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After the recent "decent" weather Parminder and I both had a free day from our babysitting/family commitments. So where to go? The forecast was good and as George wasn't available I opted for hills that could utilise our bike, it was a toss up between An Sgarsoch and neighbour or Ben Avon and neighbour. I remember Sgarsoch was a 'proper' cycle and the terrain was rather boggy especially between the two hills. So Ben Avon it was.
As we were now starting to get more daylight hours I suggested to Parminder to pick me up at 5.30 and hopefully we would be walking by 8am. The plan worked a treat as we set off just before 8am and it was very cold so we didn't hang around.
I haven't bothered with a map as we followed the WH route (almost) and having checked my blog it was almost 5 yrs since my last visit also in March - not at much snow.
Inflation, was £2.50 last time I was there
Not very busy and there were no other vehicles on our return
The local blurb
Nice little loch
Good road to cycle on - initially
Still good
Still good
Snow and ice now starting to appear
Track still OK for us non cyclists
It doesn't take much of an incline for us to dismount
Won't be long before we abandon our bikes
Bikes dumped, track too icy and snowy for us
Time to get ourselves ready for the monster hike
Typical path in the Cairngorms
Interesting trees
The way ahead
Not far to the remains of Slugain, bit of ascending before we reach the ruin first
Bit more ascending yet
Looking back
Parminder leading the way
Very picturesque
Slugain remains
Plodding on
Parminder demonstrating how to wade through snow uphill
Parminder finding some deeper snow
The way ahead for us is to follow the footsteps on the right
Not many footsteps as we took a slightly wrong turn
Parminder leading the way, saves me having to keep looking behind
The way ahead, follow the footsteps
Still a long way to go
My turn to lead the way
The way ahead
The burn that wriggles it's way downhill is like a road in Dumfries and Galloway
Looking back, Parminder lagging behind a bit
Looking NW towards Beinn a'Bhuird
The way ahead
One of the burns that we could see
Lunch time before another bit of going up
Parminder ready to follow me uphill
The final stretch up to the Sneck, having said that it was still a struggle
Parminder was really struggling now and suffering with leg cramps
Way ahead
Looking back
Need more practice at this selfie lark
Waiting for Parminder, once he caught up he told me he was really suffering. He decided that he couldn't go any further, especially as we had about 10km to walk back to our bikes. He said he was happy for me to head up to the summit and he would dawdle back until I caught him up. That sounded like a good plan but it was one hell of a struggle for me.
Looking back again
Cracking photo looking back shows how I skirted round a lump
I had finally reached the Sneck, it was windy, cold and very icy
Looking west
Looking across to Beinn a'Bhuird, our original plan was to include it on our walk but that was a definite no
The way up from the Sneck, I now had my spikes and jacket on
One of the big lumps on the huge plateau of Ben Avon
The summit of Ben Avon, still about 1km to go!!!
Not far now
Looking back/west across the Cairngorm plateau
The summit group of rocks, very icy
Video taken just below the summit
Heading back now, looking back as the summit cleared of a brief bit of low cloud
Camera photo zoomed
Estate staff hunting?
Turned out to be a really brutal but fantastically enjoyable day. Huge thanks to Parminder not only for driving but also for allowing me to summit and sacrificing his day, I understand how tough it is to make 'that' decision, especially as he was only about 3km from the summit. Having said that they were 3 very tough km especially the icy ascent up from the Sneck.
