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This was a hastily put together plan on Friday afternoon after watching the forecast all week and seeing if Big Bertha was going to hit or not.
Thankfully come Friday afternoon the MWIS changed to 80% for cloud free summits, so me and a few mates agreed to meet in the Linn Of Dee carpark that evening to get a good early start.
We left the carpark around half 5 and made our way towards Derry Lodge, as forecast, the hills were still shrouded in clag but later on that was to burn off.
P1180372 by
GaryE1872, on Flickr
We met the final member of our expedition at Derry Lodge before we set off along the footpath to our 1st objective of the day, Carn a'Mhaim. It's a pleasant walk through Glen Luibeg on a good path and lot's of nice scenery to keep you occupied. When we hit the Luibeg burn, we decided to detour upstream to the bridge, it was going to be a long day and the last thing anyone needed was wet feet.
P1180375 by
GaryE1872, on Flickr
The ascent up to Carn a'Mhaim although steep does have a good path all the way to the summit, although why do they keep putting steps in? 3 hours after setting off we were sat on the summit. It's a cracking view from up here. We spent a good few minutes mountain spotting. Braeriach to The Devils Point is easy enough, it was the ones in the distance that were causing a bit of debate. We decided to get going and made our way over Ceann Croinn Carn a'Mhaim which does offer a wee bit of exposure and some even better views of the hiils either side.
P1180381 by
GaryE1872, on Flickr
Carn a'Mhaim by
GaryE1872, on Flickr
P1180386 by
GaryE1872, on Flickr
P1180390 by
GaryE1872, on Flickr
Once at the bealach on the other side we had a breather just compose ourselves for what was next, 400M of ascent up an initial dry which then became boggy and finally, boulders and lots of them. I found this painfully tough and slow going and everytime I though I was nearing the end, more would appear but persevere we did and we joined up with the path coming from Sron Riach and headed towards the now, far easier path towards Ben Macdui, however in true fashion, we got zero views despite the summit being clear about 30mins earlier. We stopped for an extended break here to grab some lunch and a well earned rest before continuing.
Ben Macdui Troops by
GaryE1872, on Flickr
As we were heading down I decided to knock doing Beinn Mheadhoin on the head, 1 because I was the only one interested in doing it. 2. It looked like a bloody steep ascent from the bealach and 3. It'll give me something to bag when I come back up that way with Leia. the walk down was pleasant enough and we left the path just south of Creag a'Choire Etchachan to head over to Derry Cairngorm. Once we reached the final climb, my heart sank, more bloody boulders, least this time it's only a short pull to the summit plateau before reaching the summit, erm which summit is it? We plonked ourselves down at the 1st one as we'd pass the 2nd one on our way down.
P1180396 by
GaryE1872, on Flickr
P1180399 by
GaryE1872, on Flickr
Derry Cairngorm by
GaryE1872, on Flickr
P1180407 by
GaryE1872, on Flickr
This where the photo's pretty much ended. The descent is never ending, initially over more boulders then a path is hit which you follow right the way back to Derry lodge, it's a very long walk out as like the way in, it's an hours walk between the lodge and carpark.
