Braemar to Loch Morlich

Monday 1st June 2009

This was a really difficult walk even though I never went up any mountains. I had to get to the Cairngorm Youth Hostel on the other side of the Cairngorm Mountains, which is a journey that even in a car would take two hours, but walking it took me all day. First thing I had to do was walk along the road from Braemar to the end of the road at the Linn of Dee, which is a distance of 6 miles, fortunately soon after leaving Braemar a couple who had been staying in the hostel stopped their car and offered me a lift. With my distance to be walked slightly reduced, after thanking the couple, I set off away from the Linn of Dee on a wide track beside the Lui Water. This walk was made much more tiring by a heavy rucksack that I had loaded up with food while in Braemar, so as I slogged up Glen Lui towards Derry Lodge in the hot, sunny weather I weighed significantly more than usual. I spent the whole walk on good paths that should have made the walk a little easier than it could have been so it should have been quite an enjoyable, relaxing walk, if only I hadn’t put so much heavy food in my rucksack. From Derry Lodge I toiled up to the top of Glen Derry where I left the Ben Macdui path that climbs into Coire Etchachan, where I could see the great mountain scenery of the tops near Ben Macdui, the second highest mountain in Britain.
Climbing out of Glen Derry I went over the pass of Lairig an Laoigh on a climb that really wore me out with my heavy burden on a path that hadn’t been heavily manufactured (yet). As I continued from the top of the pass the weather began to cool as broken cloud started to cover the sun, which was quite a blessing as that usually makes things a little more pleasant for walking. Eventually I came to the Fords of Avon, which is a crossing over a river that at that time was not easy to cross due to the late spring spate. I tried walking upstream but that yielded no better places so after getting half way across I just decided to go for it and wade across the river. Unfortunately I’d not picked the best place to try that and ended up knee deep, almost falling into the water. It would have been better it I had tried to cross at the ford where the river was probably not as deep. With wet feet and trousers I stopped outside the Fords of Avon refuge and had my lunch. The area around the Fords of Avon is really delightful as it’s a wide open area surrounded by mountains with no sign of civilization. It was a wonderful place to just sit and gaze at the unblemished beauty of the mountain scenery.

After eating lunch my trousers had dried slightly but my socks would never dry until I could take them off. Moving away from the fords I climbed over the moorland into the Corrie of the Barns, soon climbing out of the valley and onto the open moorland on the eastern side of Bynack More. After walking along the bottom of valleys for most of the day it was a strange to now have wide open moorland to my right, even if I still had the steep slopes of Bynack More to my left. This moorland crossing began to feel like I was in the Pennines of England rather than the Cairngorms of Scotland, but I suppose there are similarities. Certainly they are much more similar in terrain than the Scotland of the West Coast where the mountains are much more rugged. Continuing across the moor I climbed once more to the highest point of the day on Bynack More's northern ridge, at a height of almost 800m. Before long I was descending steeply down into picturesque Strath Nethy where I crossed the tree-clad moor to the Ryvoan Pass.

By now I was in agony with the rucksack feeling heavier and heavier, digging into my hips and shoulders. I couldn’t help wondering how it would feel if I always carried this much extra weight around with me. My legs, and particularly my ankles and feet, were really feeling the strain of having to keep all that weight up, but I suppose it’s not quite the same as even though I was carrying a lot of weight I was still quite fit, which wouldn’t be the case of someone who was naturally carrying all that weight, and they wouldn't be able to walk from Braemar to Loch Morlich. Somehow I managed to struggle on through the gap past the beautiful green lake of An Lochan Uaine, and through the woodland of Glenmore Forest Park, gritting my teeth whenever I had to go uphill, even if only for a short distance. I look back on this walk now with a loathing and resolve to not do such a walk again with a heavy rucksack. It took me a long time to get over the effects of this walk, and it could so easily have ruined the holiday, but this should have been a good walk, if only I hadn’t attempted to carry so much on my back.

Lochnagar

Sunday 31st May 2009

On the first walk of my fortnight's holiday in Scotland I climbed up the Royal Munro, Lochnagar, situated on the Queen’s estate of Balmoral. The weather for this walk was really hot without a cloud in the sky all day, which just made the day even more exhausting. However, it was the long distances and the pathless moorland crossing that made this a really tough walk. I started in Braemar walking over a low hill at the foot of the dramatic cliffs of ‘Lion’s Face’ on a great woodland path before dropping back down onto and along the road to Invercauld Bridge. Only now could the walk described by Ralph Storer in his excellent book, "100 Best Routes on Scottish Mountains", begin. I climbed through the lovely Ballochbuie Forest along excellent tracks until I reached a metal bridge over the stream, Garbh Allt, above stunning falls. From here the path seemed to disappear so I decided to descend the hillside in the hope of picking up a path.

This was a mistake and eventually I turned around and headed back up the steep hillside while trying to get a signal on my GPS, but failing because of the tree-cover. When I finally did get a signal I discovered that I shouldn't have crossed the stream, so with no hope of finding the bridge again I continued heading uphill through deep heather until utterly worn out I crossed the stream again (this time without the aid of a bridge) and finally reached the track that I never should have left. Hot and exhausted I collapsed onto the ground beside the path, and only once I had recovered did I continue up the track beside the Feindallacher Burn, eventually leaving the wood behind and venturing out onto the open moorland. Once clear of the last tree I reluctantly left the path, and crossed the stream once again to make my way wearily across the bleak, heather-covered moorland. The only compensation on my tiring trudge was the sight of Lochnagar far ahead of me slowly getting ever closer as I approached.

After a long weary climb through the heather I reached the picturesque lake of Sandy Loch in its majestic mountain setting with the western cliffs of Lochnagar behind. While collapsed on a rock near the loch I had my lunch and gazed out over the inspiring scenery. After a lengthy stop I crossed the stream that issued from the loch and made my way towards a notable peak in the impressive surround of cliffs, the Stuic. A steep rocky ridge climbs up to the top, the Stuic Buttress, and this was what I was aiming for as I trudged up the steep slope until I reached the foot of the buttress and began to scramble up it. This was an exhilarating climb, sometimes scary, but great fun all the way until, with great satisfaction, I reached the top. All my weariness of earlier in the day was now a distant memory as I surveyed the awesome scenery across the Dee Valley and nearer to hand across the grass topped hills of the White Mounth. It was great to be at the top of a mountain in good weather as it seems like it’s been a long time.

Just behind the Stuic is a boring Munro, Carn a’Choire Bhoidheach, that doesn't really deserve the honour; if only the Stuic was twenty metres higher as that would have been a much more fitting Munro. Since it was so close I walked across the grassy terrain to the summit cairn before returning to the path that runs along the top of the cliffs. My main objective of the day was at the end of the path up a steep rock and grass slope through markedly different terrain to the grassy plain of Carn a’Choire Bhoidheach. On reaching the top of Cac Carn Mòr I touched the top of the summit cairn before walking over to the awesome cliffs that surround the Corrie of Lochnagar. Following the edge around the corrie and having a good look down the vertiginous cliffs I made my way to the Munro, Cac Carn Beag, the highest point on Lochnagar.

The views across the Dee valley to the Cairngorm Mountains were simply stupendous, as were the cliffs that bound the northern edge of this awesome mountain in a territory of otherwise boring grassy hills. Reluctantly I left the summit of the Munro and descended by the western ridge boulder-hopping down the steep boulder-strewn hillside. I thoroughly enjoyed myself during that pathless descent but eventually returned to Sandy Loch where I had to walk back across the vast, boggy moorland that I had ascended. The crossing was easier in descent but it was still a long time before I reached the track beside the Feinballacher Burn. Following the track down through the wood I saw where I’d gone wrong on ascent and decided that the guide book was out of date, but I still shouldn’t have wasted so much energy before I realised I had gone wrong.

Coming back onto the road I had a long weary walk back to Braemar that included walking up to and across the Lion’s Face, and down the other side. There may be better ways up Lochnagar, but they would have been really popular with manufactured paths throughout. On this route I didn’t see another soul until I was almost at the top so I think this really was a good way up an awesome mountain though there were several negative points to the walk. The long moorland climb was wearying in the hot weather, but since I didn’t have a car this was the only to do it from Braemar. Getting lost early on didn't help, but the main problem was that the most interesting part of the walk was a long time in coming and was over far too quickly. Lochnagar is a fabulous mountain; I just wish the ascent hadn't taken me so long.