropping gently to one of several bridges it crosses over the Ey burn
Track now on west side of the burn heading south
This glen has the slightly desolate air of an area that suffered from the infamous clearances with hints of past life and cultivation about it. On the long walk in there was plenty of time to reflect on what that life might have been like for the hardy folk who eked out a living here.
Possibly the ruins of abandoned farm at Auchelie
View south to the hills we're heading for
This level green area looks ideal for cultivation and cattle-grazing but there's none here now
Track crosses the Ey for a third time
On west side of burn again the track leads to a clump of pines at the old shooting lodge at Altanour.
Approaching Altanour Lodge
We found a place to sit on the grassy knoll across the track from the ruin to have a coffee and drink in the view to the south..... then noticed we weren't alone. A camper with his bike suddenly appeared from the burnside and asked if we knew the weather forecast for today and tomorrow, which we did. He'd climbed hills the previous day, camped by the burn and was heading for Linn o' Dee to access some remote hills from there. It was his car sitting in the car park. I think he was glad of company as was in no hurry to go and stood chatting a while before we wished him well and he cycled off.
Then we had a closer look at the ruins of the lodge. There was less of it left standing than I'd expected.
All that's left of the lodge
Here's a link to a photo of it in 1952, in need of some attention but still complete with its roof on.
https://cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2015/01/28/bygone-cairngorm-bothy-photos/
While we were packing our bags to leave the grassy knoll to the resident sheep a vehicle pulled up and spilled out a bunch of guys turning a place of peace and solitude into somewhere that suddenly felt quite busy. They looked official and wandered about with clip boards, taking notes and photographing the ruins of the lodge and the immediate area. We wondered if they had plans to rebuild it but they gave us no eye contact so we didn't ask.
We got on our way again following the track as it turned from gravel to grass and muddy tyre marks, seeing more forlorn evidence of former habitation in the glen.
More ruins and Beinn Iutharn Mhor
We knew we had to make a long rising traverse to reach the bealach between Carn Creagach and Carn Bhac but due to not looking at the map I led us further up the SE flank of Carn Creagach than we needed to go which was warm work in the sun.
Climbing the side of Carn Creagach
The upside of this slight navigational detour was having to stop to apply sun screen and seeing an eagle soaring overhead which we might not have seen if we hadn't sat down. Its wing span was huge and there was no doubt it was an eagle. Given the location I assumed it was a golden eagle but when we mentioned seeing it to fencing workers on our way back down the glen they said it would have been a white-tailed eagle as there's a pair nesting there. I've seen sea eagles on Mull but didn't expect to see one in Glen Ey and I was only seeing it from underneath so couldn't see the white tail! I'm sorry I didn't get a photo but as usually happens with me I was mesmerised watching it until it was a distant blur.
We also came quite close to a herd of deer - their coats a rich russet red in the sun. The sentry deer had been watching us for a while but when we reached the psychological point of unacceptable nearness to where they were grazing they loped off towards the bealach. It looked like they were responding to a pre-arranged signal and I'd love to know what that was. The bealach is where we were heading too so we traversed round the shoulder of Carn Creagach until we got our first view of Carn Bhac, which is so secretive and unspectacular looking it must be one of the least photographed Munros. Looking across the peat hags we could see two paths up and headed for the more substantial one.
Across the bealach to Carn Bhac
The path we followed led to a zigzag climb up a band of rocky scree, which was thankfully short, to top out on the stony summit plateau. From there it was a short walk over boulders and moss to reach the cairn from which the views north were spectacular, making up for the fact the hill itself lacks any features of great character.
Cairngorms from summit
Zoomed to Lairig Ghru
SW to Carn an Righ and Beinn a' Ghlo
Zoomed to Beinn a' Ghlo
Moira at summit cairn
Convenient seating in the windbreak for lunch
For variety we took a different line down heading further south to reach the burn which had a path alongside all the way to where we joined the outward track back to Altanour Lodge.
The path we took down
The burn we followed
View upstream to flat-topped Carn Bhac
The track back to the lodge
The return walk down the glen seemed to take longer than the walk in and we joked about how good it would be if the guys we could see working in the distance would knock off early and offer us a lift. But it was easy walking and on the way out we noticed the recently shorn sheep we'd seen in the morning (clustered around a feeding station looking bemused as if they'd just been shipped in) had all disappeared. Wonder what that was about. We passed the fenced off Piper's Wood (to protect them from deer as an experiment in regeneration) and the Colonel's Bed, a rocky hideout for a Jacobite on the run for murder. Following the Battle of Killicrankie in 1689 the redcoats were unable to find him so made do with plundering his castle while he remained hidden in the gorge..... but his loyal retainers made sure he survived to die of old age and he's buried in Inverey.
Sign for the Colonel's Bed
We reckon we had about 40 minutes to go before reaching the car when we heard the sound of a vehicle behind us. It was the fencing guys we'd seen earlier and joked about them giving us a lift - and that's exactly what they did! It may not have reduced our walking time much but it felt such a bonus to climb into that landrover and be deposited back to the car with no further effort. We still weren't going all that fast and managed a fair bit of chat on the journey, learning that the guys we'd seen at the lodge were prospecting for another forestry regeneration like Piper's Wood. They also told us the sheep we'd seen had just been brought in and dropped off where we saw them looking disorientated earlier and that the eagle we saw was a white-tail not golden. So all in all it was an excellent lift for which we were very grateful!