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Usually, we are so busy in the last days before Christmas and no way we can find time for hillwalking, but this time we somehow managed to squeeze in a "just-before-Xmas" outing to a local hill. Well, maybe not as local as it could be (still an hour drive from home) and not much of winter wonderland atmosphere (blame the mother nature, not us!), but good enough to leave us hoping for more!
We had already climbed the Cromdale Grahams, combining them in
a nice approach from the east. Today, we planned only to visit Creagan a' Chaise, so we picked the advertised WH route from the village of Cromdale. It's a good way to do just the southern of the two Grahams. Of course, we wouldn't be ourselves if we didn't go a little bit off piste
We started from Cromdale with the first rays of daylight. There's a good car park in the center of the village:
We followed a minor tarmac road (waymarked as it's part of Speyside Way) past Lethendry and Claggersnich (which I kept pronouncing "let-hendry" and "clangers-snitch", much to Kevin's amusement
). The tarmac was covered with a thin layer of ice and a few times we were forced to practice some strange pirouettes to save ourselves from going A over T...
Watch yourself, Panther!
Having passed a small forest plantation, we turned right, facing the slopes of Creagan a' Chaise. The track goes past the site of the 1690 Battle of Cromdale. Views were nice already, though everything on this side of the hill was covered in shadows...
On the track to the battle site:
A good track continues around the top side of Claggersnich Wood. The views becoming wider:
At the highest point of the track, we located a faint path, following a line of grouse butts:
The path is boggy in places (mostly frozen today) but as we gained height, we discovered better vistas:
It didn't take us long to reach the ridge, or should I say plateau, as it's very wide as for "ridge". To the left, Carn a' Ghille Charr proudly presented itself in the morning light:
We took a short break by the Coronation Cairn and snapped some photos:
From this imposing cairn, it's almost a flat walk to the summit. We slowed down and enjoyed a nice stroll in the winter sunshine. The best views were to the south-west at the moment:
...but we hoped for more interesting views from the top, especially towards the Cairngorms.
Shame we didn't encounter much snow. There was one large patch just below the summit:
We wandered around the flat summit area with our cameras for quite a while, snapping photos and gazing in the distance. The previous time we were on this hill, it was a very windy day and we ran down as quickly as we could
Now, with very little breeze at all, we could spend more time on the top. It was cold but not baltic enough to put us off
Panther posing with Carn a' Ghille Charr and Ben Rinnes:
A few patches of fluffy cloud above the hills of the Lecht pass:
More cloud covered, or should I say "cuddled" the Cairngorm plateau:
A couple of zooms to the Cairngorms:
Zoom to Ben Rinnes. A re-visit to this hill is planned next year, including a little known plane crash site on the northern side of the Corbett.
Having reached the cairn, we took off our rucksacks, placed Lucy the Lamb on the cairn, dug up a flask of tea and a box with traditional Polish Christmas cake (poppyseed strudel, my grandma's recipe). A pair of dog walkers with their pooches were on the summit as well and they looked at us suspiciously, as we arranged our picnic by the cairn, then they decided they wanted nothing to do with weirdos and quickly left. God bless them
Me and Lucy on the summit, her 87th Graham:
The last remnants of snow on the slopes of Carn Tuairneir. Hopefully, there's more to come in January. I don't want another "so-called winter"!!!
After a long break on the summit and polishing off the last bits of strudel, we walked back down. We aimed for the coronation cairn, but Kevin had a look a the map and decided, we should go off-piste... of course! He always wants to be original, even if it means swimming in heather
Looking back to the summit:
Kevin taking the shortcut:
We descended along the minor stream, Alt na h-Eirigh and actually, it wasn't bad. Some heather to negotioate, but generally easy going. I wouldn't recommend this approach as an ascent route though. Too overgrown.
We descended back to the Piper's Stone track and followed it back to Lethendry.
The hills of Cromdale from the track:
On the way donw, we too a short detour to the ruins of 16th century Lethendry Castle, it is fenced off and can only be viewed from outside:
The castle was connected to the Battle of Cromdale and is described as "a rare example of a small 16th-century tower". Shame it is in such a state of dissaray, but to be honest, it's not unusual for old listed buildings to look like that. Many of them have been left to fall apart, simply due to lack of funds needed to consolidate them.
More info on the castle and its history here:
https://ancientmonuments.uk/132197-lethendry-castle-badenoch-and-strathspey-ward#.XgJGG_zgqM8We really enjoyed this "pre-Christmas quickie". Would be better with more snow on the ridge... But I shouldn't complain, as weather was fantastic. We are now planning to return and re-visit the other Cromdale Graham, preferably in more wintry conditions!
Hopefully, we will have the opportunity to visit another hill during the festive holidays (weather looks promising) and for now, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all Walkhighlanders from me and Kevin
