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Last day of a fortnight's holiday, depression setting in with the thought of work tomorrow so I was after something fairly close to home and with cloud forecast on the tops another day to drop down to a Corbett. Sgor Mor seemed perfect, a fairly short drive, one of the lower Corbetts and on a good day, great views.
Unusually for me, a bit of forward planning so stopped in Braemar to get the pre walk faff out the way (sort out the rucksack, apply midge stuff, get the walking socks on etc etc) reducing the chances of midge warfare in the Linn of Dee car park on a flat calm morning.
Surprisingly, to begin with things weren't too bad but it was only my blood that was on offer at 7.30am so word spread that breakfast had arrived and before long I bailed out to the parking area for the buses (which is more open).
So, off and running (not quite but not far off it) by 7.30am, overcast, flat calm but no threat of rain. I don't know how many times I have walked to White Bridge, it's always enjoyable but no real surprises in store so just got the head down and covered the distance in 50 minutes.
- River Dee
- River Dee
- Looking back towards Linn of Dee
- White Bridge
Just before White Bridge I took the path to the right and continued to follow the Dee into Glen Dee with a quick stop at the Chest of Dee for some photos.
- Path after White Bridge
- Chest of Dee
- Chest of Dee
- Chest of Dee
Unfortunately standing still wasn't an option so after a couple of minutes I was forced to move on and continued on the path for a further ten minutes before deciding it was time to leave the path behind and strike off towards Sgor Mor. It doesn't seem to matter too much where the path is left, I probably could have carried on for a further 5 minutes but the gradient seemed OK so off I went.
To be honest, this is no great climb, the gradient is never hard going it's just a constant climb through grass/heather. I crossed an unnamed burn (on my OS map - between Sgor Mor and Carn Mor), the crossing was easy but underfoot conditions worsened.
- Sgor Mor appearing
- Little waterfall - unnamed burn
- Top getting closer
With the wet conditions I found myself trying to walk through the heather rather than the grass as this was the drier route but by doing this I was disturbing the midge population and as I was climbing I was now easier to keep up with and things were getting nasty - still no bloomin breeze
Decision taken, stuff the dry feet, take the grassy route where possible and leave the midge in peace. To a degree this worked but my arms were now covered with dead midge and I seemed to spend a fair bit of time trying to get the little buggers out of my ears.
Stopping is definitely not an option so I found myself on the summit 2hrs after leaving the Linn of Dee car park. Coming from this direction there were no views and then all of a sudden on the top the views opened up to the Lairig Ghru, Beinn Bhrotain, The Devil's Point and beyond, Carn a'Mhaim, Ben Macdui and Derry Cairngorm - even with cloud cover this is a fantastic spot. Sadly, even on the top there is no breeze so 5 minutes was my limit before I put on long sleeves (nothing to do with the temperature) and headed back the way I came.
- The Devil's Point with Corrour Bothy just a tiny white dot in the distance
- Carn a' Mhaim with Ben Macdui behind
- Sgor Mor top
- Sgor Mor top looking towards Glen Tilt
- One last look at The Devil's Point with just the odd hint of sunlight on the lower slopes
Couldn't care less where I put my feet on the way down, just a case of keeping ahead of the swarm behind me and my pace must have been good as they never caught me
- Route down
Got my bearings slightly wrong on the way down, I came out on a path and turned left and followed it for a couple of hundred yards before I realised that it ran parallel with the normal path up the glen but was higher up on the hill so left it and started heather bashing again coming out at the Chest of Dee.
Back on the track at White Bridge it was now safe to stop and grab a sandwich to eat on the move on the good track back to Linn of Dee.
- Heading down the glen
- Morrone in the distance
Back at the car in under 4hrs, a shorter day out than I expected but for reasons I may have mentioned earlier, not a day for standing around (Garmin showed I was stopped for 11 minutes in total).
This is an easy hill with fantastic views and would probably be one to do later in the year as the views would be brilliant with some snow around. It's also a good walk in late August, just not on a calm day
Taking the Germaline to work with me tomorrow.