free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
Back up to the Cairngorms this weekend, with the promise of hot weather on Sunday at least. Grantown on Spey caravan park was selected for its proximity to the hills of Cromdale and a good choice it ws too - one of the nicest mainstream sites we've stayed in. Trouble free motor up the A9 after work brought us to pitch by 6pm and I wasted little time gettting the meal on which was enjoyed al fresco. We could see the 2 Cromdale Hills - Carn a'Ghille Chearr (Hill of the wronged or awkward boy) and Creagan na Chaise (Hill of Cheese) from our tent.
DSC00260 by
Al, on Flickr
DSC00263 by
Al, on Flickr
Saturday brought a cool morning with some mist over the tops. We drove to Wester Rynaballoch and parked the car on a verge then set off up a track, quickly having to cross heather to reach a higher track serving grouse butts. The "wronged boy" looked a fair way off in the distance. We ascended to the spine of the hills and walked along, not too boggy. To the northeast rose Ben Rinnes, sticking proud out of the surrounding landscape. Behind us emerged the snow capped Cairngorms, merging into the grey sky. Soon we'd got to the trig and wandered over to the nearby cairn. I'd read there was an aircraft crashsite nearby but didn't find it.
DSC00265 by
Al, on Flickr
Ghille Chearr
DSC00266 by
Al, on Flickr
Ben Rinnes
DSC00268 by
Al, on Flickr
DSC00270 by
Al, on Flickr
We trotted back the way we'd come with Cheese Hill looking a long way away. Stopped for lunch in a hollow out of the wind then pressed on. Visited the Coronation Cairn for Edward VI in 1902 (built on the site of the Coronation Bonfire) - impressive. Cheese Hill rose up behind an impressive but nameless coire and as we drew near we could see the large castled cairn on the summit, dwarving the trig point. Apparently there was a visitors' book, but we couldn't find it. Did find a large eagle's feather though.
Coronation Cairn
DSC00273 by
Al, on Flickr
It's big!
DSC00274 by
Al, on Flickr
Creagan na Chaise
DSC00275 by
Al, on Flickr
View back to Ghille Chearr
DSC00276 by
Al, on Flickr
DSC00278 by
Al, on Flickr
Jubilee Cairn
DSC00279 by
Al, on Flickr
From here it was a skip over to the Simm of Carn Tuairneir (Turner's Hill?) which gave a good view of Creagan na Chaise. We returned by the outward route as far as the Coronation Cairn then contoured down the hillside to meet a track which took us above the site of the Battle of Cromdale in 1690 - a rather meagre affair by all accounts although my Scottish history is in need of a brush up. Back towards the starting point, passing a couple of blokes out shooting. Lots of different sorts of traps along the tracks today, although none of them occupied.
Creagan na Chaise from Carn Tuairneir
DSC00281 by
Al, on Flickr
DSC00283 by
Al, on Flickr
Back to Grantown on Spey, a visit to the well stocked CoOp and another meal outdoors. Unfortunately the temperature was in single figures and we ended up sitting in belay jackets with a sleeping bag around our knees - not really a summery evening
We were woken the following morning by a very musical crow who walked round the tent a few times making some very un-Crow like noises. Shower, breakfast and off before 9am. Today's hill was to be Cook's Cairn, out near Glen Livet. We drove through Tomintoul and up to Tomnavoulin then to the parking place at Allanreid. One car there already. We set off into the sunshine, initially crossing over the Livet prematurely and having to check the map to find we should have stayed on the north side of the water and follow an unclear track, which soon became more prominent. Through farmland then a small cluster of trees before coming to another footbridge, which we did cross correctly this time.
DSC00285 by
Al, on Flickr
DSC00286 by
Al, on Flickr
The track now took us alongside the river, sometimes flooded requiring evasive action along the edges. We could see a solitary building up ahead, with a red tin roof - Allison wondered if it was a bothy, which indeed it was - Suie Bothy. We had a wander in - a proper bed, various furnishings and a pin-up poster of highland cows - all a little creepy! We walked on past another 2 derelict buildings - I explored the first which seemed in reasonable order with wood panelled walls and almost intact ceilings. I always like to wonder about who lived in places like these, how long they've lain empty and what life was like. The valley did strike me as a beautiful and remote-seeming place - I'm sure the sunshine helped that favourable impression.
DSC00287 by
Al, on Flickr
Suie Bothy
DSC00289 by
Al, on Flickr
DSC00290 by
Al, on Flickr
Tasteful Decor
DSC00291 by
Al, on Flickr
Bothy Pin-Ups
DSC00292 by
Al, on Flickr
Continuing along the track we took the left hand split towards Cook's Cairn which we could see poking out from behind Carn na Bruar (a Simm we intended to take in on the return path). The path rose gradually and turned left to ascend Cook's Cairn. Several rows of ATV tracks escorted us to the summit cairn, where we stopped for lunch. Ben Rinnes once more dominated the skyline, with the gentle back of Corryhabbie Hill before it. The wind had got up considerably, cooling us down a little too much from our exertions and threatening to make off with bags of crisps etc.
Carn na Bruar with Cook's Cairn poking out behind
DSC00295 by
Al, on Flickr
Summit Cook's Cairn, Ben Rinnes behind
DSC00297 by
Al, on Flickr
DSC00298 by
Al, on Flickr
Returning to the bealach we set about going up Carn na Bruar - a straightforward job. Rocky at the summit with 2 cairns. We made a bee-line down the SW slopes to regain our outward track and sauntered cheerily back the way we'd come. We saw a couple of folk in the bothy garden as we passed. Back to the car - scorched by the first proper summery day we've had this year. Drove home via Braemar and a stop off for a tasty curry at The Banana Leaf.
Carn na Bruar from Cook's
DSC00299 by
Al, on Flickr
...and Cook's from Carn na Bruar
DSC00300 by
Al, on Flickr
DSC00304 by
Al, on Flickr
DSC00306 by
Al, on Flickr
