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The best plans always seem to go wrong and today was no exception.
Driving to Braemar, Lochnagar looked stunning, and I stupidly said out loud, hope my mountains look this good today, I should have known that was a jinx and kept my mouth shut, after all I didn’t have anyone to listen to me.
A quick comfort stop in Braemar and next stop Linn of Dee, parking ticket purchased, bike out car, boots on ready for the off. What was meant to be an early start materialised into 1000hrs leaving the car park. Hey on a bike you make good progress, and I did initially.
Got a real scare almost came face to face with a fighter jet, it came round the corner from Derry Lodge lying on its side wings almost vertical, I swear you could see the pilot smiling at the scare he gave me.
I opted to cycle as far as I could then push, drag, haul the bike to Corrour Bothy as I wanted to see what the track out to the White bridge would be like, in hindsight I should have just cycled as far as I could from White bridge, walked the rest and not bothered with the Lairig Ghru, but as they say hindsight is a wonderful thing. The Luibeg burn was a wee bit high from the recent rain and instead of doing the easy thing and crossing at the bridge, I opted for the full on boots & socks off and wade across, feet air dried while sitting sunning myself on a large boulder handily placed for this sort of thing.
Crossed the Derry by the bridge, and about 3 turns of the pedal and the chain snapped, words to the effect of oh dear me were uttered as I removed the blasted thing from the derailleur no point in stressing about it just left it parked outside the bothy chain lying curled up on a nearby flat stone, hills to climb can worry about a snapped chain later.
A hastily gulped down lunch of pasta salad seasoned with a few midges no doubt, and onto the hills proper. The path from the bothy is good a bit steep in places, but easy going,
and in just over an hour I was standing awe struck on the summit of The Devil’s Point,
look over the edge and WOW it’s a long way down the burns stretching like ribbons into the distance,
a distance I will later in the day tackle on my way out. The midges at the bothy were an almost black cloud, and I had thought with altitude and breeze I could leave the tiny annoying beasties in the glen, but no they don’t seem to suffer from altitude and what could normally be relied on, on a munro summit, breeze, was sadly lacking today.
It was now I was beginning to question the sanity of doing the 3 munros and tried to reason with myself that I could easily do them from another direction another day, but you know I never listen to anybody far less my own questioning brain,
so a quick saunter down to the bealach then the upward scramble, I love this sort of walking route finding over rocks some rock like an ancient Flintstones like seesaw others you just know are rooted in situ and not likely to move for the next millennia, and a few you just know to avoid. There is no point in being at this height and not bagging the named summits IS THERE so even if it’s not on any tick list I have I just go to the top, if all else fails I can put a hotspot link on my MM programme.
Stob Coire an t-Saighdeir summit an hour after The Devils Point, and after a slight shower of rain, and a stunning rainbow with its pot of gold someplace on Ben Macdui
it’s onward and ever more upward to Cairn Toul.
Oh boy if I never live to see another ridge the slope up to the summit is an image I will never forget and I am going to climb it . Its fairly easy going rock hopping most of the way to the top and 50 mins later I am standing on what seems like the edge of the world.
The sensible thing to do now would be to turn back and tackle Angels Peak
another day from another angle, but sensible and me just don’t go hand in hand 1630hrs on Cairn Toul, ocht well its only another 1km so it would be a shame not to go do it wouldn’t it.
Angels Peak here I come peak to peak half an hour its not usual I manage such amazing turns of speed, must be the fun I am having on the boulders. Angels Peak was only blighted by the presence of the dreaded Midge; scenery is HUGE kinda makes up for it though.
What has been a fantastic day in the hills with only a few light drizzly spells looked like all was going to change and the bottom of the Cairn Toul ridge disappeared in cloud, compass out and bearing set, and it lifted typical. Contoured around the peaks back to the track down the waterfalls to the bothy. I swear its easier ascending steep tracks than it is descending and with the damp surface there were a few slips it seemed at times I was walking on marbles.
I have no earthly idea on how to repair a chain, and to be honest there is no way I could sit around for even a few more seconds than is necessary to try to figure it out, midge here is horrendous, swarms the size of monsoon clouds, even if I had been due to camp out here I think even I would have retreated, however the tent total when I left was 7. My bike is now converted into a Balance Bike seat low enough for me to push myself along when the track allows.
I left Corrour Bothy at 1845, following the often soggy path towards the White Bridge, eventually I spotted what I knew better track on the opposite bank of The Dee, I waded across and hauled the bike up onto the track, here I could make use of this useless implement that had taken so much energy to just get to Corrour. Still 7½ miles to go but from The White Bridge the track is good and with a few slight downward gradients, and the fact that my bike has always been a good rolling bike I covered the distance in a much quicker time, 1½ hours than even I could imagine.
Needed the bike light for the last 20 mins but mainly due to the tree cover as you get closer to The Linn of Dee. What a day, and what an adventure. Now all we need is someone to eradicate the midge and all would be well, it looks like a rash on my legs easily 100+ bites on 1 leg.
