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These hills take a bit of stick, and to be fair, they're far from spectacular, and i'm sure if they weren't Munros, few would bother with them. However, after walking up there today thinking of them as a couple of blue balloons to be gotten out of the way, I found them to be pretty pleasant. The forecast was decent, with predicted low-ish clag early on, to clear in the afternoon.
I arrived at Glen Doll's car park at about 10:30am (£2.00 charge, but an excellent facility), and was soon off up towards Jock's Road. I was expecting a bit of a bog-fest in the lower lying areas after a fair old rainfall overnight. The path through the forest was an indication of what was to come. After a couple of miles, the forest is exited to reveal Glen Doll. I'd been up here for a walk to the shelter with my girlfriend on Friday. There was a slight contrast in conditions....
- Glen Doll on Friday
- Glen Doll today
Hmmm. I hoped that by the time i got to Davie's Bourach, it might have cleared.
- Not exactly.
However, I carried on. This was indeed an absolute bogfest. The path was mostly a quagmire, and i soon discovered my boots were no longer waterproof. A long tedious slog ensued, as did a running hide-and-seek battle with Jock's Road. I finally left it at the Cairn below Crow Craigies, and cut across the slopes (and clag) towards Tolmount. I was now extremely fed up of squelchy ground, endless clag, and seriously questioning the sanity of getting out of bed on a Sunday morning to walk through a marsh. Indeed, i fully expected Gollum to appear to guide me through, muttering about a "a great battle long ago".
Finally, Tolmount's summit appeared after a quick pull uphill, and as if done by order, the clag lifted in the space of a few minutes, and after briefly wondering if I was about to be hit by a stray comet, realised that this was in fact the Sun. Tolmount has a fine summit viewpoint across to the Lochnagar hills, and down into Glen Callater. I sat here for a while, chatted to a couple of guys who were heading off to Tom Buidhe, and another chap and his son who were out on a similar walk. I sat here for a good while, eating an unhealthy number of cheese sandwiches and a "limited edition" 5 finger Kit Kat. Most enjoyable.
- View down to Glen Doll from Tolmount's summit cairn
- Clag briefly threatened
- Glen Callater
I sat here for ages, and considered including Carn an Tuirc and Cairn Of Claise, which looked pretty tempting. However, needing to be back home for 6pm, and anticipating another tedious boggy trudge, I decided to save those for another day. So it was off to Tom Buidhe. There's a reasonably clear path all the way to the summit from Tolmount, although it does disappear in more unpleasant boggy nonsense in the bealach. However it's easily picked up. I briefly stopped to take a couple of photos. And also for a fag.
- I think these are the High Cairngorms
- Down Cannes Glen towards Mount Blair
A quick pull to the summit followed, and yes, to be honest, this is a really boring hill. I took a couple of quick photos then decided to embrace the upcoming trudge through the wet and mud.
- Tom Buidhe Summit
- Cairn Bannoch?
I then spent about half an hour trying (and failing) to keep my balance on the wettest, slippiest hill in Christendom. Finally I arrive at the White Water and began the hilarious task of finding a crossing point. This proved fruitless, and realising that there was little point in keeping my feet dry anyway, just waded through it. It was "refreshing". My uttering of "F***ing Hell" seemed to disturb a grouse close by.
On the plus side, it was still hot and sunny. On the minus side, I hadn't bothered with any sort of sun protection. And I was getting fed up of unending marshland. Eventually i linked up with Jock's Road, which wasn't much better. I did have one hilarious "Vicar of Dibley" moment, standing on a patch of dried-out looking mud, and sinking in it to knee height. Finally i got to the sheltered and a semblance of decent path, and had a highly pleasant walk out, back through Glen Doll to the car park.
- Heather
- Craig Rennett
On balance, an enjoyable day, a couple of munros and some nice weather (which has now left the back of my neck looking redder than Harry Redknapp's cheeks). Tolmount was especially enjoyable and I'd have happily chilled out there for an hour or so. Tom Buidhe, not so much.
My advice to anyone planning these from Glen Doll - wait for a lengthy dry spell (
). And bring sun block.