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Decent forecast and just about the only spare day I could nip out, both George and Parminder have already conquered Lochnagar so I opted to go on my own. Lochnagar 5 would be ideal as that would take me up to a nice round ton, 2nd time round. I woke up at 4am and as the alarm was set for 5.45, I kind of dozed and decided to get up just after 4.30 and was on my way north by 5am. Traffic on the motorway was mainly HGV's for obvious reasons, I put the lat & long into the Satnav and it was jsut about 100 miles door to door.
The first problem was the satnav planned to take me on a shortcut avoiding Ballater which in theory was a good idea but the Satnav wasn't aware that the road was washed away a couple of years ago. there was a road sign saying the road was closed and it wasn't until I stopped and spoke to a local who told me about the road.
I found the access road and the next problem was when I left my walking poles at the side of my car, I didn't realise until I had walked about 1km and reached the bridge over the river. I dumped my rucksack and ran initially and this was not a good start, especially as I knew I had the best part of 20 miles to walk. I decided to wear my old boots, as it was dry and they are far more comfortable.
So set off eventually at 7.30am and I remember the walk to Lochnagar being long and a gradual ascent. I was walking at a good pace and into a fairly stiff breeze, it definitely wasn't very summer like. I had my fleece on and I stopped a bit further on and put my jacket, gloves and tammy on - felt a bit warmer now.
Didn't meet anyone until I reached the summit of Lochnagar, 2 guys were on the summit, one guys left as I arrived, I had a brief chat with the other guy. As it was cold I didn't hang around too long.
The paths between each of the summits is very obvious and one thing I wasn't impressed with was the number of cairns on the way to Lochnagar - they were about every 10m WHY?
I only sat down about 3 times and didn't stop many times, I felt really good fitness wise, however my feet were feeling rather tender and the walk out was a bit of a chore, thankfully the views across the loch kept me entertained.
Timings 2hrs 30min to the first summit
35mins to the next one
40mins to the 3rd one
36mins to the 4th
35mins to the 5th and then 2hrs 4mins to walk back to the car.
Phone photo's first
Turned out to be a really great day, I even enjoyed my own company and as always enjoyed the driving. Next for me will be a few Marilyns on the way back from Cheshire next week.
