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They say the best thing to do when you fall off your bike is to pick yourself up, get back on and start peddling. Metaphorically I'd taken a tumble in hill walking terms the weekend before on the South Glen Shiel ridge, so on Saturday it was time to get back in the hill walking saddle and get a small success under my belt.
Hill of choice – Carn a Mhaim.
This looked a good choice as it was a straightforward walk in itself and had the option of an extension (if the weather was reasonable) to Ben Macdui in search of the Big Grey Man and then returning via Derry Cairngorm
MWIS forecast for Saturday 8 October – reasonable early on, and my interpretation being that cloud would be high early on, and then deteriorating later.
The day started well. Turned up at the Linn of Dee car park at 7.30 ready for the off. There’s a £2 parking charge. No change
Couldn’t not pay, so back Braemar to buy some sweets I didn’t need so that I had the required £2. Then back to the start.
It’s 8 am now, but at least I set off with a clear conscience with my ticket proudly displayed on the dashboard
I’ve got to say that, but for a couple of sections beyond Derry Lodge, this has to be one of the best approach routes to a hill that I’ve been along for some time. An initial forest track and section of boarding leads to a landrover track into Glen Lui........ a cracking glen to walk in
- Start of the walk
- Treading the boards
The landrover track is excellent and easy going all the way to Derry Lodge. Unfortunately the views were suggesting the cloud was a bit more extensive than I’d hoped. A bit lower too and suggesting it wasn’t going to improve anytime soon
- "Cloud free" not looking hopeful
Arrived at Derry Lodge in what seemed to be no time at all.
- Derry Lodge
Sad to see it all boarded up, as it is in a wonderful setting and you’d surely think it could be put to good use somehow
Up till now I’d only seen a small group who had passed me on their mountain bikes as I was walking toward the Lodge. All bar one had blanked me too as they passed which I’d thought was pretty bad form. “Manners cost nothing” as my dear old mother would have said, but hey-ho
As I was busy taking pictures of the Lodge I suddenly heard voices and a couple of chaps appeared from the other side of the Lodge. They’d been camping there the night and were hoping to do the Devil’s you-know-what
so we ended up walking together up to the point I was heading off the main path and onto Carn a Mhaim.
Just after crossing the bridge at the Lodge had the first encounter with my old walking companion......peat bog
- Bridge at Derry Lodge
Lovely it was, all black and squelchy
Fortunately it was soon replaced by excellent path, which gave a nice route through Glen Luibeg
- Glen Luibeg
And a first sight of my destination.......Carn a Mhaim
- Carn a Mhaim.....and early view
A bit cloud covered, but that didn’t matter. Today was as much about a personal therapy session as it was about anything else.
Arriving at the point where the Luibeg Burn needs to be crossed my destination looked much more interesting
- Carn a Mhaim a little closer up
The choice. Take the shortcut and ford the burn, or take a slightly longer route and take the footbridge. The decision was the footbridge. The result was a bog fest to rival Beinn Dubhchraig
Eventually arrived at the footbridge, where the water coming down the burn was captivating
- Luibeg Burn
Could easily have stayed here a while, but it was a case of onward and upward. My temporary walking companions continued off to the Devil’s thingy, while I started on up the path to Carn a Mhaim.
All the way to the summit the path was excellent and certainly lower down was well maintained. My destination was poking out the top ahead of me.
- Start of path up Carn a Mhaim
After an initially easy start there was a nice steeper section which slowed me up a bit. It was at this point that I headed off into the mist, from which I wouldn’t return from until I was back on my down a little later.
- Hill path up Carn a Mhaim
- On Carn a Mhaim
Approaching the summit there were some interesting, sparse rock features. I’m sure these would have looked even better in sunshine
- Close to the summit
And then I was at the summit
- Summit Cairn
Given the mist and the expectation the weather was expected to deteriorate I had already decided not to go in search of the Big Grey Man, but to leave him for another day. I did though want to have a little walk in that general direction and see what the narrow ridge linking the hill to Ben Macdui looked like.
- Route to Ben Macdui
At this point I was aware that if I didn’t stop and turn round I would end up doing the full horseshoe route, which I wasn’t really in the mood for. I’d bagged one as part of my self help treatment and so common sense prevailed and I was heading back the way I had come. I decided to take the short detour to the south east top before locating the path and heading back.
- View back down the route
Arriving back at the Luibeg Burn and there were good views down the glen, despite the now deteriorating weather.
- Approaching Luibeg burn
As well as back to Carn a Mhaim
- Carn a Mhaim.....one last time
The next picture doesn’t really capture the bog fest toward the footbridge I crossed earlier
- Bog trot anyone?
But I had decided to attempt a ford of the burn instead. It couldn’t be that tough, could it?
- Heading to the Luibeg ford
- To cross, or not to cross? an easy decision!!
Standing looking across the burn I decided it might well be tougher than I had imagined
The water looked deeper than I was expecting and it struck me this was ideal territory for me to slip in and end up with more than just wet feet.
So, it was another bog trot back to the footbridge
- Luibeg footbridge
And a study on a dead tree
- Tree
And then the resulting bog fest back the other side until I made it back to the main path.
From there it was plain sailing back to Derry Lodge. On the way I managed to catch up with my walking companions from earlier. It seemed they hadn’t managed to make it up the Devil’s Point, as they had some beers with their names on back in Dundee.
I left them at the Lodge as I was wanting to frog march myself back to the car, from where it was a trip into Braemar for a portion of chips and then the drive home.
Initially I had thought Carn a Mhaim might be a bit of a piddly hill when compared to its more illustrious neighbours, but I think I did it a disservice. I enjoyed this walk and can see me heading back this way to tackle it again as part of the round with Macdui and Derry Carngorm sometime soon