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I arrived at the car park at the bottom of the brae after coming over the pass at Glen Shee in thick cloud. Here it looked like the cloud was lifting and after sitting in the car for half an hour the sun was breaking out. So decided to go for it. The top of Carn an Tuirc was still in cloud but I was hopeful it would lift completely by the time I got there. Over the stone bridge the path is a bit boggy at first but quickly becomes a good well worn path.
Carn an Tuirc by
Joe Kincaid, on Flickr
It didn't take long to hit the slopes and make the climb up.
Looking back to car park, Glen Clunie by
Joe Kincaid, on Flickr
There are numerous tracks through the stones so I went for the most direct to the summit. A bit more of a scramble through stones but I don't mind these.
Carn an Tuirc top in the clouds by
Joe Kincaid, on Flickr
Typical, took me an hour to get to the top and it was still in cloud. I had my lunch in the shelter there out of the wind and waited half an hour to see if the vis would get any better. One brief moment of sunshine through the clouds then gone for good. I had wanted to get a view of Loch Kander so I set off in that direction to see if it was still below the clouds. I followed the ridge down till I met the track marked on the map and then followed it down and down and down, still nothing to see over the edge when I went over to look. Eventually got to the end and Glen Callater appeared offering a rapidly disappearing view of Loch Callater.
Loch Callater disappearing in the cloud by
Joe Kincaid, on Flickr
It was now very dark and the cloud was heavy enough to make me wet as well as the ground. I still had summer boots on (ever the optimist) and my feet were getting wet too. I walked back up the track and headed over towards Cairn of Claise. Now the vis was 50 metres and I really didn't fancy a long walk in wet feet so I headed back to Carn an Tuirc and down and out of the clouds back to the car. As usual it started to clear and I had dried out by the time I got back, except my feet. Still glad I called it a day and of course driving back to Edinburgh it was a lovely afternoon.
