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The Ethics of Bagging - An Sgarsoch & Carn an FhidhleirBagging (bag.ing) adjective; 1.Controversial; A simple term that will increase the blood pressure of outdoor enthusiasts; These youngsters are so foolish concentrating on bagging. 2. Something everyone on Walkhighlands will have a different opinion on and will rile the keyboard warriors; "My opinion is right, anyone Bagging the Munros is wrong. Before continuing, please be advised the tongue is firmly planted in the cheek. 
"...two rounded, featureless hills..."Okay Walkhighlands you are not selling An Sgarsoch and Carn an Fhidhleir very well.
"...given distinction by their remoteness. In the heart of the wild country between the main Cairngorms and the Atholl ranges, few Munros can match these peaks for the feeling of solitude or open space. That is better - now we are talking! Or should I say walking...
With the weather across the whole of Scotland looking dry and cloudy these two hills seemed like the perfect combination. Approaching the longest day of the year meant we could take as long as needed. The dry weather is always appreciated and the added bonus of the clouds would stop any painful sunburn - at least so I thought
.
I consulted the WhatsApp faithful and managed to rope Cromar in.
"Do you want to cycle some of it? I can arrange bikes""I've classed biking as cheating...""Ah the ethics of bagging 
"After a short debate around the use of bikes it was time to set off. We reached the Linn of Dee car park at 07:20 and were moving by 07:30. Again this meant another Saturday alarm before 05:00...
Early morning start - shorts and t-shirt made it a tad chilly!
This route must involve the best part of 20 of the 26 miles along a well defined Land Rover track. Therefore cycling clearly is the quickest, most effective and energy efficient methods of transport (obviously excluding taking a Land Rover) - I think that is one element everyone can agree on?
After passing the old townships and crossing the White Bridge we were now approaching the bothy at the junction of the Geldie and Bynack Burns
Why on earth would anyone opt to walk over cycle? Some estimates claim the humble bicycle saves the best part of 4 hours, 4 more hours in the pub!
When you look at the GPX you can see why the bike saves so much time!Depending on your preference, the hills in the Cairngorms can be "boring", or "featureless". Whereas the West Coast offers more "adventure", "ridges" and "proper mountains". Out of the 73 Munros I have climbed, purely down to geographical location, most have been in the Cairngorms. There is no secret my preference is West, but some of my best weekends in the hills have been in the Cairngorms.
"I think we become immune to how amazing Scotland is. Imagine you took someone who's lived in a Chinese city all their life and plonked them here - they'd think they had died and gone to heaven!"
I think the reason some of my best weekends have been in the Cairgorms is due to the remoteness in the heart of the wild country. This remoteness makes finding camping spots easy, you'll never have to queue like on Aonach Eagach and if you want to avoid people you could easily spend two days hearing nothing - apart from the "escaping" grouse that still continue to nearly give me a heart attack!
The first of the river crossings.
You don't get river crossings up the ridge routes - a different kind of challenge! Thankfully the first river crossing didn't prove to be too problematic, we made it across dry. After the first river crossing we began to see a slow trickle of bikes passing through. They all seemed so smug
. The image of a cyclist stopped around the bend with a puncture started becoming more pleasing
.
Crossing the Geldie Burn before reaching the Geldie Lodge ruins.
Geldie Lodge with some weird clouds overhead.
After stopping briefly at the Geldie Lodge we set a target to walk for another 45 minutes before we could stop for something to eat. If memory serves me right we stopped for lunch just after 11:00. It was still early but we had already been going at a relatively steady pace for 3.5 hours.
It's really hard to picture remoteness.
By the time we stopped for lunch it did cross my mind that a bike would be quite a pleasant accessory for the route back to the car. After a couple of tuna pita breads I was all fuelled up and ready to tackle Carn an Fhidhleir and the lack of bike situation was long forgotten.
Making our way up Carn an Fhidhleir - we opted to take a more direct route...
This first real ascent was a bit of a calf burner - unrelenting boggy incline. Fortunately the weather had been pretty positive over the few days previous so what could have been a snorkel type bog was better than expected.
The cloud was sitting at roughy 750m and it just didn't appear to be shifting as hard as the wind was trying.
The view looking back.
Clouds have a bad reputation, and sometimes rightly so - for example when you camp high and hope to awake to vast views but can only see the immediate 20 meters in front of you, well that sucks!
We had managed to enjoy a good few hours of views, so when we finally reach the cloud line wasn't all too disappointing. You could almost argue it is quite peaceful. Thankfully it also cooled us down, natures free mist machine. Once up the worst of the slog there is a gentle well defined path to the summit of Carn an Fhidhleir.
A good Scottish summer 
The time we spent on Carn an Fhidhleir was minimal to say the least. Just a quick tap of the top of the cairn to confirm it can legally be added to the bag
.
View looking towards An Sgarsoch - yes it is one where you very quickly lose all your elevation.
Shortly before making beginning the knee sapping descent we met two other chaps, one from Newtonmore - didn't quite catch where the other was from (although later found out he also went to Aboyne Academy - just a decade or so earlier
, I bet Mrs Egan was already there!)
We joked how they might have been quicker just walking in from Newtonmore
. Good chance it would be 50/50 in terms of distance. Obviously the path from Linn of Dee makes the Braemar side far more appealing!
Slightly unsure if there was a correct route down, and up again. From experience, not really. Just take the zig-zag approach and, if the weather allows, aim for the scree in the above photo (right hand side).
By the time we were making progress up An Sgarsoch, the cloud appeared to have lowered slightly so I didn't end up taking any photos. I always thought if needed I could take some photos into plastic bag and claim they were from the route up...
An Sgarsoch, Munro 73 in the bag.
Just before reaching An Sgarsoch I managed to soak up some advice for conquering the Skye Munros. My head and the recommendations say to hire a guide and get them ticked off in a week. My heart has me Googling where to learn to rock climb and do them on my own accord - who knows where that adventure will end up!
There is no hiding from the fact the walk back is long.
Still have to walk as far as the eye can see!
On the walk back I didn't really take any photos, it was all beginning to feel a bit similar... funny that
.
After mile 23 both of our legs were beginning to struggle and every kilometre felt like a real challenge. People often refer to these as boring hills, if they are boring make them a challenging hill, and all you need to do for that is leave the bike and walk.
I have tried my best to make each of these "boring bags" as much of an adventure as possible, which does not for one second mean that anyone who bikes doesn't have the same adventure. Ultimately everyone's challenge is different, but for these hills you have to assume that given the remoteness only "baggers" venture out this far.
There is no official rules of bagging, or if there is, there shouldn't be, nor should there ever be. As long as it takes you away from a computer / phone screen then surely bagging should not be controversial or get people riled up - instead it should actively be promoted!
I may have only completed 73, but I have seen parts of Scotland, spent my money is small family shops, enjoyed a lot of local coffee and whisky that I would never have came across if I didn't for some reason catch the bagging bug.
Who cares if you want to do it as quickly as possible, or by a certain age, or before your too old and jiggered to walk, or if you just want to become a compleatist? The only thing that matters if you do it safely and enjoy it. If an outing ever ends up with a; "I wish I was just in the flat watching Netflix" - then I know it is time to slow down
.
On the flip side if you have absolutely no plans to get to the 282nd summit, then fair play - just enjoy the hills you do decide to go up. Most importantly remember there really isn't such a thing as a "boring hill".
We stopped in Braemar and Cromar kindly treated me to a smoked sausage supper and ice lolly - once back in Aberdeen I then treated myself to a Chinese takeaway
.
This outing gave the saying, "a calf burner of a day", a very painful second meaning... 
If for any reason I ever decide to go up these two hills again I can guarantee a bike will be the first thing on my packing list!
Until next time,
Andy
