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Well having been disappointed at not making the Munro Meaderers first Unofficial Big Weekend Out, I gave Tomsie and shout and we settled on a nice easy alternative on the Monadhliath, as that finished that area off for him and was also my first on that side of the A86.
We met up with impecible timing at Garva Bridge and were out walking in decent weather about 9.30am. The route initially crosses over the ancient bridge built by General Wade's lackies, then immediately turns right just past the big Cairngorms National Park stone.
Up ahead the countryside is being crushed beneath the awesome power of man, as the every increasing demand for electricity is serviced by the building of the new Beuly to Denny powerline. One benefit of this however, is the shiny new bridge leading back across the Allt Coire Iain Oig. The bridge even has a wee walk way underneath it for wildlife and sheep!
Staying close to the burn on it's right bank, we followed a muddy path along until the stream split. Here we remained on the right bank and began the plod uphill.
Not long after, we crossed the allt and assaulted Geal Charn.
After crossing the burn, the path disappears, but it's obvious where to go... just keep plodding up the big rounded thing in front of you!!
The views aren't spectacular either until some height is gained, when you can see over to the other Geal Charn beside Creag Pitridh and Beinn a'Chlachair and the out lying foothills of the Creag Meagaidh range.
All too soon though, the steady slope eases off and the summit plateau is gained, with featureless views into the Monadhliath.
For such an easy hill, it has one almighty cairn.
We didn't quite return by the same route, we took a bearing for the neighbouring hill, Beinn Sgiath, and went over the see the wee hanging valley between Geal Charn and Sgiath, but even this wasn't amazing. But as we walked over to Beinn Sgiath, Tomsie dropped his pole. A golden coloured pole on this landscape was like looking for a needle in a haystack, but we got it back!
From the hanging valley, it was a 180 degree turn and a wet, but not as bad as expected, trudge down the glen back to the where we had crossed the burn, then back to the start.
Just in time before the rain started!!
As you can probably tell from the length of the report, not a stunner this one, but it's done and it's now a blue balloon. Roll on better days on better hills.
