9 Munros, bolognaise for breakfast, a snow bunting and a mountain on fire.
(Click on the photos for a larger version).
 |
| Vicky soaked through |
 |
| Findlay |
The double bank holiday, giving the possibility of an 11 day holiday with only 3 days leave, was far too good an excuse to head to Scotland for a spot of Munro bagging, a bit of sight-seeing, and catching up with some friends, so I spent a little bit of time on the phone and made some plans. I spent part Easter Friday with my boyfriend who was unable to join me on the trip, then jumped on a train to Aberdeen, to be met at the other end by my former housemate Vicky who now lives up there. The train journey made a pleasant change from driving - I could relax and enjoy the view, and read some of my book on which I've made not very much progress in rather too much time. I was still quite exhausted on arrival so we retired straight to bed, then on Saturday morning we drove over to Glenshee to knock off An Socach, a standalone Munro behind the Cairnwell group. The weather wasn't great, warm but rainy, which was a shame since I'd left glorious sunshine behind me in Stoke, but apparently they'd had a thunderstorm after I left so I didn't feel too cheated (apart from missing out on taking photos of the first lightning for ages!). We left the car at 10:30 and it was a pretty straightforward and not especially memorable trek up a subsiduary top, then on to the summit, and back for 5ish with the heater blaring to dry out shoes off. 16km (down the track from the east) in 5.5 hours, which was a little faster than anticipated, so we had time for a hot chocolate at the ski centre, a photo stop at Breamar castle since it had stopped raining, then a bath back at Vicky's, before time to visit Charlotte, Dave and Findlay for dinner. They were a little too wiped out to meet us as planned, so we drove up to meet them at the Buchan Braes hotel in Boddam for two smashing courses of its mouthwatering menu and a little entertainment from young master Findlay!
 |
| Me on Beinn Bhrotain |
The next day we headed back to Braemar for a bit of a longer adventure, more suitably attired for the warmth after the previous day's build up. From Breamar we headed West to the Linn of Dee then started a 2 day walk which was either dramatic or beautiful or both from start to finish. First along the sweeping Dee valley, then Glen Dee with its turquiose pools and granite sheets, then branching off and skirting round and up and round and up to reach the first Top. To the summit of here we'd managed an average speed of 4km/h, not bad at all! Then to the summit of Beinn Bhrotain where there was a trig point for me to pull shapes on, and from there it was a short-ish hop down and up over to Monadh Mor, Munro number 24 for me. Then we descended to a little lochan where we decided to set up camp instead of walking all the way down Glen Gesuchan only to have to re-gain the height the next morning. We spent a while circumnavigating the boggy loch when we changed our mind about which end to camp at, and finally settled at a nice dry spot not too far from running water at 6pm, 19km and 8 hours from the car and at 880m altitude.
 |
| Wild camp |
We wolfed down a much needed dinner of pasta and bolognaise sauce, slept soundly, then woke with the dawn for a breakfast of... pasta and bolognaise sauce. Plus chunky soup with squashed bread rolls. A magnificently odd breakfast, followed by only mixed nuts and raisins for lunch with value cereal bars. But when you leave Vicky in charge of food things are never dull :-) Unfortunately with two hot dishes and a water spillage breakfast was not a speedy affair, and I was champing at the bit since when I camp I usually eat breakfast in bed while I'm waking up, and it was 3 hours before we were ready to start walking for the day. Still, the high wild camp had allowed us some extra time, time enough that we decided to add Breirach to the day's objective, an extra 6km but not much height gain and the 3rd highest Munro. As we gained height I pondered over the extensive bird song and wildlife, and the snow still clinging to northern slopes and gullies, and wondered to myself whether there were many snow buntings around as I'd really like to see my first one. Various aspects of this trip had come about by luck, and my serendipity seemed to be holding as just as we reached a snow patch a little bird when scuttering off round the top of it, the paused. Through my camera lens its head marking made it look a little like a chaffinch and I wondered what one was doing up that high, then I noticed it had a white breast not a pink one as got quite excited as here was a snow bunting (photo
here)!
 |
| Carn a' Mhaim and Devil's Point |
After gaining the narrow, curving plateau we followed north round the eastern edge which gave us stunning views South to Lochain Uaine and Cairn Toul, our next two summits and the 4th and 5th highest Munros, and we had not tired of the view returning back along it and continuing up them, looking then over to the steep crag below Brearach too. We had a couple of stops for nuts and water, and were sitting on top of The Devil's Point, fourth Munro of the day, at 3pm. This summit was somewhat lower but no less impressive and with no less of a view, as the rivers to each side of it have carved it into a jutting promintary from where we could see north to the peaks already bagged, east to Ben Macdui (second highest Munro), south east all the way down the Dee valley almost back to the car in the far distance, and South to Beinn Bhrotain with Glen Gesuchan below it. We couldn't linger long as Vicky had to be at work in Aberdeen for 9:30pm, so we descended the Devil's Point as fast as we could. I'd been fretting about this most of the day but it wasn't as steep or as snowy as I'd feared, just one little patch of snow that was crossed rather than descended, then a good, albeit steep, path down to Corrour bothy. From here we agreed to pace it out as fast as we could as far as the track was good, and managed to cover 11km in just 2.5 hours. Unfortunately after 2 hours we were both in quite a lot of pain and possibly shoud have stopped but didn't, perhaps each not wanting to let the other down. We eventually collapsed at a right turn over a bridge that had taken a long time to arrive, and whether because of the pause or having a stetch out, when we set off again I'd pulled muscles in my left thigh and right hamstring. I hobbled the last 2km but we still managed to average 2.8km/h over a 29km day, taking in 4 Munros and after two previous day's walking! We had succeeded in getting back in time to get Vicky to work in time though, and after she'd gone out I eased my weary muscles in the bath then packed my bag for the next part of my adventure... my first trip to Edinburgh!
 |
| Edinburgh, church and Salisbury crags |
A deep sleep and an 8:20am train saw me in Edinburgh at 10:52, and Matt, my unofficial tour guide, arrived a few minutes later. We found somewhere suitable to leave the car and got a bus into the city, remembering a little late to pay attention to which street we'd left the car but between us we found it again later. It was certainly an active rest day rather than a relaxation day as we covered 6 miles round the city, taking in Princes street; the castle; Victoria Street balcony; a lovely cafe where I got my tasty and well presented pork discounted as they'd unfortunately undercooked it; Greyfriars Kirk (cathedral); the Meadows; and Holyrood Park and Salisbury crags. I stopped for frequent photos, often in the middle of the street, although the bright sunshine made the contrast a little awkward, and I wished for a bigger tripod while I was lying on my tummy in Greyfriars Kirk trying to take a photo of the massive organ.
 |
| Glasgow High Kirk, Infirmary and Necropolis |
Early evening went back to Matt's in Glasgow and had haggis and jalopeno pizza for dinner with the obligatory Irn Bru, then the next day I did a little more sighseeting but at a rather sedate pace with a happy lie in. I jumped on a very cheap (£1.80!) train into the city and wandered round the High Kirk (St. Mungos Cathedral) which was rather extensive and being nicely restored, then round the Necropolis. The Glasgow Necropolis is a substantial graveyard on a hillside which was opened in 1933 when space in churchyards space was dimished and less people were attending church, and it affords a nice view down over the Kirk and the Royal Infirmery, as well as being atmospheric in itself with grand tombs and monuments. Unfortunately while returning from here I discovered that my plans to head to Arran for the bank holiday weekend had fallen through, so I had to make come up with an alternative idea.
 |
| Stag |
I tried a couple of avenues that proved to be blind, before deciding that the best thing to do would probably be to tag along on Matt's trip to Gairloch - after all I've never been to Torridon and there were more Munros there too! On further investigation the Munros aren't really that near Gairloch and they sound like quite an undertaking in terms of terrain, so I stuck a post up on facebook asking whether anyone was in the area to accompany me, and lo, I got a message from a friend from home saying 'Sarah, Serendipity, I'm heading up there myself today!' I had the morning to pack, then Matt and I departed and I transferred to Jon's car part way there. Not longer later we were traversing the base of some awesomly dramatic mountains rising pretty much from sea level and reflected in passive lochs, then winding up a mountain pass to Applecross campsite past wild deer. A few photo stops delayed us a little as did leisurely tent pitching, and we arrived at the pub just after they'd stopped serving food but thankfully they threw us together a couple of dishes.
 |
| Suset over Skye |
 |
| Wild camp |
We hatched a plan to get up at dawn and take photos from the beach, go back to bed until the sun drove us from our tents, walk up a couple of Munros, camp high and take pictures of the sunset then dawn, then walk back down, and that's what we did. The Munros were Beinn Liath Mhor and Sgorr Ruadh, which are lesser known but provide fantastic views north to Beinn Alligin, Liathach and Beinn Eighe and west to Skye. We did them in the reverse order by accident as we overcooked the walk in a little, and I did the second one alone as Jon was eager to scout for photo spots, but both had a great day, and although my photos didn't turn out amazingly I learnt more about the photographer's light and really enjoyed the situation. The weather was good enough that I'd summited Sgorr Ruadh in shorts, only donning trousers for prudence when I went off alone, and view from the top of Sgorr Ruadh was breathtaking with the descending sun turning the sea golden in front of Skye, and it was hard to drag myself down again before dark.
 |
| Liathach on fire |
As we walked back to the car on Saturday morning we were both pooped - the blisters covering the tips of my little toes from the Cairngorms had blazed through the remaining layers of skin and Jon was just worn out - and the walking was arduous out of proportion with the gentle downhill angle, so we delayed plans to then walk up Liathach, which turned out to be a longer delay for me as I heard from Matt that he was picking me up the next morning. Jon and I set up camp at the wonderfully situated campsite at Shieldaig, had a lunchtime treat of steak and frites for me and moules and frites for Jon at the restaurant in Shieldaig, then took a stroll round a peninsula to look for seals, when we noticed that across the loch Liathach was on fire! Right the way from floor to tip, and being extended westwards by the lively wind. We stared at it in awe from various viewpoints and took photos, then came back to camp to cook up a hearty meal then take photos of the night sky.
 |
| Waterfall in Glencoe |
Matt picked me up late morning and there began a rather disjointed last day. First we drove to Glen Nevis and I spent a while looking for a short Munro outing that I could do in the available time, deciding on Aonach Beag, but was thwarted by a lack of map and all the local shops and services stations having run out of the appropriate one, and then it turned out Matt's partner had to leave early anyway for some work that had just become available. After a bit of discussion it turned out we still had the rest of the day to spare, so we continued down the glen and the boys went climbing at Whale Rock and I sunbathed and took photos. They did one route then none of the others seemed suitable so we moved further South to Glencoe for some roadside cragging, which turned out to be at this idyllic beauty spot just under the road! Gushing waterfalls, a deep pool with a soaring cliff next to it, pale, water washed boulders and colourful lichen. Definitely a spot to return to, and it revealed a different side of Glencoe to me. Unfortunately the climbing didn't go well for the guys, and Pete wasn't feeling well either, so it was a bit of a dreary drive to Tyndrum to sample the chip shop delights, then on to Glasgow.
My train home was at noon which allowed me time to pack after a lie in. I spent the three hour journey reading my book and my magazine which rounded off the holiday nicely since I don't get much time to read at home, and I finished them both just before pulling up at Crewe to be met by my boyfriend, then head home for a little gardening in the remaining sun. It was an excellent and varied trip, and I was only a little disappointed that my luck only gave me two numbers on the Saturday lottery.
