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So the weather man said it was to be cloudy in the East but brightning up later on. I am hoping not that cloudy. After the beautiful weather we have had, surely it can't be that bad.
Ok, so this is a long day for this time of year and an early start is necessary, but did you really have to get up at 0510 Dawn!!
I mean seriously. Who does this? I haven't got up at this time for hills in the last 10 years!
In the car at 0600 and looking forward to the day.
At 0745 I leave the car park at Damunzie House Hotel, which for your information is £2.50 - pop into reception and they will give you a raffle ticket. The stags are bellowing on the opposite hill, Ben Gulabin making their presence known.
There is frost on the ground and the road is slippy. There is a sign indicating the route to Glenlochsie Lodge or Gleann Taitneach, so you can't go wrong here.
- At the start of the day looking South East
I was aware that there is a disused railway line and found it immediately, though it does disappear and a landrover track intervenes. If you follow the landrover track it will take you to the Lodge, but there is a river to cross twice, so in spate this may be a bad decision. I took the railway line as I didn't want to get wet at the start of the day so I went cross country I cut across the heather to reach it. It was easy to follow, though a bit soggy in places even with the snow and frost on the ground. There were a couple deer on the track below. There is a little bridge crossing the stream and I cut across to the track. Took me 1hour to reach the Lodge (I think thats a bit slow).
The snow is thick on the ground (about 3-4 inches) just beyond the Lodge and its soft and fresh. Further up, it gets alot deeper. I have short legs, but I was knee deep on more than one occassion!
The cloud is also low and I have this feeling it isn't going anywhere in a hurry!
The only other prints in the snow are that of deer, a very large Stag, Grouse and hare. I plod on and eventually a pile of rocks appears. Hurrah! I must be doing something right!
Further up another cairn, then just when I am hoping for another one to re-assure me, there's nothing.
My eyes feel strained. The sun is shining, but I am surrounded by blinding cloud and the ground all around me is white! This was to be the order of the day.
I followed the track, which was only obvious because it was solidly white. It seemed to go on forever. I think perhaps because I couldn't see anything, I had no idea how high I was. So finally, I reached a point where I decided to get the map back out and the track should veer off to the right. Found it within minutes and headed up in the only direction that seemed logical. There was a large cairn and a fence post.
What to do now...? My compass is running rings around me. I think its broken. I can see my footprints and the summit has to be higher than this cairn, so I wander off, literally. I know that I can follow my footprints back. I stumble on another fence post. Then I see it!! Yaaaas!! The trig point. I have made it.
Took me guide book time to summit 3hr 20mins
If there wasn't a track heading up this hill, I would never have managed it and I would have turned back long ago. Bugger if I am going to kill myself trying to get to Carn an Righ. It will have to wait for a different day. After all, it's not going anywhere!
I have a sandwich on the summit, but its too cold to hang about for anything else. I shovel it in and quickly put waterproof trousers on and follow my prints back.
I meet a couple about half an hour from the summit, then a rather handsome chap followed by two blokes and a couple. Seems I am not alone on the hill after all. I was hoping to sledge on my bum, but the snow is too soft and the ground just isn't steep enough. Boo!
When I reach the Lodge I have some orange jelly with mandarin segments - delicious! I am in no hurry to get back and decide to take the track back. The river was not as easy as I thought it would be to cross, but I did get over it without getting soaked both times. I think in summer this would definately be a faster route (other than the disused railway line).
Returned to the car at 1345