I decided at about 5:55am that i could drive 60 miles to Glen Muick, do the round in 7 hours, and get home in enough time to get cleaned up, dressed and make a 6:45pm pick up for a bus to a mate's wedding. Such things seem entirely easy when you're half asleep.
So, decision made, lunch and other gear hastily thrown in backpack, petrol and fags purchased, I made for Glen Muick. The busy Spittal Car Park (£3.00 charge) was reached at 8:45, and i was off at 9:00am. The paths for this route are mostly excellent and it's almost impossible to go wrong. Lochnagar's crags are visible from almost the word go.
- Start of the walk-in
There were a few stags hanging about at the start as well!
- Interested Spectator
The ascent path is mostly gentle, winding it's way up a gorge (Clais Rathadan), then climbs a bouldery slope after leaving the bealach with Meikle Pap. Lochnagar's crags are pretty special.
- Lochnagar Corrie
The walk follows the crags round to the eventual summit area. I took the easy path as i thought it'd be quicker as i was "on the clock" so to speak.
- Lochnagar Summit
- Trig Point towards Loch Nan Eun
- Royal Deeside
I reached it shortly after a family group. It was pretty windy at this point, so a quick couple of shots, a retrieval of the spare filter which had blown out of my camera bag and I was off to the next hill. I wanted to get a move on for the additional reason of a poor forecast for the afternoon.
The next munro, Carn a'Choire Bhoidheach is probably easier to climb than it is to type. The path is followed to The Stuic, and a cairn marks the short and easy ascent path to the summit. Summit to summit took about 35 minutes.
- Carn a'Choire Bhoidheach summit cairn
I took a "shortcut"
from the summit and eventually rejoined the path. It would be far more sensible to retrace my steps back to the wee cairn but hey-ho. A burn is crossed and before long it's time to ascend the slopes of Carn an t-Sagairt Mor. There's an old fenceline to assist navigation in poor visibility. After a brief ascent, and obligatory look at the Canberra wreckage i reached one of the summit cairns.- Carn an t-Sagairt Mor summit (probably)
I touched the other cairn to be on the safe side but couldn't be assed taking a photo of it as well. After a brief chat to a couple of other walkers, I was on my way to Cairn Bannoch. There were very pleasant views back to Lochnagar and across to Coire Loch Kander
- Lochnagar (again)
- Coire Loch Kander
After that, there's a gentle ascent to Cairn Bannoch, and again, in terms of height or steepness, it's fairly straightforward, and an enjoyable stroll. Spoke to another walker and his son who were doing the round in the other direction, and was also passed by mountain bikers, and a labrador
- Summit of Cairn Bannoch
- Cairn Bannoch's erm, cairn
Mindful of the time constraints, I didn't hang about at the cairn and made for the final munro, Broad Cairn. Again this is quite a short walk, with minimal ascent. The final pull is over large mossy boulders, which i'd imagine in the wet could be unpleasant. The view from this summit is tremendous down to Loch Muick. Sadly Lochnagar tends to get the attention in this area, but i think this is a much finer peak. I finally sat down for something to eat, contemplating both the views, my crackers/chilli combo, and the long and tedious walk out.
- Broad Cairn's summit cairn. Cairn Bannoch in the background.
- Loch Muick
So with heavy heart I set off for the soul-destroying 7 mile walk out. The initial descent from Broad Cairn is bouldery, and again would probably need to be carefully done in damp conditions. After a bit more descent, there's an option to take a stalker's path to the left and descend to Loch Muick early. I chose to continue on the high path, which is higher and easier walking. There are also a couple of decent views along the way as well. The lodge is especially nice. And probably expensive, exclusive or both.
- Glas-Allt-Shiel lodge
The high path eventually zig-zags it's way down to the bridge over the Black Water and a nice wee waterfall.
- Black Water(fall)
From this point there are still three miles to go
I walked on a bit, stopped to finish off my scran and took the obligatory "Loch-Muick-with-Broad-Cairn-in-the-Background" photo. Slightly (VERY slightly) re-charged, i walked the rest of the path, got changed and headed down the road. After an "interesting" drive home, the quickest bath of all time and a breakneck drive to Kirriemuir, I turned up with 5 minutes to spare. Of course the bloody thing was 20 minutes late. One final word of advice, never do this then go to a wedding reception after very little food. A couple of pints and numerous double (and possibly triple) vodkas can lead only to absolute disaster. I am able to type this up now as the shakes have stopped
Its supposed to have a new stove, but I havent checked it out yet 
