Golden Autumn at Monadhliath...until boggy, foggy, boggy
Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2015 9:54 pmThis Autumn looks much better than the unusually bad Summer by the weather and I was looking forward to go to the Mountains again as the forecast for my day off on tuesday was promising for some areas in Scotland. Very nice forecast with a sunshine for the North, but because of a week day my time was limited...no time enough to get far away. The area around Cairngorms looked good for a clear day without any rain so I decided to try the 3 Munros near Newtonmore. Decision made, prepared all my stuff I set alarm for 03:00 am as I wanted to use the advantage of one extra hour for earlier daylight as the clock was just turned back from the Summer Time
- Sunrise over Newtonmore...promising start of the day
- I arrived just before 6:50 am and parked here at Glen Banchor, nobody else there in the early morning time. It's a smaller carpark ( 10-12 cars capacity ), the last one at the end of the road from Newtonmore. I started my walk at 7:01 am continuing the road downhill just behind the car park. There is a bridge over the Allt a Chaorain.
- Shortly after the bridge the road is leading along the River Calder. I jumped closer to the river to snap the colours from the sunrise in the water
- Silent morning's walk.......
- After 1 mile from the car park, I turned right, just before the another bridge and house and followed the track towards North-North-West to the Mountains
- The Mountains ahead...not any of my targets visible yet, still hidden behind them
- The view towards West
- Looking back to the sunrise...
- Still following the path along the stream in the Glen
- ...then turned left and used the smaller path leading to the footbridge via short boggy ground
- Shortly after the footbridge the ground is really boggy, but the sign of the path is still visible. After split of the track, followed the one in the right to the big open grassy area. First sign of the 1st Munro - Carn Dearg. I probably missed a plate "Welcome to the boggy land" but even without I was sure that I'm there.
- Because all the boggy places around, I decided to follow the track in the grass which was ascending gently on the opposite side of Carn Dearg ( Meall na Ceardaich ) and then get the summit from upper level rather than going straight to climb the Munro. Carn Dearg summit ahead in the right...notice the boggy area in the bottom
- The summit of Carn Dearg
- Some nice views from the summit, just limited by the oncoming clouds. I started my walk to the second Munro, looked back towards the Carn Dearg again...
- The endless view from the plateau, walking between the Munro no.1 and Munro no.2. The terrain was hard...grass and stones, but much better than the boggy area in the bottom
- Long walk on the plateau, his is what means clouds free tops...you can't see any cloud as they are hidden in the mist
- ...and this is what means boggy land. Surprisingly I got through just with some mud on my sole only as I was stepping very carefully
- The featureless summit of Carn Sgulain, still misty...no views
- After long time in the fog, finally clear view so I was able to see where I am going to... A' Chailleach ahead, need just walk through the pathless boggy grass and chose any way up
- Munro no.3 - the summit of A' Chailleach, misty...without views again.
- Clear views again while descending from A' Chailleach. A wee bothy in the distance...
- ...a long way through the rough terrain
- Finally joined this wider and more comfortable road
- Near to the car park...looking towards West and enjoying the Autumn colours
I got back to the car park at 13:37, a lot of cars there already in the time. Afternoon just started and I felt great after the refreshment in the hills...ready to drive back home
