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.

Fhidhleir's elbow? No, but I did have cyclist's ****!

Fhidhleir's elbow? No, but I did have cyclist's ****!


Postby snowdonia7 » Sat Oct 17, 2015 9:07 am

Route description: An Sgarsoch and Càrn an Fhidhleir

Munros included on this walk: An Sgarsoch, Càrn an Fhìdhleir (Càrn Ealar)

Date walked: 09/10/2015

Time taken: 5 hours

Distance: 41.6 km

Ascent: 1192m

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).


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



Getting on the bikes at Linn of Dee I was quite tender, and wondering why we had saved the route with the most cycling until the last day :crazy:

At white bridge this time we continued straight on in a SW then southerly direction. Then at a fork in the river we went west following the Geldie Burn. The path crossed three rivers, and even though there had been quite a lot of rain earlier in the week they were all easy enough to ford.

At the ruins of Geldie Lodge we stayed on the bikes, although the track became narrower and rough in places, but allowed us to travel another 3 kilometres in the saddle - not that this was anything to rejoice when each stones felt like a hefty kick to the rear end :shock:

After passing Scarsoch Bheag we ditched the bikes (we were to find later we had travelled a little too far and had to back track to collect the bikes). We then descended in a SW direction into some very boggy ground at the foot of Carn an Fhidhlier. We followed what looked like a deer track, although we periodically saw some very fresh boot prints. I think the normal route may aim for the northern shoulder a bit earlier and follow the ridge - this is probably less boggy. It would undoubtedly be less steep on the final stretch - although only about 30 metres this was really difficult on day 6 legs. We topped out less than 100 metres from the summit, where we stopped for a quick bite to eat and a photo.

Carn an Fhidhleir copy.jpg


We then set off descending SW to the col at 883 then contour round the next smaller summit before descending further still in an easterly direction to the valley floor.

The next section was a steady climb to the summit of An Sgarsoch, where there was a good shelter at the summit cairn and we paused for a well earned nip of sloe gin.

An Sgarsoch1 copy.jpg


The return journey required a descent north towards Sgarsoch Bheag, skirting around the west of the summit and then continuing down to the path (then walking back to the bikes).

Whilst the cycle back was beyond uncomfortable at least I had the knowledge that there was no cycling tomorrow. Arriving back at Linn of Dee we calculated that we had cycled about 34 kilometres that day, which is probably the longest cycle journey I have ever made - to Neil as a recent IronMan finisher this was of course just a warm up.

As we had made such good time we decided to try and make some distance towards home that day - to be sure we would be home for Wales-v-Australia on Saturday afternoon, so we changed our SYHA booking from Braemar to Glasgow and hit the road.

All in all it had been another great trip. Fantastic accommodation in Braemer (to ourselves) at only £15 per person per night. We added to our munro total (of the 195 I have bagged 180 have been with Neil). I was introduced to mountain biking (my sit bones will attest to this as too will many other areas of my body from the frequent falls). Looking forward to our next visit, hopefully some winter munros if we can get short notice time off when a high pressure system moves in.

Totals for the week:

Munros: 11
Distance: 200km (of which about half was by bike)
Height: 7502m
Bruises: Too many
User avatar
snowdonia7
 
Posts: 184
Munros:282   Corbetts:2
Fionas:1   
Hewitts:108
Wainwrights:36   
Joined: Jul 8, 2011

Re: Fhidhleir's elbow? No, but I did have cyclist's ****!

Postby pollyh33 » Sat Oct 17, 2015 8:17 pm

Oooooft I feel your pain.

I did these in July and my eyes still fill up at the very thought of that rocky cycle in and out!!!!

Under NO circumstances will I be repeating them. !!!!

Well done on getting them done in a superfast time. :clap:
User avatar
pollyh33
Walker
 
Posts: 2577
Munros:282   Corbetts:18
Fionas:5   Donalds:2
Sub 2000:1   
Joined: Mar 30, 2011
Location: Rutherglen

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: cambflatlander, dougiebroon, hollyhotspur, kvnbrcly, Rossco1965 and 78 guests