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Ahhh, the bank holiday weekend. Usually it rains cats and dogs. Surprisingly, this one was sunny. All right, some showers about, but plenty of bright spells, too. Days are long enough now to plan long walks. I was optimistic after Beinn Dearg four, that my knee has fully recovered and I could tackle long distance walking now, as long as I didn't do anything stupid. How I missed meowing on remote peaks!
We have a long list of "biggies to-do" and every summer, we successfully tick off a few challenging routes. Now, being slower, some of the longest walks seem even more illusive, but I'm trying to stay positive. For last Saturday, I was torn between Glenfinnian Munros and Strathfarrar Quad, but somehow we found ourselves in the Cairngorms
Here goes my planning - we never do what we intended a few days earlier, usually just follow the weather... Next week we intend to go camping and I decided not to plan anything at all, because we always end up somewhere else anyway
We didn't have much left to climb in the Cairngorms, basically five Munros around Moine Mhor. They can be all reached from Glen Feshie. We agreed, that we would climb up to Moine Mhor plateau and then decide which of the five M's we could tackle. In the end, we did the classic Beinn Bhrotain - Monadh Mor walk, leaving Cairn Toul group for the next trip. Luckily, we have already climbed Braeriach (from Sugar Bowl) so this leaves us Cairn Toul - Angel's Peak - Devil's Point traverse, which is a big walk but doable in a day, and I can't wait to get my paws on "Angels and Demons" as we nicknamed this trio
Hopefully later this year.
As for Mor-Bhrotain traverse, it's a long walk as well, with more or less the same ascent as for Beinn Dearg group, plus it can be tricky navigation if cloud comes down. I remembered, from the time when we climbed the Sgorr Gaoith, that the Moine Mhor plateau seemed big and featureless. I was glad we had good conditions this time, at least we could see where we were going
So the morning saw us arrive in Glen Feshie, full of attitude, rucksacks loaded with extra food and water for the long day that awaited us...
Panther ready to go, banana for breakfast
We didn't encounter any midges, which was a pleasant surprise. Feshie midges are one of the most vicious ones, they attack even in heavy rain (my personal experience!), so we were happy to avoid them this time. We walked along the tarmac to Achlean and then took the well made path through the forest:
Once out of the woods, we continued to climb up the slope to Carn Ban Mor. Behind us, there was a superb panorama of Glen Feshie:
It's been warm recently and snow, even in the Cairngorms, is mostly gone, just a few patches here and there. No need to carry winter gear. I was warming up for the big adventure!
Glen Feshie from above:
Plenty of high cloud above us, I knew it wasn't going to be a scorchio day, but I prefer cooler conditions. To the south/west, the sun shone over the Monadhliath plateau:
The path is excellent. When we did Gaoith/Mullach route in 2010, I recall, it was badly eroded, but it has been nicely repaired since then:
Zoom to Creag Meagaidh group:
The climb up Carn Ban Mor is quite relentless and less fit walkers might find it hard, 700m of constant ascent. I didn't want to push it too hard and overwork my poor knees, but we still kept a relatively decent pace. Just as we reached the small cairn at the top of the ridge, where paths cross, I looked behind and saw a young chap catching up with us. Dear Lord, and I thought I was doing well. At that moment I felt old. Old, slow, fat and wrinkly
But whatever silly thoughts came to me, they vanished the very moment when I looked east. Here, so close yet so far, were the Angels and Demons of the Cairngorms:
Our target - Monadh Mor:
After a short snack break, we followed a well-worn path over Moine Mhor. This path soon joined a wide track. For a time being, the feeling of wilderness and solitude was spoiled, but there would be more of that to come later
The track and Cairn Toul in the background:
Back to Sgorr Gaoith. I'd fancy this one in winter conditions:
Braeriach. I'm so glad I have already climbed it. Adding this one to Angels and Demons would be far too much for me...
It was so annoying, that after climbing 700m, we had to lose height again to cross the upper reaches of River Eidart... Which itself was only a small burn at this point:
I had a good look at the slopes of the big Munros to the east - doesn't look too bad for the future expedition:
We reached Tom Dubh, which to my surprise is a Munro top. Such an insignificant lump in the ground, overshadowed by the much higher Monadh Mor, that we didn't even bother to take our traditional cairn snaps. Kevin suggested a longer break, cuppa and sandwich with nice views around. I glanced at my watch, it took us only 3 hours to reach Tom Dubh from the car park. That's a very good time for my current shape. Knees also felt fine. Yuppie, time for a break!
We lazed about on Tom Dubh for quite a while, but eventually i reminded Kevin, that we still had two Munros to climb today
We descended slightly to cross Allt Luineag. The river was not in spate, but we couldn't find anywhere to cross on stepping stones. Kevin wasn't really eager to take off his boots, so he dug up gaiters, put them on and picked what seemed the shallowest line of attack. He walked across without any problems. After fumbling with my gaiters for a few minutes, I followed.
Although in the picture below it looks benign, I can understand that in spate conditions, this river could be a serious problem...
Now, the final ascent to Monadh Mor was a formality. Just a grassy slope with a few boulderfields scattered around:
Sgorr Gaoith and Allt Luineag from half way up the final ascent:
Looking west, you know you are in the Cairngorms... The neverending plateau:
The summit of Monadh Mor is pretty flat, with a large cairn. I run to the highest point first and posed for my summit photo. Munro no. 184! Lucy claimed her 15th:
Our second target, Beinn Bhrotain:
Glen Geusachan and Deeside:
Towards Cairn Toul:
Zoom to Devil's Point:
Kevin's first new Munro this year! No wonder he's smiling
We didn't linger on the first Munro for too long, after a quick photo session we continued to Beinn Bhrotain:
This was, I must say, the most interesting part of the route. Views across Glen Geusachan are breathtaking...
...and the Munro in front of us has an interesting, steep cliffs on its eastern side:
The final meters of descent to the bealach are on quite eroded path, we managed without falling but in wet weather this spot could be very slippery. Now, we had only the last 150m of ascent to the summit of Beinn Bhrotain, mostly on boulders.
View back to Monadh Mor from the slopes of Beinn Bhrotain:
The summit is topped with one large stone shelter...
...and one smaller, with the trig point in the middle. I celebrated my 185th Munro - Lucy did her 16th:
It was time now for another break, but first, I took some time to record panoramas...
Kevin's no. 196, he's only a stroll away from a double ton!
Weather has improved for the afternoon, still plenty of high cloud, but sun shone through.
One heavier cloud lingered over the eastern sky:
I was so busy taking photos, that I didn't even notice that we were not alone on the summit! Can you spot the wee visitor on the cairn?
There were actually two of them: male and female snow bunting. A very friendly couple - didn't mind posing for photos
obviously they were used to the sight of people by the summit cairn, maybe they hoped for grub. Sadly, all we had left was chocolate and apples, not exactly the kind of food snow buntings would appreciate
The snow bunting photo session is posted in Wildlife section:
http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=63280The birds did leave us after 10 or 15 minutes, probably disappointed they didn't get a snack
We stayed a bit longer, stretched our legs and enjoyed the afternoon sun. But we knew, we still had a long way to go back and the return route included some re-ascent. So off we went, retracing steps back to Monadh Mor, then down to the Moine Mhor plateau. I was afraid, my knees might protest on the final ascent back to Carn Ban Mor, but surprisingly, they behaved. It was my foot soles that felt sore, after countless miles of trudge over paths, grass and boulders. And the top of CBM still looked just as far...
It's a long way -- back to Glen Feshie
It's a long way -- to go
It's a long way -- across the plateau
And my feet are falling off!
I was relieved to reach the CBM path. The final descent back to Glen Feshie almost MADE my feet fall off, but I couldn't bring myself to complain. The evening was lovely and we stopped countless time to take photos of Glen Feshie below:
Tired but happy - and with enough strength and stamina to finish the walk with a smile!
It took us a reasonable time of 10 hours (including breaks) to complete this route. And I was really glad to have two well behaving knees for the first time in months
.....
I can understand why MM and BB have such a bad reputation, of being boring hills. If climbed in poor weather, this route would feel bland and neverending, just constant up and down, up and down over boring lumps and bumps. But the views on a good day are truly amazing and justify the effort put into reaching these remote peaks. Such is the flavour of the Cairngorms!
We really enjoyed this grand day out and we're hoping to come back soon to finish the business with Angels and Demons
.....
Our second outing on bank holiday weekend took us to one of the steepest glens in western Scotland. TR to come soon.
