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My first walk report!
I've been doing the Munros since November last year and have used WH to get some great ideas for walks. They've largely been walks that have already been described many times over by others, so I've never felt that I had anything new to contribute. But this time I decided to do a reasonably long walk, one that hadn't really been detailed on here (certainly not in a single day), so hopefully if anybody else is thinking about doing this walk - I can safely say that this is possible, in a single day. I am sure may on here will know that most of this walk is largely plateau walking, so... you can get a bit of a jog on in certain places, which is what I do like to do - and is partly reflected in the time taken (which includes stops for photos, food etc).
This walk report is a little delayed, as I did it in August, but I've only just gotten round to taking my photos off my camera
Coming up from Birmingham for just for the bank holiday weekend, I wanted to try and make the most of it. The forecast for Saturday was looking fantastic, just a few passing showers - whereas by Friday night, the Sunday forecast was looking very wet (which it very much was in the end).
I was exhausted by the time I finished driving up to the Ski Centre. I wasn't able to get away from Birmingham early on Friday, so I arrived at the Ski Centre at nearly 2am after a long old 8 hour+ drive. Pretty much the last thing before conking out asleep in the back of the car, was that I'd decided to try and combine the Glas Maol four and the White Mounth seven Munros in a circular route, starting from the Ski Centre. Most routes shown on WH tend to do this as an end-to-end route, but seeing as though I was on my own, this wasn't really an option.
I figured if I could do these 11 Munros in 12 hours or so, then I'd see what the weather was like and how my legs were holding up... and whether I had much energy after 4 hours kip... and then try for the short circuit of the Cairnwell three straight after. As it turns out, I managed the first 11 in just over 10 hours - and had plenty left in the legs, so popped over the A93 and did the remaining ones.
I was awake and leaving my bed (the car) at the Ski Centre by just after 6am and it was looking like a glorious day was on the cards:

So I had an early jog back down the A93 towards Braemar for a mile or so, to pick up the start of the regular Glas Maol circuit:

Just at that point, the rain came in... as I started to wave my fists in the air at MWIS

but it was pretty light, although did stay all the way with me for the very simple plod up Carn an Tuirc:



The top was reached very quickly, where the rain was very much set in now and had turned to sleet, so stopped to jacket up:

I'd met a nice guy named Eddie at the top and we went on together to Cairn of Claise, still in the sleet. This took no time at all:


He was heading off to just do the Glas Maol circuit, so off I went onto Tolmount and the weather had started to pick up nicely:

I'm staggered that Tolmount and Tom Buidhe (and most of the White Mounth) peaks are considered Munros, but hey ho, they make for a good long circuit. I was thinking of doing both Tolmount and Tom Buidhe now, on the off chance I would be running out of time, I could head back and just make this a circuit of six... but I was surprised to check my watch and it wasn't even 8am - so would pick Tom Buidhe up on the way back:

I wasn't too sure from Tolmount whether there'd be a defined route up to Fafernie and then onto Cairn Bannoch, but there was - so it was made easy:

Cairn Bannoch came into view and it was quickly ascended:



There were still passing showers (sometimes heavy), but the weather was really starting to brighten up now - definitely T-shirt and shorts weather, doing the bit of jogging here and there. From this point I could have gone to Broad Cairn first, but opted to visit that on the way back. So went onto Carn an t-Sagairt Mor:


It's a pretty eroded plateau summit:


From here I followed the path back down the way I'd come up and round the hillside of Carn an t-Sagairt Mor, but you really could just head off east from the summit and pick the path up there. It's not steep:

This takes you up to The Stuic and there's just a tiny in and out to reach the summit of Carn a'Choire Bhoidheach

From here, the walk towards Lochnagar offers wonderful views, especially of Loch nan Eun:


But the walk is very simple and you're at Cac Carn Mor in no time with the view of the mound of rock of Lochnagar ahead:

The summit rocks had around 30 people, so they all must have come up from Glen Muick - but was nice to have a wee chat with a few people:


The views from the summit were impressive, with a cracking view back to Cac Carn Mor, to Loch nan Eun and out to Meall Coire na Saobhaidhe:



A bit of malt loaf and a spot of tea and I was ready to head back. A bit of jog and back the way I came. Quick view back to Lochnagar:

And another stop to admire Loch nan Eun:

But otherwise straightforward route - back to Cairn Bannoch to then go on to Broad Cairn:

But on route, with the showers still passing through, a lovely rainbow over the top of Dubh Loch and at the same time picked up a cracking view down Loch Muick, which I hadn't been able to see all day:


The Broad Cairn summit was indistinguishable from most of the others from today...


From here I could see Tom Buidhe clearly and tried to head in a direct line towards it:

It was straight forward going, plodding through heather/scrubs, but it become really quite boggy towards White Water, so seeing as it really wasn't much extra distance, I scooted round back onto the side of Tolmount to pick the path up which then split one way to take you up Tom Buidhe:


From here it was a straightforward route to go back up to Cairn of Claise


And just head off on the very well defined path towards Glas Maol and the top was reached with relative ease:


From the summit, Creag Leacach looked grand and the route along it was very well defined and the weather was truly grand at this point... even time for a selfie at the top




From the summit of Creag Leacach, the Ski Centre looked a long way away....

But the route down was simple and mostly on a vehicle track, so was able to get a bit of a jog on here:


This got me back to the Ski Centre - I was feeling good, so went straight into the short climb up Carn Asoda. There were a few more showers at this point, but they were welcome as was getting rather sweaty by this point...



Less than 15 minutes I was at the top and the views over to The Cairnwell and back across to Glas Maol were nice. I know a lot of people say these walks have been spoiled, but I quite like seeing all these chair lifts and machinery. It at least adds some character, especially after plateau-ing for most of the day...



The route onto Carn a'Gheoidh is very simple - a good chunk on Land Rover tracks. There was a grouse shoot going on around Loch Vrotachan, which looked lovely (the Loch...):


The top gave some good views of Carn Bhinnein and the Munros beyond:



Then it was onto The Cairnwell:





There was the heaviest shower of the day, that came and just seemed to stick right above the summit, so I was happy with the destroyed shelter at the top for a bit:

But this passed and it was a simple route back down to the Ski Centre:


Certainly not the prettiest of walks you will do, but if you're after a long walk (39 miles), then this is a definite possibility! I was staying in Braemar, so it was a short 10 minute drive back... and a few well-earned pints

In a way I was pleased the weather was so pants on the Sunday as it gave me an excuse to have a lie-in...
Hopefully, after taking so many route ideas from people on WH, this will add to the possible longer routes available to users - and people will be able to see that this longer route is definitely possible in a single day... with a little bit of jogging...
