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I started at 8am from the car park at Inverey and cycled along a sound track up Glen Ey
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To arrive at the picturesque Alanour Lodge ruins at 850. A view through the window of the ruins to Beinn Lutharn Mhor.
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I chose a steep climb up to Carn Creagach with views over to BLM
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And further on the Beinn a Ghlo looking grand with the clouds..
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then along ridge passed a posing hare
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then up to the flat stony summit of Carn Bhac at 1035.
A view over to the bigger cairn gorms and the devils point.
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looking ahead to Carn nan Righ with Beinn a Ghlo in background.
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I continued SW navigating 3km of wet peat and hag to 812m,
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then climbed steeply into the stony corrie with a nice little lochan
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and contoured to catch ridge leading to summit of Beinn Lutharn Mhor at 1200.
View back over to Carn Bhac
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View ahead SW to Glas Tulaichean
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I descended south for 1km then headed SW to col, view from ridge across to GT.
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Stashed rucksack at col then climbed up west ridge to summit of Carn an Righ at 1315.
View over to BaG
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Across to Lairig Ghru
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Back N over to previous two munros..
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Stony summit of CnR looking south
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I returned to col and headed SE to cross Allt a Ghlinng Mhor before traversing up sharp flank to reach broad grass ridge
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which led to summit of Glas Tulaichean at 1430. Looking North..
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Toward last munro of the day in the distance
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Toward Loch nan Eun and An Socach
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I pushed on down NE ridge to Loch Nan Eun , I climbed the wee hillock to gain a better view of the loch.
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Outfall from loch, seemed like a great location to camp..
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I then followed the E side before crossing 2km of heather and peat, hard going but even harder if you were carrying a heavy pack like these four walkers on the horizon..
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To reach south ridge of An Socach with a hard 20 minute of sheer ascent. View back down and looking south.
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To the broad stone covered summit with two cairns on the West top at 1620.
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Fifth Munro of the day .... Grand views all around and some interesting colour collages.
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looking south back over walk
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I proceeded N over stony ground to the steep heather descent
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to cross the river then follow the path back to the ruins at 1720.
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Then it was an easy cycle back down the glen with some photo stops to capture the colourful skyline, autumnal flora and fauna
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GlenEy5Oct2013 172to arrive back at the car at 1750.
The return drive in the car was anxious to say the least. First of all the garage in Braemar was shut as I passed at 1800. Then refuel light came on. And to avoid excess prose, I had an ultra-fretful coast back to Grantown for diesel. For those not familiar with the environment, suffice to say, remote and exposed, sparsely populated, no pavements or streetlights, extreme gradients up and down (20%) and to cap it all no mobile phone coverage. On this occasion I think someone was looking out for me as I was fortunate enough to nurse the VW Jetta 1.9 Tdi car to Grantown on Spey on what must have been close to fresh air as fuel and the forces of gravity.
MORAL, please fuel before entering this area.
The walk? It was long, physically demanding but very rewarding with fantastic scenery and wildlife.
The route, mainly pathless over some unpleasant boggy sections which would be featureless and awkward during poor visibility, but did enable a good circuit of 5 grand Munros in a long day, with the option to put in contingencies for foul weather.