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Beep,beep,beep,beep 4.30am and the alarm wakes me for another day of fun and frolics in the mountains with a motley crew known as The Munro Meanderers,this time the crew consist of Jonny616(founder),
Quoman,Dawnfoth,Scottish Leaf,Andy Millar 1 and yours truly GLW.4 hrs later and we are all suited & booted and leaving Linn of Dee in fine mild weather heading for Beinn Bhreac & Beinn a"Chaorainn,we know this will be a long day 31k,but very little acent at just over 900 meters give or take,and we reckon should take around 10 hrs.
Now anyone who knows the walk from Linn of Dee to Derry Lodge will recomend taking a bike to shorten the day,but were purists,well some of us are anyway,some of us cannie go a bike,and some of us have found, shall we say,other ways of shortening the days,but when you walk with me,its all walking,and always will be cause I"m the "purist".We new the weather would take a turn for the worse later in the afternoon so a brisk pace was set and just over an hour after leaving Linn of Dee we are at Derry Lodge,we take a 5 min break here then turn right after the lodge on a good path and head up through whats left of the Caledonian pine trees,for me this area is a truly stunning area and I will never tire of coming here.
Tons of laughs and plent merry making,make the walking a pleasure as we gain height and reach the snow line around 600 meters,but no need for crampons today,the top layer of snow is soft and giving,with a nice sold base below that allows you to dig in with your boots.We can see a party of 3 other walkers behind us and catching up to us at a fair rate,and soon we stop to let them pass,but they stop for a wee chat and one says "how are you jonny" and pulls of his balaclava thats covering his face from the now cold biting wind,its none other than Leithy Suburbs,his girlfriend Basecaddet,and Basecaddets dad Steve,handshakes and greetings exchanged all round,a brief chat where you going and such like,the three of them walk in front of us,and disappear into the clag & ever falling and getting heavier snow.
On wards and upwards,the wind picking up,the snow falling more and more,the clag getting thicker,we all fall into a line with no more than 6 feet between us,all looking back to check the person behindis still there with visability now down to no more than a few feet,we eventualy reach the summit and catch up with Dougie and his group,the weather now has taken a fair turn for the worse,a few quick pictures taken,then we get moving,Jonny takes a bearing,I check his bearing,Quoman checks his GPS,and off we go,the plan is walk 100 steps,stop,take another bearing,check the bearing,check GPS,and repeat,we see Dougie & party doing the same we think,but in this weather its not clear whats happening,after 3/4 reps of 100 steps,take a beaing,check the bearing,check the GPS we stop and have a re think,do we continue,or bail,we know we can navigate our way through this,we know we will get to the 2nd summit at some point,but its going to take a big effort from us all to do this,so after a wee pow-wow,we call it a day,turn and take a bearing for the Fife Arms to return and fight another day.
This was a joint decision,and the right decision,we wonder where Dougie has gone,we also know Dougie is a fine navigaitor,and has plenty of experience along with Basecaddet and her dad,but we all hope they are good.Once wee drop back down a few hundered meters food is taken & the sledging begins,and once back at Braemar some light refreshments are taken before heading for home with the Wales vs England rugby match on the radio,Andy sleeps in the back,Jonny jumps up and down,and generally gets stressed out his box,I drive,say nothing,but have a smug smile on my face,just another brilliant day with the MM crew.
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- Ready for the off
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- The gooch,you need to be there
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- Glen Lui
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- Me taking a pic,of them taking a pic of me
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- 5 min break at Derry Lodge
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- The tree is mounted
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- Caledonian Pines
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- Time for winter gear
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- Beinn Bhreac summit
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- Everybody having a great time
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- Eh,hello,anyone there
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- Group pow-wow
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- Andy Millar
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- Yours truly
