Cairn Gorm and Ben Macdui

Tuesday 26th July 2005 

After a day's rest during which I travelled from Glen Nevis, near Fort William, to Glenmore, near Aviemore (and luckily it was in poor weather) I set off bright and early in the morning for a full day's walk in the Cairngorm Mountains. After a couple of days on the dramatic rocky ridges of the Mamores, the sight from the youth hostel of rolling heather-clad hills filled me with dismay, fortunately they were merely the foothills. For this walk, I started by following Ralph Storer's route number 84 from his book, "100 Best Routes on Scottish Mountains", through the woods around Glenmore along easy, heavily constructed paths, and through the Pass of Ryvoan beside the secluded lake of An Lochan Uaine into the bleak, heather-clad moorland of Strath Nethy. After crossing the River Nethy I climbed onto the ridge beyond, leaving the path to climb over Bynack More, my first Munro of the day, and it wasn't even midday yet! The cloudy start to the day slowly dispersed to reveal a glorious summer's day with every peak on the Cairngorm Plateau free of clouds. 

From the top of Bynack More I headed across a grassy plain and over A'Choinneach, which I was surprised to learn used to be a Munro, which is astonishing for a mere grassy hillock. I believe if you look at the list of mountains that have been stripped of Munro status an inordinate number will be from the Cairngorm area. After passing over the top I began descending wonderfully rocky terrain to the Saddle where amazing views could be seen of Loch Avon and the huge crags that overlook the head of the loch. This was such an awe-inspiring sight that I made a point of having a closer look later in the week. From the Saddle I slowly made my way up the steep, almost pathless, eastern slopes of Cairn Gorm, and after an age reached the rocky summit. The sight, when I finally reached the summit, of rock-topped mountains aplenty was just amazing and confirmed that my despair at the start of the day was unjustified.

While eating my lunch sitting by the weather station at the summit of Cairn Gorm I looked out over breath-taking scenery that includes the cliffs that overlook Loch Avon and across to Ben Macdui, the second highest mountain in Britain, which was clear of clouds. Since it was still early I decided to head towards Ben Macdui in case later in the week, when I had planned on going up Ben Macdui, it would be too cloudy. So setting off from Cairn Gorm I walked around the top of Coire an t-Sneachda and up to the top of Cairn Lochan before heading south to join the path across a bleak, rocky mars-scape to the top of Ben Macdui. I was on the second highest mountain in Britain in brilliant weather with clear views all around me and there was just a middle-aged couple at the summit with me. This is in stark contrast to Ben Nevis, which I'm sure at the same time would have had dozens of people at its summit. I always find it ridiculous how many people go up Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon when there are many other mountains all around them, many of which are much more interesting than those three. 

Turning around I headed back towards Cairn Lochan, and passing to the west of it, I headed down the ridge, Fiacaill an Leth-Choin. When I reached the heather-clad moorland at the foot of the Cairngorm corries I veered off the path towards the young Allt Mór following the stream as it became a river all the way into Glen More and back to the hostel. With hindsight I shouldn’t have left the path to the Ski Centre but I had an overpowering desire to avoid the ruinous debris of the ski slopes at all costs, even if it meant wading through knee-deep, boggy heather. Despite the wet end, this was a fabulous walk over some of the greatest mountains in Scotland in fabulous weather that was sadly not to last.