I don't need to get high to be happy...

A low level reminder of what I find so beautiful and appealing about the Cairngorm national park...My intention was to revisit an old walk today at Cairnwell (the three Munro circuit above the Glenshee ski centre) which I first did a few years ago with Chris and Mark in beautiful summer weather.

Recently I have been all about walking new Munro's, bagging summits, visiting new locations, meeting new people to walk with...and today would have been no different if the weather forecast wasn't so bad and I had stayed somewhere overnight to get an early start without a long drive. As it happened I had hoped for company today but others wanted to do the whole weekend and I didn't feel like it (for once). So off I set this morning heading to Glenshee with the intention of taking Jelly McBaby up a route he had not previously been on with me. However, the first problem of the day was when I arrived at Glenshee to find it absolutely hoaching with skiers...a full car park as well...everywhere I looked they were there. Not one for crowds I opted to u-turn back to Braemar and head out to Linn of Dee instead. I decided to walk along Glen Derry for as far as I could in the conditions (wet and blustery) and set myself a target of enjoying my day out regardless of how far I got or what the weather did.
 After parking up in Linn of Dee and paying the ticket machine (which I almost forgot) I set along the trail through the trees, crossing the slatted wooden concourse, up through more trees then onto the path proper. 
When I started walking Munro's back in 2006 my first few adventures were in the Cairngorms, along this very path, which I grew to hate with each trip along and back. Such is the length of the walk in to any Munro in this area that you are always faced with a long walk back afterwards...it can be soul destroying after walking and climbing for anything up to ten hours on some routes...every step back along the path from Derry lodge to Linn of Dee would be felt as though my legs were ready to drop off.

And as it's the main route into the Cairngorms you are left with no alternative but to walk it more than once (unless you fancy a long weekend camping out on summit plateaux to bag them all together).
The main difference today, except that I haven't done it since 2010 (Derry Cairngorm with Mark and Chris), was that today there would be no target to reach at the other end, meaning I felt less intense walking along the path and could enjoy it for what it is...an excellent access path to one of the best areas in Scotland.

As I headed in along the path towards Derry Lodge the weather reminded me of why I wasn't up a hill today...blustery swirls of rain battered against me and I pulled my hood tighter and my buff higher on my face. The path was quite slippery with ice and had a fair amount of snow on it in places, not what I was expecting at such low level. The summits that I could start to make out through the blizzard above them were covered in snow, unlike so many other areas recently, the Cairngorms holds onto its winter covering sometimes well into the summer months.

As I approached Derry Lodge I could start to make out Carn Crom through the swirls of sleet and snow, rising high above the lodge across Luibeg burn...temptation almost took me across the bridge towards it...but I resisted and stayed on the right bank of the burn and followed the rising path along Glen Derry, leaving the lodge behind. Derry lodge is a fine looking building that is unfortunately boarded up permanently. It is owned by the NTS and in my opinion more use should be made of such facilities. 

This is yet another fine path that gives access to Beinn a'Chaorainn and Beinn Bhreac on the right side of Glen Derry and fine views of Derry Cairngorm's sloping flanks along to Carn Crom on the left of the Glen. The path rises to a height of approx 515m before turning downhill again...it is at this point that you would head off to your right and follow a faint path through the trees, if you were heading for Beinn Bhreac.

But I followed the path down in front of me as I continued on my merry way (merry and wet and cold) to wherever I felt like stopping and turning back. With the time I was taking to trudge through thick snow (even at this low level) I calculated reaching not much further than the last bridge across Luibeg burn before having to about turn and head back. There were plenty of deer tracks along the path, but no sign of any deer. There were a few sets of old boot prints, complete with crampons (the tell tale marks in the snow give it away)no less, heading along the track as well, surely from this morning as opposed to yesterday. 

As I dropped down into the Glen again I could barely make out anything in the distance, when I had been hoping to make out Beinn Mheadhoin and the slopes curving around Derry Cairngorms lower reaches at the very least. I could see the start of the deer fences, erected to protect the new saplings from ravenous deer, but not much else beyond that. The wind was picking up, the sleet was getting wetter and I was getting colder...Brrrrr time to head back me thinks.
So I crossed the bridge over the burn and followed the path back on the other side of Luibeg burn...what a mistake that was!!

The snow was even thicker at this side and no-one had been through it in days (if at all) so I kept plunging through to freezing cold puddles beneath the surface as I followed the path back.

I forgot that the path on this side follows closer to the burn so would naturally be wetter than the higher one I took out...but at least the trees were thicker and provided more protection from the elements above (except all the ones that Mother nature had toppled over in a strop...PMT me thinks!!).

I trudged back along to Derry lodge, crossed the wooden structure carefully (vibram soles and wet wood don't go well together) and took a slight detour off route to Bob Scott's bothy.

My first trip into this area was with Asima and a few others doing the Lairig Ghru in 2006, where we spent a night camping out at the bothy. We even built a camp fire and toasted marshmallows, as well as a perfectly good pair of socks that got just a little too close to the flames when I tried to dry them out whilst still wearing them (oh you live and learn).

This only left the last walk back to Linn of Dee from Derry lodge to go...the source of much suffering previously was a canter today. I passed a few other walkers on the way, a young family whose kids were already fed up of peddling bikes so the Father was left pushing them along, and a couple of lads dressed for the arctic but without any packs on. 

The red bridge (not it's actual name, though I don't know why) was crossed and the last leg was upon me...time for some last minute reflection...before I made it back to the car and my flask full of custard and ginger cake. A lesson learned this morning regards contents of flask...always use full fat custard, as opposed to the low fat alternative, as the low fat one thins out as it cools and leaves a mushy mess in your flask...it was almost drinkable rather than spoonable when I eventually opened it!!!

It doesn't matter what your preference is; crampons or microspikes, walking poles or ice axe, bladder or bottle, map and compass or GPS, soft shell or hard shell...the list goes on...these are just some of the material things that we use to help us get from A to B safely and in comfort on the hills...What is really important to remember is that the most undervalued asset at our disposal as we tackle all of these challenges before us is passion. Without passion we wouldn't set foot out of the car and head into some of the weather we experience across this beautiful country of ours, be that rain, snow or heatwave (we each have our own preference for walking in) as we strive to achieve happiness from one of life's simple pleasures (and something that we all take for granted at one time or another). People talk about battling against all the odds to make it to a summit...but I prefer to think that we embrace rather than battle...we embrace the challenge set before us and hold onto all the fond memories we collect along the way, even the bad days are used to mould into experience to use on the better days when everything goes our way.

As I passed the halfway mark of Munro's last year I started to think about targets for the year ahead and also about where I would like to do my final Munro, if I make it that far, and in a way I now feel that I lost sight of what is important to me (from a hill walking perspective). It matters not that I do them all (though it would be a nice achievement) but that I get out and do them at all. I love this country of ours (from a natural beauty perspective) and want to continue travelling around it, seeing every part of it at least once, meeting new people to walk with and share my adventures along the way.
I hope that by continuing this blog I encourage some to share my passion for the hills (even vicariously) and perhaps even to come join us and experience it for themselves just once...you never know you might just become as hooked as me...Until the next time folks...happy wandering x        

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