walkhighlands

Share your personal walking route experiences in Scotland, and comment on other peoples' reports.
Warning Please note that hillwalking when there is snow lying requires an ice-axe, crampons and the knowledge, experience and skill to use them correctly. Summer routes may not be viable or appropriate in winter. See winter information on our skills and safety pages for more information.

1 Wedding, 5 Munros and hopefully no Funeral

1 Wedding, 5 Munros and hopefully no Funeral


Postby jupe1407 » Sun Jun 30, 2013 5:25 pm

Route description: White Mounth Munros, Glen Muick

Munros included on this walk: Broad Cairn, Cairn Bannoch, Càrn a' Choire Bhòidheach, Càrn an t-Sagairt Mòr, Lochnagar

Date walked: 29/06/2013

Time taken: 7.25 hours

Distance: 28.5 km

Ascent: 1394m

1 person thinks this report is great.
Register or Login
free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).

Some hillwalks are planned well in advance, some are decided upon after waking up stupidly early and having nothing better to do. Today's fell into the latter category. I had intended to do these hills upon taking Friday off, but that was kiboshed by crap weather.

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.

DSC_0005.jpg
Start of the walk-in


There were a few stags hanging about at the start as well!

DSC_0006.jpg
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.

DSC_0017.jpg
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.

DSC_0023.jpg
Lochnagar Summit


DSC_0024.jpg
Trig Point towards Loch Nan Eun


DSC_0026.jpg
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.

DSC_0034.jpg
Carn a'Choire Bhoidheach summit cairn


I took a "shortcut" :lol: 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.

DSC_0040.jpg
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

DSC_0044.jpg
Lochnagar (again)


DSC_0046.jpg
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 :lol:

DSC_0048.jpg
Summit of Cairn Bannoch


DSC_0056.jpg
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.

DSC_0068.jpg
Broad Cairn's summit cairn. Cairn Bannoch in the background.


DSC_0075.jpg
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.

DSC_0079.jpg
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.

DSC_0081.jpg
Black Water(fall)


From this point there are still three miles to go :lol: 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 :lol:


our_route.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

User avatar
jupe1407
Mountain Walker
 
Posts: 1501
Munros:269   Corbetts:52
Fionas:12   
Sub 2000:7   
Islands:6
Joined: May 15, 2012
Location: Forfar

Re: 1 Wedding, 5 Munros and hopefully no Funeral

Postby Fife Flyer » Sun Jun 30, 2013 8:02 pm

Well done John, can't be easy watching the time constantly, then drinking lots when well knackered :lol:
It's bad enough when you tell your other half that you will be home at such & such a time, knowing full well you won't make the time & have to apologise, making the usual excuses - no signal on the phone etc :lol: :lol:
User avatar
Fife Flyer
Munro compleatist
 
Posts: 2642
Munros:272   Corbetts:58
Fionas:39   Donalds:89+33
Sub 2000:130   Hewitts:2
Islands:5
Joined: May 15, 2013
Location: Guess?

Re: 1 Wedding, 5 Munros and hopefully no Funeral

Postby basscadet » Mon Jul 01, 2013 8:42 am

Aye, good going with the time constraints. Such good weather as well :)

That 'exclusive' lodge you photographed is on the Balmoral estate, and the Queen mum's old haunt.. There is a bothy there in the old butlers quarters.. So you can stay there for free if you have the inclanation.. :wink: Its supposed to have a new stove, but I havent checked it out yet :?
User avatar
basscadet
Munro compleatist
 
Posts: 2778
Munros:84   Corbetts:52
Fionas:18   Donalds:8
Sub 2000:34   Hewitts:13
Wainwrights:17   Islands:21
Joined: Dec 1, 2011
Location: Edinburgh

Re: 1 Wedding, 5 Munros and hopefully no Funeral

Postby jupe1407 » Mon Jul 01, 2013 11:20 pm

basscadet wrote:Aye, good going with the time constraints. Such good weather as well :)

That 'exclusive' lodge you photographed is on the Balmoral estate, and the Queen mum's old haunt.. There is a bothy there in the old butlers quarters.. So you can stay there for free if you have the inclanation.. :wink: Its supposed to have a new stove, but I havent checked it out yet :?


Yeah, curiosity got the better of me and i googled it. Apparently the new stove is indeed true. I can't even begin to imagine how cold that place must have been without one :lol:
User avatar
jupe1407
Mountain Walker
 
Posts: 1501
Munros:269   Corbetts:52
Fionas:12   
Sub 2000:7   
Islands:6
Joined: May 15, 2012
Location: Forfar

Re: 1 Wedding, 5 Munros and hopefully no Funeral

Postby basscadet » Tue Jul 02, 2013 8:17 am

jupe1407 wrote:
basscadet wrote:Aye, good going with the time constraints. Such good weather as well :)

That 'exclusive' lodge you photographed is on the Balmoral estate, and the Queen mum's old haunt.. There is a bothy there in the old butlers quarters.. So you can stay there for free if you have the inclanation.. :wink: Its supposed to have a new stove, but I havent checked it out yet :?


Yeah, curiosity got the better of me and i googled it. Apparently the new stove is indeed true. I can't even begin to imagine how cold that place must have been without one :lol:


Oh there was always a fire - usually a few bits of firewood left by the estate too - the grate slanted out the way though, so quite often hot coals would fall out :lol: probably best with a stove in there before the place burnt down :thumbup:
User avatar
basscadet
Munro compleatist
 
Posts: 2778
Munros:84   Corbetts:52
Fionas:18   Donalds:8
Sub 2000:34   Hewitts:13
Wainwrights:17   Islands:21
Joined: Dec 1, 2011
Location: Edinburgh

Re: 1 Wedding, 5 Munros and hopefully no Funeral

Postby jupe1407 » Tue Jul 02, 2013 5:47 pm

basscadet wrote:
jupe1407 wrote:
basscadet wrote:Aye, good going with the time constraints. Such good weather as well :)

That 'exclusive' lodge you photographed is on the Balmoral estate, and the Queen mum's old haunt.. There is a bothy there in the old butlers quarters.. So you can stay there for free if you have the inclanation.. :wink: Its supposed to have a new stove, but I havent checked it out yet :?


Yeah, curiosity got the better of me and i googled it. Apparently the new stove is indeed true. I can't even begin to imagine how cold that place must have been without one :lol:


Oh there was always a fire - usually a few bits of firewood left by the estate too - the grate slanted out the way though, so quite often hot coals would fall out :lol: probably best with a stove in there before the place burnt down :thumbup:


:lol: True

I must check this bothy out sometime. It'd be quite a nice area to stay and daunder about in, without having to charge round and get home by a deadline!
User avatar
jupe1407
Mountain Walker
 
Posts: 1501
Munros:269   Corbetts:52
Fionas:12   
Sub 2000:7   
Islands:6
Joined: May 15, 2012
Location: Forfar

1 person thinks this report is great.
Register or Login
free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).




Can you help support Walkhighlands?


Our forum is free from adverts - your generosity keeps it running.
Can you help support Walkhighlands and this community by donating by direct debit?



Return to Walk reports - Scotland

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: kleighton, Sihaynes and 79 guests