I never knew you could get a full size Jelly McBaby suit to wear up the hills...

Having just returned from my last adventure, on Thursday, with the lovely Louise it was back down to earth with a gnarly thud...gnarly being the condition of my two comrades on this latest adventure. To say that mother nature has been less than kind to them in the intervening period since our last encounters would be an understatement!! Only joking boys...it was great to catch up with you both again. I have not seen Michael since he moved to Inverness a couple of years ago, and I only caught up with Chris on Monday past when he came to work in Aberdeen (having not seen him for over five months). This was to be Chris's first Munro outing with me since we did Aonach's Mor and Beag last year, I think?? What I know with certainty is that this was Michael's first ever Munro trip with me...and hopefully not his last (well he did bring the sun with him). As we were coming from Aberdeen/Rosehearty/Inverness we decided upon a Munro that would be within equal (ish) commuting distance for us all. Geal Charn fitted the bill perfectly, as none of us had done it before and the route was easy enough for a novice...and Baino!!

Arrangements were made on Friday night, meeting times and places agreed, rucksacks packed...then off to bed to sleep off the fine free tea I won as a result of Shalina winning masterchef (always next series Simpson!!)

An early start beckoned on Saturday morning and I got a pleasant surprise as the sun was shining and the early morning skies were a bright blue. I met up with Baino (Chris) in Aberlour as agreed, though slightly earlier as the roads had been quieter than I had expected (no tractors slowing me down for a change). Then onwards to Newtonmore to pick up Michael at the Glen hotel car park. Unfortunately we had a slight wait as Michael had to re park his car out on the street, apparently non residents are glowered at from windows if they attempt to leave their cars in the hotel car park (even though it was as empty as it was possible to be!!). Next stop Garva bridge...

 Imagine my surprise when Baino donned an orange jacket at the car...his very own homage to the mountain ninja that is Jelly McBaby!!

Michael (we are still to decide on his Munro nickname) and Baino looking resplendent in their new walking gear before we set off to Geal Charn, are happy to pose for some pre walk pics...and then some pre ascent pics later on...followed by some summit pics...hell they just like to pose!! And so off we set on the path to what, presently, looked like a snowy topped Munro awaiting us...first we had to cross Garva bridge...across the river Spey.

 Behind us were some rugged looking tops, with no small smattering of snow left on them, which I believe to be the rear face of the Creag Meagaidh range...when we crossed the bridge the road splits left and right...right takes you out to Geal Charn and left takes you out (eventually) to the Corrieyairack pass...which is a high mountain pass through some rugged wild countryside to Glen Tarff. Not so much snow out that way but wild looking none the less. We headed off on the right path and crossed Feith Talagain at a newly constructed metal bridge (built directly on top of the original wooden one) there for whatever work is presently ongoing in that area. We followed the river and soaked in the open expanses of countryside before us as the Munro was clear to see even from back here.

The path up was very boggy in places lower down, getting quite indistinct, so we headed up through the heather instead...following the river as it cut round to the right...then finding the path had improved so rejoining it. Further along the path we came across the torn open carcass of a not long dead sheep, right in the middle of the path. Poor Michael worries that there must be big wild cats loose on the hills...a theory which I subscribe to...but I also believe that they are more scared of us than we are of them, hence the lack of sightings!!

Not long after this horrific discovery the path turns right again and follows a tributary stream coming off the mountain...allt coire nan dearag...follow it up its south side until finding a safe place to cross (if in spate) which today could have been anywhere. We found a likely spot and hopped across on the rocks.

Once across to the north side of the stream we headed once more through wet grass and found a higher line away from the worst of the bogginess as we continued up the slopes. As we climbed higher it became clear that the dusting of snow had almost entirely melted already in the morning sun. We met a few groups of walkers coming down from the summit, in varying degrees of weatherbeateness...Baino was pleased to spot that one of them was wearing the same hardshell that he chooses...one born every minute!!

 Keep on up the shoulder of the slopes now until you reach the broad, open, plateau...the cairn is huge and sits at 926m...Jelly McBaby came out to claim his prize...and also to check out the adult size impostor standing at the cairn!!!

Michael was more interested in tanning his summit bagel than anything else!! The bad news had been delivered already that there would be none of Meghan's rock cakes today...but arriving at the summit brought the anguish flooding back. The cairn provided enough shelter to allow us to linger longer than I normally would when alone...an opportunity to take in the views and try to work out which ranges we could see from our perch high on the Monadhliath...I reckon we could see into Kintail to the NW and Glen Affric higher up to the NNW. The remaining Monadhliath tops were to the NE of us and the main Cairngorm range away to our SE.
With all our pics taken, we headed off the summit and back down the slopes, once more to the car.

The journey back down the slopes was full of chatter, mostly inane, amongst old friends getting caught up with putting the world to right once more. Baino took young (okay that's stretching things a tad further than is allowed) Michael under his wing and tried to impart all his nuggets of knowledge pertaining to hill walking (remember this is the guy that once had more books on hills than actual summits bagged!!)...though I had to put a stop to it when he offered to lick a sheep shit and tell Michael how long ago it had been passed!!!

We discussed the next meet up and it looks like two weeks time...Feshiebridge to bag a couple hopefully...and before we knew it we were back at the car park and ready to depart. The heat off the sun was intensified in the confines of the car...we had a lovely drive back to Newtonmore...and it had worked up a thirst in us as we decided to stop at the hotel and have a well deserved pint before heading off in our different directions. A fun day was had by all (well until they read this account anyway) and I look forward to our next one, which may well be my next blog (shifts permitting at work)!! Until then...if I had a quid for every time Baino said "put that in yer fluffing blog" today then I could have bought a new jacket on the way home.....

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