Ben Bhraggie, Big Burn and Dunrobin Castle

Thursday 30th May 2024

When I drove up to Scotland in 2010 I took a great tour around the North Highlands echoing parts of the popular NC500 long before it was launched, but I have not been back to the historic county of Sutherland since. There were mountains in the area that I had not climbed on that occasion, partly because of poor planning and also because of bad weather, so I wanted to return and therefore my principle goal for this holiday was to return to Sutherland. To start, I left the Cairngorm Mountains and drove through the city of Inverness along the A9 up the east coast into the historic county of Sutherland and eventually stopped in the town of Golspie. I did not do any walking in this part of the county in 2010, preferring the more mountainous west coast, so this time I thought I’d start with a walk in this south eastern corner. Overlooking the town is a monument to the first Duke of Sutherland who is quite a controversial character for his part in the Highland Clearances when thousands of people were evicted from their homes to make way for sheep farming, but I just thought it would be good to walk up the hill the monument sits on. In glorious sunshine I set off up the hill, initially on a road, and as I climbed the views over Golspie and out to sea were increasingly spectacular, especially after what has seemed like months of rain this year. It was great to be finally getting great weather, but as I approached the monument I was hit by strong winds coming off the hills that made the walking considerably less enjoyable.

The views were stunning but it was only while standing on the seaward side of the monument that I was really able to appreciate them as when I moved inland along a clear path towards the top of Ben Bhraggie I was hit by strong winds. This path soon circled around the northern slopes and descended back towards the sea and I was more than happy to be out of the wind as I re-entered Ben Bhraggie Wood. The path led me past the conifers to a signpost that showed the route back to Golspie, but I had other plans. I had found a walk on the OS Maps app called ‘Country Walking: Ben Bhraggie, Highland’, which now directed me into the glen of Golspie Burn where a walk described as Golspie’s hidden gem, known as the Big Burn Walk, took me through a delightful wooded gorge. At a road I crossed the burn and took a path into the wood beside the stream where waterfalls were the star attraction, though I was also attracted to the woodland flowers that could be seen at this time of the year scattered throughout that included bluebells and later wild garlic. The well-constructed path took me safely through the gorge and eventually brought me to the foot of a tall waterfall that was not as impressive to me as the deep, cavern-like gorge surrounding the falls that had been created by the slowly eroding action of the waterfall. The fabulous path continued through the impressive gorge where woodland flowers decorated the rugged scenery, notably wild garlic, but all too soon my delight came to an end at the A9 trunk road.

On the other side of the road I followed a path through woodland abundantly decorated with flowers, though sadly now mostly gone to seed, not far from the beach as I followed the coast through to Dunrobin Castle. This is the seat of the Duke of Sutherland but I had no interest in going inside so I quickly made my way past the tourists, continuing through the woodland and soon I was out onto grassland than ran alongside the shingly beach for a relatively tedious walk beside the coast until I reached the ancient, circular, fortified dwelling called Carn Liath Broch. I have seen visited brochs and this one is less impressive than others I have seen, notably in the Outer Hebrides. As clouds began to envelop the skies I made my way back along the coast over the grassland and on re-entering the woodland around Dunrobin Castle I kept to the coast passing below the castle and formal gardens through wildflower-rich meadows. While the sun came out again, the monument on Ben Bhraggie could be seen ahead standing over Golspie and I re-entered the town at the end of a varied walk with three very different stages. From the wind-swept hilltop with extensive views to the fabulous gorge walk I finally ended with a coastal walk past Dunrobin Castle. After all the rain of this year, the sunshine on this walk was a welcome change and was the highlight of the walk.

The Abernethy Forest

Wednesday 29th May 2024

My goal for coming to the Cairngorm Mountains had been to climb Ben Macdui and visit Loch Etchachan, which I did the day before this walk, so despite the weather being poor I was not really bothered as I had nothing planned. Instead it gave me a chance to explore the lower levels of this delightful area and there is one path near the youth hostel at Glenmore that I always take when in the area but first I had to find it. Starting beside the Reindeer Centre, I set off along uninspiring forestry tracks through a conifer plantation and once I’d started walking the fact it was raining failed to put me off and it soon stopped to be replaced with general murkiness. The dull track eventually came to an end, with views over the trees into the misty surroundings, beside a sign that proclaimed that the path ahead was no longer maintained and may be rough underfoot. I was rather disappointed by this as I love that path and would hate for it to become impassable at some point, and the fact that it is rough is part of its appeal for me. Another part is the wild flowers that often grow amongst the deciduous trees in this part of the Glenmore Forest Park, though on this occasion many of the flowers had already gone to seed. The most abundant was the slender blue flowers of bugle and the path itself was very enjoyable, weaving around the trees, up and down through the landscape. Wide flat paths are no fun in comparison.

Eventually I descended steeply to the main track through the Pass of Ryvoan near to An Lochain Uaine whose green waters are iconic. The path continued to climb away from the loch and split with the right hand branch turning south to the River Nethy heading over the Lairig an Laoigh and the other turning to the north climbing up to the Ryvoan Bothy. The Lairig an Laoigh is a fine pass through the mountains that I previously took in 2009 from Braemar, but I have not been any further along the other path than the Ryvoan Bothy where a path diverts up to the top of Meall a’ Bhuachaille, which I took in 2021. Now I stayed on the path beyond the bothy passing through moorland sparsely decorated with young trees and into the Abernethy Forest following the clear track past the conifers of scots pine. Junctions presented a challenge in navigation, though the route to Nethy Bridge was usually the clearest and often signposts pointed the way. Showers came and went throughout the course of the morning while I slowly made my way along the track with no sign of another soul amongst the trees. Despite walking through conifers, this always felt much more alive than when in a man-made conifer plantation because there was more space between the trees which allows more light to get to the woodland floor and so there was plenty of vegetation growing underneath the trees. All this is in sharp contrast to the dark, lifeless floors of conifer plantations.

Eventually I began to see signs of civilisation, first at Forest Lodge and then later, after tarmac appeared underfoot, I entered the outskirts of Nethy Bridge. In the centre of town I saw a sign for a riverside walk and since I had plenty of time before the next bus was due I took advantage of it and the sunshine that had just appeared. There were many wild flowers to admire, but the star attraction was the River Nethy itself, which was looking stunning under the blue skies that had astonishingly appeared, so when I reached the end of the trail I turned around and walked back along it. I was enamoured of Nethy Bridge and wanted to spend more time exploring but I didn’t want to miss my bus so I waited around for it to appear and by the time it eventually did the rain had also returned. The Speyside Way passes through Nethy Bridge so if at some time in the future I decide to do this long distance trail then maybe I will have an excuse to return to this village and spend more time there as I enjoyed my brief time spent in Nethy Bridge waiting for the bus in the sunshine. I was brought to Aviemore where I could either catch another bus to take me back to the youth hostel or I could walk there, which I have done on many occasions. Considering the time, I decided to take the quickest route along a cycle path known as the Old Logging Way, which I had taken in 2021 when I was last in the area. The rain held off even though it looked like it wouldn’t and provided me with another relaxing walk except when dodging bicycles.

This was a very different walk to the one the day before and I definitely prefer being at the top of a mountain but that holds less appeal when the clouds are low, though the weather was actually not as bad as had been forecast. It had given me the opportunity to explore the Abernethy Forest which I had not previously visited so the forecast did have that advantage and it was enjoyable and relaxing even though walking through woodland can be rather monotonous.