Cairn Bannoch and Carn an t-Sagairt Mor

Sunday 5th June 2016

This day started very misty and the midges were out in force prompting me to adorn a mosquito head net while preparing my breakfast and thinking that the weather was going to be poor for this walk after the glorious weather the day before. However, it wasn’t long before the clouds lifted, the sun came out and the midges scarpered. By the time I had packed my tent away there were clear blue skies overhead promising another hot, sunny day in Scotland. I can’t believe how lucky I had been with the weather on this holiday. After a fabulous day walking around Glen Doll and up the two Munros that overlook this Angus Glen I now had to make my way back to Braemar. When I had come to Glen Doll three years ago I had taken a route over the mountain plateau of the White Mounth on a path that is known as Jock’s Road, which was the first right-of-way to be established in Scotland. This time I followed this route to leave Glen Doll taking the marked path through the conifer plantations out of the trees and up the valley.

I have fond memories of Glen Doll from three years ago even though my stay then was brief and now after a longer stay I was just as sorry to leave this spectacular valley. The view up the valley after I left the dark conifer plantation behind was a reminder of what I was leaving and during the long climb I often turned around to gaze longingly down the valley. Slowly, in the baking heat, I made my way up the excellent path that climbs out of Glen Doll and reflected that it may have been better to have descended into Glen Doll on this route as in the afternoon I would have had the sun behind me shining all the way down the valley. Now the rising sun was spoiling my view back during my frequent stops to catch my breath. It was a joy to descend this path three years ago, but now it was agony in the heat and with a heavy rucksack on my back (though I must say that my rucksack itself is actually very light and it’s all my camping gear that makes it heavy!). Near the Lunkard, which is a great plug of rock and heather half way up the valley, I stopped and rested for a long time while drinking water from a nearby stream and admiring the view down Glen Doll.

Soon after this point the path levelled off and became boggier as it made its way up to the Munro Top of Crow Craigies that is the highest point on Jock’s Road. In view of the excellent weather, I decided that I would divert off Jock’s Road and visit some of the Munros that were nearby on the tableland that is the White Mounth. The nearest Munro was Tolmount that overlooks Glen Callater, the valley that Jock’s Road drops down into and the valley that ultimately I needed to be heading for. However, Tolmount and many of the other Munros in this area didn’t seem to me to deserve the status of Munro, so I didn’t feel inclined to go to the effort of bagging them. Rejecting these Munros that lie to the south of Jock’s Road I headed north over featureless terrain with only the occasional mountain hare to enliven the tedium until I reached the well-built cairn that sits upon the Munro Top of Fafernie. The summit of Fafernie was bedecked with gorgeous little alpine flowers that were a special treat and rewarded me for my effort. From there I followed the ridge right around the head of the Burn of Fafernie to the Munro of Cairn Bannoch where I shed my rucksack before climbing up onto the rocks that crown the top.

There were stunning views from the top of this mountain even though the Munros in this area are a little dull, but in this weather it was still fabulous being up there while the only Munro in the area that is worthy of the name, Lochnagar, was a distant peak hiding behind the wide plateau of the White Mounth. If I was setting the standard for Munros then I was use the same standard as for Corbetts and Grahams, which is that they need to have a drop of at least five hundred feet. Using that definition then none of these tops would qualify as a Munro except for Lochnagar. After having my lunch at the summit of Cairn Bannoch I made my way along easy slopes towards Carn an t-Sagairt Mor where I now had stunning views across to the snow-speckled Cairngorm Mountains, far away in the hazy sunshine. Once again I was revelling in being at the top of a mountain and wished that I could prolong the feeling and keep coming up mountains, but unfortunately this is not something that I can do very often so it feels very special whenever I am at the top of a mountain in good weather.

From the top of the Munro, Carn an t-Sagairt Mor, I dropped down the western slopes until I picked up the Lochnagar Pony Track that circles around this top on its way across the White Mounth towards that royal Munro. I had an enjoyable walk following this excellent path descending all the way down into Glen Callater where a long, leisurely stroll along a wide track took me out of the valley not far from Braemar. The hot weather that had agonised my ascent had cooled slightly during the afternoon thanks to occasional dark clouds that had passed overhead threatening rain but never delivering. Despite dismissing the Munros in this area I was still glad of the opportunity to climb to the top of two of them and enjoyed the unique experience of being at the top of a Scottish mountain in such good weather.