A memorable stag with 2 great guys

[fhaoilgeal]

Congratulations Kev on your upcoming nuptials.
Wishing you both much happiness and joy.

Excellent report and a superb way to spend your stag party...on the hills with friends.
(Is your missus-to-be also a hill walker?)

[Alastair S]

According to Adam Watson, the best of all the tors is Clach Bhan (heading up to Ben Avon from Inchrory).

Clach Bhan sounds like a must do - once I get my mountain bike (just days away, courtesy of the bikes to work scheme) I'm sure to be up this way a lot more. There are loads of tracks from Gairnshiel Lodge (A939), Corgarff & Tomintoul.

[HighlandSC]

the recent photos of the Barns (HighlandSC?) of Bynack More

I did take a few on this report: Bynack More (inc. the Barns of Bynack)

Alastair S also took some in HDR pics on a recent report: http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=6558

[Paul Webster]

Just looking stuff up - Watson also mentions Clach Bun Rughtair - a couple of km n from Clach Choutsaich..

.. a group of rocks stnading up like gigantic rhinosaurus horns... These and Sabhalan Beithneag on Bynack Mor [Barns of Bynack] are the highest and most impressive tors in the Cairngorms... the middle on sticks up highest, reaching 25m, and has a window right through it

I think Ben Avon tor-bagging could become the next big thing

[kevsbald]

Wow - count me in for the next trip to the Tors. Get to the Torsmobile! Cheers for that Paul.

[kinley]

Great looking trip!

That approach from Glen Gairn is much better for exploring some tors - did you climb Clach Choutsaich? I didn't manage to get up that.

Agree with Paul - a wild camp from the NE (Cock Bridge for me) would be highly enjoyable.

Some great pics and a sense of a fun trip

All you need now is to persuade the future SWMBO to order you out walking

[Graeme D]

I fancy going that way as a wild-camp trip from Tomintoul, maybe next May.

Agree with Paul - a wild camp from the NE (Cock Bridge for me) would be highly enjoyable.

Do yourselves a favour then guys, gonnae no go in over Brown Cow Hill and descend SW towards Loch Builg! Just gonnae no! Absolutely brutal terrain. I parked at Cock Bridge and after rattling off Carn Ealasaid, headed in over BC Hill from the NE. The ascent up from the Carn Oighreag track isn't too bad, but the descent off the other side did my head something terrible. How I ever made it to our designated campsite without doing an ankle I'll never know!

[malky_c]

Sounds like you picked the wrong route, although we'll see when you do your report. I went up and down Brown Cow Hill from that general side and found it OK (link).

[kinley]

I was planning just that Graeme - was it terrain or vegetation that was the issue for you?

[Graeme D]

I was planning just that Graeme - was it terrain or vegetation that was the issue for you?

Hmm, dunno really, bit of both I suppose. I possibly did take a poor line (you'll see the route of descent when I actually get round to reporting). Rather than follow the ridge round to the west of Cairn Sawvie and then down to the track to the north of Loch Builg, I took a more direct line to the tiny lochans at the southern end of the loch. This was a much less steep slope of descent than the alternative, but it was just a real slog - uneven terrain under really thick, course heather cover. I was stumbling quite a bit, perhaps because I was aware that I was later than I had planned and was therefore pushing the pace a bit and possibly because I was a bit knackered anyway after spending the previous few days laying a new garden path.