Sgor an h-Iolaire and Creag nam Ban

[Gordon Ballantyne]

Cold windy day forecast with a shower to start.. GordonC & I mounted up and nipped round for Harvey.
Parked up beyond Littlemill farm, just over the bridge and among the trees on the S side of the road.

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A short way along the track we saw an auld roosty rake that had been abandoned.

An auld buckrake by the track before Loinveg

Strode puposely along the track towards Loinveg, catching up with a keeper who was scanning Glen Girnock from his landrover., casually identifying a Grayhen as it flew past !
A quick news, then off up towards Camlet.

GordonB on the track up to Camlet

At the gate into the Camlet compound, we elected to explore the ground up on to the ridge, as it was a grassy start.

Round the back of Camlet

When we reached the top of the wood, a grassy trough led over to a scoop just to the S of Iolaires's top, so we followed some deer tracks that joined up some grazing neuks then a convenient heather burn up on to the top - simples! The clag had cleared so we got a good view all around although a bit hazy.

H helping with the nav on Iolaire

Headed down off the top for a lee to have our piece, then headed off for the lumpy ridge to the Duchess of Kents cairn. Just after the Duchess's cairn we disturbed a herd of about 30 Red deer stags and hinds. A bit perplexed, as I thought the hinds would be heading off to calf about now - away from any stags, but after a quick google found that they calve mid-may to june and the stags don't mature for 5 yrs,

H & GordonC at the Duchess's cairn

Deer scudding away below the Duchess's cairn

The herd of deer escaping into Glen Girnock

Approaching Creag nam Ban from Iolaire

Headed down to the bealach below Ban then up by the trees and crags to the top.

An ancient Scots pine on the way up Ban

Wandered around the top visiting the cairns and looked across to the near perfect dome Craig Ghiubhais - a Marilyn we'd done some time back.

Iolair from Ban

A plethora of cairns on Ban

Creag Ghiubhais from Ban

We elected to follow the burn down from the bealach, but when we stumbled into moss & heather covered boulders, we moved into the "forest" ( sparsely spaced old trees ) and joined up the grass patches around the trees, then across the marsh to the Ghiubhais track.

Gnarled juniper on the way down Ban

Another magnificent Scots pine by the Ghiubhais track

An easy walk down the track, through the swing gate on to our original track and back to the car.

Swing gate on the Ghiubhais track on the way home

With time running out, we abandoned the second planned hill - Meall Gorm up Glen Muick and headed for the Ballater cafes.
H munched an early pigs lug reward while we supped coffee and ate scones !

No rain, no cloud on our hills and nae too cold, so an altogether grand day out !