Meall a' Bhuachaille and the Allt Mor Trail

Wednesday 1st September 2021

I had planned to come to the Cairngorm Mountains in May 2020, but those plans were put on hold until this point in my holiday late summer 2021. My first goal in those plans was to climb Meall a’ Bhuachaille, which is a Corbett that overlooks Glenmore towards the Cairngorm massif. This is an easily ignored mountain, as I have done over many years, as it is much smaller than the main Cairngorm Mountains and lacks the crags that adorn the northern corries. The most direct route from the Glenmore Campsite ascends beside the Allt Coire Chondlaich burn, but first I wanted to take a path that I remember enjoying on my previous visits to the area and is marked with blue posts. I particularly remember, in 2013, doing the walk as soon as I got to the youth hostel, leaving my rucksack behind I headed straight out onto the path. From the visitor centre it passes the Cairngorm Reindeer Centre climbing a wide track through a conifer plantation that isn’t a promising start, but soon passes into more open and delightful woodland while the path narrows and weaves an interesting route around the trees. In 2013, it was May and the ground was littered with many colourful wild flowers that delightfully decorated the path, but now the only flowers were those of heather, though bright red mushrooms did provide some extra colour to the scene.

It is still a great path, but woefully short, and soon I was descending to the Ryvoan Pass and the shore of An Lochan Uaine. The weather initially on this walk was overcast with low clouds and although these would eventually lift, they were slow to do so. Taking the clear track through the Ryvoan Pass, I ignored the path that heads south towards the Lairig an Laoigh, and instead headed up to the Ryvoan Bothy where I turned left onto a clear, well-made path that climbs steeply through heather while the views opened out towards the Cairngorm Mountains, although they were persistently holding onto their cap of clouds. Slowly, I made my way up the path plunging into the clouds and eventually reached the summit of Meall a' Bhuachaille, which is a Corbett meaning it is a mountain in Scotland between two and a half and three thousand feet high. I was surprised to see a large group of people at the summit and some of these seemed to follow me, sometimes ahead of me, sometimes behind me, all the way over and down the mountain. The clear, well-made path descends to the top of a pass where it turns left to descend back down to Glenmore beside the Allt Coire Chondlaich burn while I and a group of young men continued ahead on a sketchier path up to Creagan Gorm.

The young men stopped at the summit cairn while I kept going along the ridge, but like the fabled hare and tortoise, they would eventually overtake me again. The undulating ridge passes over several tops and these young men seemed to stop at everyone while I kept going until I reached a cairn near the top of Craiggowrie where I decided to stop for lunch even though it was not quite noon yet, but I had been walking since before eight. While eating, the sun finally began to appear so that by the time I climbed up to the top of Craiggowrie I had clear views north across the Abernethy Forest and Strath Spey under gorgeous blue skies, though behind me mist still lingered around the Cairngorm Mountains. Turning left I began to descend long peaty slopes under warm blue skies thoroughly enjoying the gentle descent that reminded me of other great walks, even though it was very boggy in places. Eventually the young men caught up with me again as the tortoise and hare routine continued just before we reached the bottom of the hill and entered the conifers of Glenmore Forest Park.

Now a long walk-out ensued whereby I, and the young men, who were coincidentally going in my direction, followed forestry tracks past Badaguish Outdoor Centre back to Glenmore in the warm sunshine. Although the walk had taken me six hours, which is a decent length of time for a walk, it was only two o’clock, so since it was still very early, I decided to walk along another trail that I remember with fondness from previous visits (and also to see how long it would take me to reach the Upper Car Park). I have fond memories of a path called the Allt Mor Trail, so I set off up the road eager to make its acquaintance again. Immediately after crossing the Abhainn Ruigh-eunachan, I turned left onto a slender path through the trees that didn’t seem to be well-used and is not marked on local maps, but was clear and eventually brought me to a car park and the Allt Mòr burn. However, there I found a sign that said: “The Allt Mor Trail is no longer maintained by Forestry & Land Scotland: It may be difficult underfoot & is not safe beyond Utsi’s Bridge”. This was disappointing, but I persevered to see what it was like and soon discovered that the path had been severely eroded by flooding, though was still passable with care.

Beyond that point the path was good including on the boardwalks that climb steeply up the hillside, but after crossing the road the path seemed very overgrown and more signs of erosion could be seen as the path drew alongside the burn again. I remember being delighted with the Allt Mor Trail previously as, to quote my blog from 2009: “The path climbs through a wonderful, wooded valley that has been totally given over to nature with absolutely divine results,” but nature doesn’t do neat and tidy and so the path is now in a poor state and is not worth maintaining. Nature has completely taken over the path and in some places there is not much of it left. When I reached Itsi’s Bridge, I decided to climb up to the road rather than attempt to proceed any further up the path. Signs warn that the path is not safe due to erosion and land slips and I remember it not being good many years ago. Back on the road, I continued to climb, but soon came off onto a track marked on my map that seemed to be an old road and provided me with a convenient off-road route that cuts a corner until I came back onto the road for the final walk into the car park beside the ski centre.

Behind me, I now had very good views towards Glenmore with Meall a' Bhuachaille and its ridge emerging from above the trees of the forest park. In the fabulous weather, this was a great moment as I gazed across the awesome landscape with the Cairngorm Mountains tantalisingly close, though hazy, looming above me. I could have kept going up, but I was happy to have reached this far, at the top of the road, and I now knew the best route up which would be helpful for the next day when I would be back there very early and then I would climb onto the Cairngorm Mountains. For now, I was content to head back down the road and ignored the Allt Mor Trail to slowly descend all the way back down to the campsite. It is a pity the weather was not at its best when I was at the top of Meall a' Bhuachaille, but it more than made up for it later in the day and I still had a great walk over the mountain.