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First of all a few of my colleagues and friends have embarked on training for a charity challenge taking place in May of this year, so I thought I'd get the shameless plug in early: visit our facebook page at
http://www.facebook.com/13in24 to find out more and, if you wish, sponsor us at
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/13in24.
Anyway this was the first training walk for the challenge and an easy break in to the training. We set off from the deen on what was to be a beautiful crisp winters day, and parked up at the lay-by beside the forest near Baddoch in Glen Clunie. We climbed up to the Sgor Mor and began our traverse across the An Socach ridge. Most of the hard work was done and at this point some cracking views of the surrounding hills opened up.
- View west
- Views towards Glenshee with the masts on top of the Cairnwell easily spotted.
- View north west towards the Cairngorms
After a quick bite to eat we continued on our way to the target of the day An Socach. When we reached the summit, we had lunch and took in the breathtaking scenery, did I say it was a beautiful day!!
- Views on the way to the summit towards the Cairgorms
We then descended toward the path that runs parallel with Baddoch burn where we met a Royal Rambler, the Prince of Wales. We didn't stop to chat but a quick hello to the next in line to the throne was a great end to the day. After negotiating a few tricky burns we made it back to the cars just as the sun was setting, a great day was had by all.
- Our descent route
- The 13in24 Team negotiate one of the many burns