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After returning from a trip to The Netherlands I was left scared and confused at their lack of hills (or any sort of natural elevation). So to make all right with the world again I cobbled some guys together to head up to the Cairngorms. Being a not too experienced team I was the only person who owned a hiking tent so we decided to gamble on there being room in the bothies, knowing the weather forecast was fine enough for a shelter stone sleep if needs be.
The first night was spent just getting to Bob Scott's Bothy to set us up for the next day. Upon arrival we were sure it was going to be an open air kip as there was a city of tents around the bothy but upon entering it turned out it was just a DofE group who pitched the tents to fool their assessors. So twelve people hunkered down in the bothy that night, at least it kept it warm. Not much slept was had though as sleeping had to be left behind as 4 people in a Ford Ka with full Rucks had required weight shedding, still only just made it up the road to Glen Shee skiing (dropped to 25 from 50).
Next morning we scoffed down breakfast then headed off towards Carn a'Mhaim.
IMGP6247 by
mrliamando, on Flickr
IMGP6261 by
mrliamando, on Flickr
Gaining the summit wasn't as bad as we'd expected with full rucks but the clear skies and beating sun did make it slow going although to be fair the heat wasn't to bad but meant the midges were active half way up the mountain. Before continuing onto the ridge we rewarded ourselves with an early 10 O'clock lunch, figured may aswell dine with a view!
IMGP6294 by
mrliamando, on Flickr, Devil's point I had climbed it two years previously but since heard there is a cave somewhere on it so took this photo hoping to try find it with help from the zoom tool, no such luck although I heard it was facing towards Glen Geusachan.
IMGP6311 by
mrliamando, on Flickr
IMGP6312 by
mrliamando, on Flickr
It's always a bit disheartening when you have to drop you gained height just to gain it again like the connection to Ben Macdui, but even worse when its a boulder field with heavy rucks. Nevertheless we shambled our way up reaching a burn just in time for second lunch and a hefty amount of water and a bit of sun bathing. Relunctantly we picked ourselves up and headed for Ben Macduis summit but we got side tracked by the ruins twenty metres from the summit. So we made ourselves comfortable and began prepping our next lunch.
IMGP6328 by
mrliamando, on Flickr, third lunch was a michelin star communal mash up of bacon, instant noodles and breakfast biscuits.
Sadly the ruins had a fair bit of rubbish lingering inside of it so we gathered some of it although weren't to keen to try take it all considering the weight already on our shoulders. Abandoning our rucksacks we jogged up to the summit on a day so clear you could actually make use of the metal dish thingy telling you what you can see.
IMGP6330 by
mrliamando, on Flickr
We then set sights for Derry Cairngorm, there was much debate about which one it actually was. Again we ditched our rucks to the side of the path so we'd could do the boulder fields with relative ease. Then headed for hutchison memorial hut. Which we shared with a much smaller group than the night before and ended up passing the night with cards and wondering what the grey man done on such sunny days as these.
IMGP6392 by
mrliamando, on Flickr
We gave ourselves a late start next as we only planned to walk down the valleys and back to the car, the day was mostly uneventful but I would say having a spider in your car really helps when the midges swarm in as you pack up. All in all a great experience Cairngorms never fails to deliver would of been nice to do more but I was conscious of being to knackered to drive back, only got insured on my first car a week ago. Although just gives me more excuses to return I guess.
IMGP6405 by
mrliamando, on Flickr, weather mad a turn for the worst as we left.
