Mullach Clach a’ Bhlàir and Sgor Gaoith

Tuesday 31st May 2016

After spending the night in the lovely Ruigh Aiteachain Bothy, I decided that I would spend a second night in the beautiful valley of Glen Feshie and visit some of the Munros in the area and come surprisingly close to the point where I’d camped the previous night. A short walk down the valley brought me over the Allt Choire Chaoil and to a crossroads where a stalker’s landrover track headed up into the hills following the burn. This provided me with a relatively easy, if mundane, route into the mountains that did not feel all that easy as I toiled up the steep track stopping frequently to admire the view, and catch my breath. When the track reached the top of a ridge overlooking the awesome Coire Garbhlach I turned left, off the track, and followed a narrow path up to the top of Meall nan Sleac where tremendous views could be seen up and down Glen Feshire, into the corrie and at the banks of cloud billowing down from the hilltops below clear blue skies.

Soon after rejoining the landrover track, I plunged into the clouds and followed the track up onto the gently rolling hilltop where vast distances would be seen if the clouds were not obscuring my view. Following the track around to the right I headed south across the featureless terrain eventually turning right up a gradual ascent to the summit cairn of Mullach Clach a’ Bhlàir. Just as I reached the top of the Munro, the cloud lifted and I was afforded with extensive views across the surrounding mountains and the peat bog moor behind me where the Munro is merely a slight rise on an otherwise featureless landscape. Beyond the moor the Braeriach plateau that I had failed to climb the previous day lay reassuringly clad in cloud while I had clear views all around me and in glorious sunshine. It had been a while since I had last been to the top of a Munro and it felt great to be back and I was grateful to be reminded of what I had been missing for the last two years.

I was invigorated to climb more Munros, so I headed across the peat moor with the view opening out before me back onto the landrover track and following its meandering course across the hilltop while enjoying the benefit that the track was giving me of an easy walk across the boggy terrain of Am Mòine Mhór heading towards the Cairngorm Mountains. Eventually, at the top of a slight rise, I turned left off the track and followed a path that began to climb towards Carn Bàn Mór while the high plateau of Braeriach and Cairn Toul that had been my aborted goal the previous day obstinately clung onto its clouds. Since I was at that moment walking under clear blue skies this made me very happy and eased the frustrations that I had felt about the previous day. If I had stayed at Loch Einich, then I would not have been able to do this great walk across these hills in this fabulous weather.

At the top of the path I stopped at a cairn and had my lunch in the fabulous weather before turning north passing over the top of Carn Bàn Mór and across the saddle to the top of the Munro, Sgor Gaoith. This is the mountain that lies to the west of Loch Einich where I had spent the night the day before. Precipitous cliffs fall steeply down to the loch and now the place beside the loch where I had pitched my tent two days previously was a tiny speck far below. As I stood at the summit, the high mountains on the other side of Loch Einich finally shed themselves of the clouds that they had been clinging to revealing the unique upland plateau that houses some of the highest mountains in Scotland. With clear views now in all directions I was mesmerised and took many pictures eastwards across the deep valley with Loch Einich at its bottom towards the mountain tops of Stob Coire an Lochain and Carn na Criche on the Braeriach plateau.

It was very windy at the summit of Sgor Gaoith and generally very cold at the top of these hills despite the sunny weather, and it has to be said that the weather was better the day before even though the day had started very poorly. The cold weather actually made it more pleasant to walk as it meant that while at the top of these mountains I didn’t get too hot and sweaty. I could easily be sheltered from the wind at the summit of Sgor Gaoith by descending a short distance westwards and sitting there gazing out across the less dramatic western slopes either side of Strath Spey I was in awe of what lay before me: the stunning view that can be seen from the top of a high mountain. I felt that I had been away from the top of a Scottish mountain for far too long and I didn’t want to walk away from this extensive mountain scene. The dramatic Braeriach plateau had held my attention while I was taking my pictures, but it was the more extensive western views that had made me stop and stare.

Eventually I tore myself away and made my way back over Carn Bàn Mór to the cairn where I had had my lunch, and there I turned right onto a heavily manufactured footpath that took me all the way down the mountainside. I remember more than ten years ago criticising heavily manufactured paths, but as I have got older I have begun to appreciate them, even the stalker’s landrover track from earlier in the day, and especially this path at the end of the day that seemed to have deteriorated slightly making for a rougher, more engaging walk. The stunning western views continued to hold my attention as I slowly descended the path until I finally reached the bottom of the valley at the end of the road through Glen Feshie. I had passed this way the previous day so now I retraced my steps up the fabulous valley back to the bothy. Even though the mountains were not the best in the area, particularly the first Munro, I still had a great day walking on good paths under clear blue skies up two Munros that I had never visited before.

Out of Glen Einich and into Glen Feshie

Monday 30th May 2016

When I got up at the start of this day. the clouds were down low around the head of Glen Einich in the Cairngorms Mountains and it seemed like they would never lift making my planned walk up Coire Dhondail onto the vast upland plateau of Braeriach seem like a waste of time. I had walked into Glen Einich the previous morning in good weather only o find rain in the afternoon. With no sign of the cloud lifting anytime soon, I packed up my tent and started heading down the wide landrover track out of the valley even though I had seen a weather forecast that said there would be clear views from the tops of the mountains, but I wasn’t prepared to wait for the clouds to lift. Of course, the clouds did lift and by the afternoon I would have had clear views and by then I was gutted that I hadn’t stayed. The grey overcast start to the day didn’t last and by lunchtime the weather was gorgeous and sunny once more, but because I am impatient, by the time I was back at Loch an Eilein the weather was good. Sadly I spent the rest of the day regretting my decision to leave Glen Einich and couldn’t help thinking about the day I could have spent on the plateau that encircles An Garbh Choire and houses some of the highest mountains in Scotland.

Instead I was walking back along the track beside Am Beanaidh under overcast skies through a peat moor until the valley closed in and trees began to appear. Eventually I reached the point where a footpath branches off the track to follow a divine route closer to the river while the landrover track takes a higher route. Since I’d taken the footpath the previous day I thought I’d now take the higher route, however even though it was better underfoot I think it would have been better for me to retrace my steps as the views on the footpath had been beautiful. After plunging into the Rothiemurchus Forest, I eventually reached Loch an Eilein where I turned left onto the loch circular path to follow the south-eastern shore as far as the stream outflowing from Loch Gamhna. At that point there is a path that is marked “Path Not Maintained”, which I took heading south away from Loch an Eilein, past Loch Gamhna and into the Invereshie and Inshriach National Nature Reserve.

I soon found myself walking in a wonderfully natural and wild woodland terrain: a remnant of the ancient Caledonian Forest. With the sun shining brightly as I walked through this delightful landscape, I was enjoying myself and almost succeeded in keeping out of my mind the thought that I could have been at the top of a mountain at that moment. The crossing of the burn, the Allt Coire Follais, was such a delightful spot that I had my lunch there before setting off once more along the slender path that heads past an old timber shooting bothy and a boggy wetland before plunging into a dreary conifer plantation. The contrast between the broad range of plants in the reserve and the monoculture of the timber factory was startling and depressing. Wide forest roads brought me through the plantation and finally to the road at Feshiebridge.

I had planned on starting this holiday by walking through Glen Feshie, but had changed my plans due to the good weather the previous morning. Now I resumed my original plan having lost a day venturing up Glen Einich and walked along the road into Glen Feshie with the woodlands and mountains of the nature reserve on my left and more extensive plantations across the River Feshie to my right. I had heard a lot of good things about Glen Feshie and was looking forward to seeing this valley for myself, but first I had to walk past miles of conifer plantations until I eventually reached the southern end of the road and of the nature reserve. I had noticed on the map that at this point there wasn’t a bridge over the Allt Fhearnagan, but there was one further upstream inside a wood. Therefore, once I had left the road I dragged my heavy rucksack up the hillside into the wood and followed a thin path to the noisy cascades of the burn, but no sign of a bridge.

The sight of the foaming stream was compensation for the climb and I was easily able to cross the stream lower down and make my way down a slender path that was a blessing after the wide tracks and roads that I had been walking upon during my holiday until this point. This brought me to the simple ford that I should have taken that would have brought me into the Glenfeshie Estate and from there a good, well-made path headed up the valley. It was now a joy to walk through this amazing valley where nature has been given a little free rein to create a landscape that is both beautiful and striking. The manufactured path took me effortlessly past the Pony’s Bridge, which is now the only bridge in Glen Feshie still standing, as far as the Allt Garbhlach burn. Steps lead down towards the stream and then stop on the edge of a steep drop leading to a wide array of stones thrown down by the tumult of the burn. The Lake District grabbed all the headlines for the heavy rain last winter, but Scotland was almost as badly hit and this was my first sign of the devastation. Carefully I made my way down to, across the stream and back up the eroded bank to resume my walk along what had been an easy path.

More devastation awaited me requiring that I climb the wooded bank to get way from the River Feshie itself that had washed away the path that had dared to be too close to the river. Rather than detracting from my enjoyment of Glen Feshie, this evidence of the savagery of nature, untamed by man, added to its appeal. The weather continued to be amazing all afternoon and was still good after I reached the Ruigh Aiteachan Bothy and helped me fall in love with this adorable place, despite the mice. I spent a gorgeous evening without a cloud in the sky sitting outside the bothy reading a book while being serenaded by a friendly chaffinch. However, the thought of what this evening could have been like if I’d stayed in Glen Einich still plagued my mind. I was gutted that I had left Glen Einich, but the gorgeous valley of Glen Feshie and the fantastic weather had gone some way to compensating for what I’d missed.

Into Glen Einich

Sunday 29th May 2016

I often plan my Scotland holiday a long time in advance and spend of a lot of the previous year going through the details of the following year’s holiday. Even before I went to the Outer Hebrides last year I was planning this year’s trip to the West Highlands, where I would walk between Fort William and Glen Shiel climbing the mountains in the area. I spent many hours planning that holiday and then when I came to booking the train up to Scotland I found that the West Coast mainline was shut for engineering work over this weekend and I would be unable to get to Glasgow in time to catch the crucial lunchtime train up the West Highland line. Meanwhile I’d already started planning another holiday in Scotland, for later in the year or possibly the following, around the Cairngorm Mountains and Speyside. When the West Highlands plan started to unravel I turned to the Cairngorm Mountains as my destination for this year’s holiday, despite the year's planning that had already gone into the West Highlands.

So it was that I caught a train up the East Coast mainline to Edinburgh and from there I caught a train to Aviemore. The weather was fantastic and sunny for the journey up and this continued the following day when I set off from Aviemore. I was last in the Cairngorm Mountains three years ago when I followed a long distance walk that I had created myself and called, rather pompously, my Great Trail through the Cairngorms. I had no intention of doing the full walk again but I started on the same route as I made my way along roads to Blackpark and along a track to the beautiful lake of Loch an Eilein. There were a number of mountains that I’d intended on climbing three years ago that I had failed to do, mainly because of wintry conditions on the peaks, and I had originally planned on climbing those mountains on this holiday, but then I had alternative ideas that meant I wasn’t able to achieve those aims.

I had heard a lot of good things about Glen Feshie so I thought it would be a good idea to walk through that valley on my way to Ben Macdui, but the weather was so good during my walk to Loch an Eilein I headed instead to Lochan Dѐo and from there turned right onto the path that leads into Glen Einich. The weather was really hot and there were justifiably many people around Loch an Eilein, but after I’d turned towards Glen Einich the crowds became scarcer. The path passes through gorgeous pine woodland and it was a pleasure to slowly walk up the landrover track with the heavy rucksack on my back almost unnoticeable. A narrower path would have been more enjoyable than the wide, straight landrover track and eventually just such a path appeared, when the track began to climb more steeply, a narrow path headed towards the beautifully wooded banks of Am Beanaidh, the river that flows out of Glen Einich. Besides the path that I was on there was no sign of civilisation and the landscape near the river seemed delightfully wild and untamed.

All too soon the path left the woodland beside the river and rejoined the landrover track slowly climbing beside the river through the heather moor of Glen Einich. Ahead the steep crags of Sgor Gaoith opposite the alpine upland plateau of Braeriach attracted the eye, but no matter how long I walked I never seemed to get any closer to the end of the valley. Eventually, after many hours, Loch Eilein appeared at the head of the valley and I was finally able to take off my rucksack, sit beside the lake and eat my lunch. Several options were now open to me: I could take the steep path up Coire Dhondail onto the Braeriach plateau or I could try and follow the faint Ross’s Path below the awesome buttresses of Sgor Gaoith. Either way I wanted to shed my heavy rucksack first, so I made my way a short distance along the shore of Loch Einich and set up my tent. As I was doing that it started to rain so once my tent was set up I just got into it and listened to the Monaco Grand Prix on the radio.

It was a good race and I rather enjoyed listening to it miles away from the nearest road, in the middle of Cairngorm Mountains, surrounded by awesome crags and some of the highest mountains in Britain. I got out of the tent after the race had finished, but it was still raining and despite walking part way round the loch to see how clear Ross’s Path was (it was virtually non-existent), I didn’t really go very far, except for a bit of a wander. I wasn’t really bothered by how this day had ended, even though I had gone up Glen Einich specifically because the weather was good, only to find poor weather. Even in bad weather my surroundings were spectacular and I thought Loch Einich was a good place to be stuck for the night. The rain stopped late afternoon and I was able to have my dinner sitting beside the loch while taking in the awesome mountain scenery and feeling happy about the walk that I had done this day.