We started walking around 9:15am. The weather was mostly clear, but we did have a few short showers. At one point we decide to put on the waterproofs, only to have to take them off 5 minutes later because it was dry again and was too hot! It was a very long walk in before we started climbing, but it was beautiful through the Scots Pine forest.


At last we started climb up Glen Derry and reached the Hutchinson Memorial hut bothy for lunch.

We continued up to the bealach where there were the Etchachan lochs and you could see across to Cairngorm, We were also hit by a strong wind, which we had been quite sheltered from in the glen.



We started climbing up Beinn Mheadhoin, but got part of the way and dropped off our heavy bags, to pick them up again of the way down. This hill has amazing granite tors on the top called the Barns of Beinn Mheadhoin.


It was windy and cold up there, so we didn't hang about to long, even though the view was fantastic. We collected our bags and set out looking for a sheltered spot to pitch the tent. We had hoped to camp next to the loch, but it would be too exposed in the wind. We dropped down the glen, struggling to find a sheltered bit, which was also flat and dry. Finally we found a place which would do, as the drizzle started.



On Monday morning, we had breakfast and packed up to leave before 8:30am. It was still very windy, but the sun was coming out.

We walk back up to the lochs and dropped our bags at the junction for Derry Cairngorm (and the way back), and walked up to Ben Macdui, which only took about 25 minutes. We had a great view!


We went back, picked up our bags and head down, which incorporated another munro, Derry Cairngorm. It was hard going over bouldery, rough ground with the strong wind, so that really slowed us down. Unfortunately we couldn't dawdle as we were in a bit of a hurry as I had to be back in Stirling for work in the evening. The wind was unrelenting, but it was sunny and warm and we were treated to wonderful clear views all round. The last section along the landrover track was really tough on our tired legs.