walkhighlands

Munros Two Hundred and Forty Eight to Fifty One

Route: White Mounth Munros, Glen Muick

Munros: Broad Cairn, Cairn Bannoch, Càrn a' Choire Bhòidheach, Càrn an t-Sagairt Mòr, Lochnagar

Date walked: 02/06/2023

Friday, 2nd. June
I had been blown off Lochnagar in November, 2021 so today was an opportunity to re-visit the hills clustered around the head of Glen Muick in rather better weather. Accordingly, Chalky and I paid our parking dues to Brian and headed out along the south eastern shore of Loch Muick on a track which morphed into an enchanted and idyllic pathway once we got beyond the Black Burn zigzags and drew opposite the fairy tale (if rarely occupied) royal lodge of Glas-alt-Shiel. The loch side path and the subsequent climb to Coire Chash with views into Dubh Loch were, however, truly magical and only compromised to a degree by the rather bland terrain above. Still, if the topography was relatively uninteresting, the views from the slowly ascending staircase of Broad Cairn, Cairn Bannoch, Càrn an t-Sagairt Mòr, Càrn a' Choire Bhòidheach and Lochnagar were worth the ticket.
DAY 6 MAP - LOCHNAGAR.png
The route taken
By the time we reached Lochnagar, the verticalities of both the mountain’s north-eastern corrie and the Stuic had added some drama and we were able to spend time on the summit picking out the likes of Ben More and Ben Vorlich over 60 miles away as well as our first hill of the trip, Beinn a’Ghlo, climbed five days previously. Reluctant to leave the tops, we were nevertheless conscious that we had to pick up our other car from where we’d left it in Blair Atholl and then head south… so we headed down.
Day 6a - Summit of Lochnagar.jpg
Chalky and me on top of Lochnagar (02.06.2023.)
Beautiful views aside, though, we had been conscious throughout the last week of the badly degraded hill environment through which we had been travelling as we walked east from Blair Atholl. A few mountain hares aside, the overgrazed, rank moorland grasses, the brittle, burnt heather and the bulldozed tracks of the sheep walks, the shooting estates and the skiing industry have conspired to create a truly impoverished ecosystem in which grazing sheep at low densities, shooting both deer and grouse and skiing have all been prioritised over true diversity; we hadn’t seen a single fox or raptor in six days and 100 miles of wandering on the hill. Where, we wondered, were the eagles of Eagles Rock and Eagle Ridge (on, respectively, Dubh Loch and Lochnagar), where were the eagles suggested by versions of the Gaelic “Iolaire” cropping up in the names of features and places in numerous locations?
In this respect, an even less impressive note is struck by the propaganda directed at a largely uninformed public by key stakeholders in the upland environment through the publicity on displays and noticeboards like those in the Balmoral Estate's Glen Muick Visitor Centre and those scattered through the ski areas. To misquote Calgacus, they make a desert and (with their references to “professionally trained hill keepers” and “wildlife management”) call it a diverse natural habitat. As anyone familiar with the regenerative efforts being made on the Affric, Feshie and Mar estates will be aware, the upland environments between Blair Atholl and Ballater aren’t in the least diverse, they doesn’t capture carbon (or, at least, as much carbon as they should) and they're as much an artificial as they are a natural habitat. There are hardly any trees for a start.
Day 6b - Conservation in action.jpg
A noticeboard of misinformation sponsored by, among others, the Scottish Countryside Alliance Educational Trust, Scottish Land and Estates, the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust and, perhaps more surprisingly, by the National Park Authority (02.06.2023.)
Day 6c - Not My King!.jpg
Misleading information about environmental management at the Glen Muick Visitor Centre triggered some anti-monarchist sentiment from this intolerant passer by (02.06.2023.)
At any rate, all this put Chalky and me in an intolerant mood and we headed out of Glen Muick and roared past the gates of Balmoral playing “Burn the Castle” by New Model Army very loudly on the car’s sound system. Very childish but excellent fun.

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Comments: 5



Munros Two Hundred and Forty Two to Forty Seven

Attachment(s) Munros: Cairn of Claise, Càrn an Tuirc, Creag Leacach, Glas Maol, Tolmount, Tom Buidhe
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Views: 365


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Views: 390


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Views: 432


Munro Two Hundred and Thirty One

Attachment(s) Munros: Beinn Dearg (Blair Atholl)
Date walked: 28/05/2023
Views: 382


Munro Two Hundred and Thirty

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Date walked: 14/07/2022
Views: 690


Munro Two Hundred and Twenty Nine

Attachment(s) Munros: Gulvain
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Munros Two Hundred and Twenty Seven and Twenty Eight

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Munros Two Hundred and Twenty Three to Twenty Six

Attachment(s) Munros: Beinn Ìme, Beinn Narnain, Ben Vane, Ben Vorlich (Loch Lomond)
Date walked: 10/07/2022
Comments: 3
Views: 1412

Chris Henshall


User avatar
Activity: Mountaineer
Pub: The Clachaig
Mountain: Glaramara
Place: Shenavall
Gear: My Tent
Member: BMC
Ideal day out: Multi-pitch rock climb at about HVS followed by a scramble to a rocky summit on a sunny day.

Munros: 253
Tops: 103
Wainwrights: 214
Hewitts: 157



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2023

Trips: 6
Munros: 22

2022

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Munros: 11

2021

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Munros: 23

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Munros: 14

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Munros: 19

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Munros: 7

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Munros: 30
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Munros: 15
Corbetts: 4

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Munros: 6

2001

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Munros: 9

1987

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Munros: 2

1985

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Munros: 4

1984

Trips: 5
Munros: 7

1982

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Munros: 24

1979

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1978

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1977

Trips: 7
Munros: 16

1976

Trips: 8
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1975

Trips: 4
Munros: 8

1972

Trips: 1
Hewitts: 98
Wainwrights 214


Joined: May 30, 2014
Last visited: Mar 28, 2024
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