The Capel Mounth and the Lochnagar Path

Sunday 2nd June 2013

On the second day of my weekend trip to Glen Doll I woke up in a tent near the Angus Glens Ranger Base to bright sunshine as another wonderful day dawned. I am very new to staying in a tent having previously shunned tents in favour of Youth Hostels, but since the hostel in Glen Doll was closed a few years ago I had no choice but bring a tent, and I was finding it an interesting experience. On this morning I was particularly surprised at how wet was my tent. It hadn’t rained, in fact the clear skies of the previous evening had continued right through into the morning, and yet my tent was covered in droplets of water both inside and out. Presumably the outside water was dew and the inside was condensation, but I wanted to get going as quickly as possible … would I have to wait a couple of hours before packing up the tent until it’s dried out? There seemed to be more to staying in a tent than I’d realised.

Leaving my camp site near the Angus Glens Ranger Base I set off beside the River South Esk along one of the waymarked trails in the wood before crossing the river and taking a very old path that slants diagonally up the side of the valley. This is the start of the Capel Mounth Path that runs from the Spittal of Glenmuick to Glen Clova and the Braes of Angus. The range of hills to the south of the River Dee is often referred to as the Mounth and this was a route over the Mounth to the hospital and chapel that used to be in Glen Muick. My Harvey Map calls this path the Capel Road and it seemed to me a good route out of Glen Doll, but I was reluctant to leave. As the path zigzagged up the hillside I was constantly looking back down the valley and into the small side valley of Glen Doll where the northern crags of the Munros, Mayar and Driesh, were taunting me with what I was missing. I hadn’t left myself enough time to explore Glen Doll and I was particularly gutted to have missed out on visiting the stunning Corrie Fee.

I had been over-ambitious in my plans for this weekend and failed to achieve my goals in visiting Glen Doll, but at least I now had an excuse to return. After climbing many zigzags I crossed a heather-clad moor under the overcast skies that had quickly developed. The terrain around me was rather dull, but my eye was attracted elsewhere to the unmistakable top of Lochnagar across the valley northwards. The crags at the end of Glen Clova and in Glen Muick below Creag an Dubh-loch also arrested my eye, but my attention always ended up on dark Lochnagar. The Capel Mounth Path undulates across the moorland before slowly descending above Loch Muick to the Spittal of Glenmuick. Glen Doll is a dramatic, steep-sided, craggy valley whereas Glen Muick has gentler sides with a flat bottom. The more serene surroundings befits a valley in the Royal Balmoral Estate.

After looking around the ranger base at the Spittal of Glenmuick I had my lunch and then set off on the Lochnagar Path. The Munro had been filling my thoughts all morning and now I was heading towards this striking mountain on probably the easiest and most popular route to the top. After a cloudy morning the weather had gradually improved so that by the time I reached the start of the climb it was really sunny and warm. My great trail through the Cairngorms bypasses the top of Lochnagar, as it bypasses all the mountain tops, but it comes very close and as I neared the turning off the track I was very tempted to take the path and go up to the top of Lochnagar. The weather was fantastic and I had enough time, so there really was no reason not to pay a visit to dark Lochnagar. Except that I went up Lochnagar four years ago from the other side and I wouldn’t have gained anything from going to the top now; the weather had been just as good four years ago.

Ultimately my heavy, uncomfortable rucksack had the final say and I continued to trudge along the dreadful track that was just a river of stones. It was very awkward and tiring to try and climb the hill over those loose stones and I noticed many people walking alongside rather than on them. The warm sun and tiring path sealed my fate as I spurned Lochnagar’s delights and continued over the top of the pass and across the vast moorland opposite slowly descending into Deeside. After the pass the track was much improved as the river of stones disappeared, but my attention was elsewhere as now the northern corries of Lochnagar slowly came into view with every step. My original plan had been to start the weekend at Balmoral and climb this way, but that would have been excruciating for me who hates long ascents, but this long descent in glorious weather was a delight all the way into the woodland above Balmoral. The heather moor held little interest for me, but the distant views of the snow-clad Cairngorm Mountains and the flatter tops of Beinn a’ Bhuird and Ben Avon drew my eyes upwards.

This descent seemed to take forever, but eventually I entered the wood and at a junction took the left turn as that seemed to be the one going downhill. I had failed to bring a map of the area around Balmoral so I hoped the route down would be straightforward, but it wasn’t. After a long walk beyond the turning I eventually reached the West Lodge of Balmoral and no sign of the main road or the village of Crathie. Eventually I realised that I had gone the wrong way so disconsolately I trudged painfully back up through the wood to the junction where I’d turned left, and took the right turn over a low hill and was soon descending into Easter Balmoral not far from the Royal Lochnagar Distillery. By now it was too late to visit the distillery so I hurried down to the main road in the village of Crathie and waited for a bus back to Braemar. Despite the good weather this was not a great walk. My exertions of the past few days were beginning to take their toll on me. I probably should have taken a rest day, but instead I had spent two days walking through the Mounth and failed to explore Glen Doll, or Lochnagar, or the distillery because I was too tired and didn’t have enough time.