Having fully recovered now from my torn calf I was amazed to realise that I hadn't been on a hill since returning from Skye...four weeks ago!!! This represents the longest break from the hills I have had this year, including recovery time from my injury. A mix of busy work schedule, prior engagements, poor weather and CBA syndrome had led to the onset of apathy regards getting out and about.
Something had to be done to shake me from this cycle of laziness...I had planned to go out on Friday but was shattered from a hectic week...then a plan fell through on Saturday night, leaving me no excuse not to head out to the hills instead. I downloaded a route, nice and close as I really didn't want to risk driving for hours and having to walk in mist or rain (it would really set off my CBA again), and headed off to bed early with a view to getting up at half four and leaving Aberdeen at five on Saturday morning.
As sleep isn't my strong suit I fully expected to be up all night checking the alarm clock in case I slept in...but this time I didn't. When the alarm went off it was a struggle to get up, but get up I did. I had factored in two hours for driving, and two hours was exactly what I required to find me sitting at the Dulmunzie hotel at Spittal of Glenshee, being eaten alive by midgies at seven o'clock in the morning!!!
I put this down to penance for my recent bout of CBA...karma if you will...little b*st*rds!!
Anyway, off I set from the hotel (your meant to get permission to park there apparently, but it was all closed up when I arrived, I would leave a cash donation upon my return instead), following the road up to Glenlochsie farm, where I managed to upset the farmer by daring to tread on his land (apparently "keep yer hair on" is NOT an acceptable retort to grumpy farmers in these parts!!). Once I had located the correct path to take, avoiding farm land, I meandered through a field of cows...some with horns on...and managed to upset them too it appears (apparently they don't take kindly to being prodded out of the way by walkers with poles).
Once beyond the farm I followed the dismantled railway line, thus avoiding crossing the stream at least twice, though in essence it could not have been any wetter than this path ended up being!! Further up there are a choice of routes to take, one of which involved a slog up through gorse to Creag Beag and not joining a path till higher up. The one I chose followed the old railway line to Glenlochsie lodge (ruins) and then followed the bulldozed track beyond here up Breac-reidh (between Allt Clais Fhiodha and Allt Clais Mhor) all the way to the summit of Glas Tulaichean 1051m.
It took me two hours from car to summit cairn, which probably affected my views on timings for the rest of the trip (I had planned initially to do all four, then changed it to two, then altered it finally to three summits...pushing my timings from twelve hours, to eight, back to ten hours). There are some cracking views of Beinn a' Ghlo on the way up, behind Carn an Righ (the 2nd target for the day). Indeed it was a pleasure to be seeing any views on a hill for a change and I made the most of the opportunity by listing all the ones I could see and smiling that I had done the majority of them (only An Sgarsoch and Carn an Fhidhleir left to do from the White bridge and Sgor Gaioth and Mullach Clach a' Bhlair from Feshiebridge).
I met another walker near the summit cairn here, a young bloke that had camped out near the Loch and was planning on doing all four today as his car was back in Braemar. Unfortunately he was worried that he didn't have enough water to see him through...clearly hadn't given any thought to filling up from the plentiful streams that there were cascading down the slopes!! I wished him well and set off on a dog-leg path to Carn an Righ. Heading east then north then north west then finally west...basically a boomerang shaped path from one summit to the other. The descent of Glas Tulaichean was rather steep in places, but thankfully dry...unlike the path at the bottom of the slope!! My poor new boots may have been bright green at the start of the day, but not now!! I followed the quagmire around the bottom of Mam nan Carn until it turned more stony and then headed up the slopes to Carn an Righ, arriving at the summit cairn 1029m at around ten o'clock...three hours after setting off.
There was another walker on this summit, an older bloke that had come up from Tyneside yesterday to do these two today, then head off back down the road. He was telling me of how his wife used to do it with him but that she now suffers from Alzheimers, so he has to go it alone (and only when he can arrange care for her)...it just reminds me of how lucky I am to be able to up car and go whenever I want...the perfect cure for CBA syndrome!!! I spent a pleasant twenty minutes at the summit keeping him company, sharing stories and laughing at each others tales of woe...it was nice...I like nice. Then he took my pic at the cairn and we went our separate ways.
I was raring to go again after that refuelling stop at the summit...so retraced my tracks down Carn an Righ to the bealach between it and Mam nan Carn...then slogged up the opposite path until it split half way up the slopes, taking the left branch around the slopes as opposed to up and over. I followed this path until it got fainter and fainter then disappeared completely in the grass, but kept following the slopes around until it came out at a path heading up the slopes of Beinn Lutharn Mhor. I followed this path until the summit plateau got rockier, then headed in an north trajectory till I could see the large summit boulder cairn ahead at 1046m.
I must apologise for the nick of Jelly McBaby in the summit pic...unfortunately he had a slight stumble and fell face first off the cairn...hence the grit on his nose!! There are some extensive views into the Cairngorm range from here, I could pick out almost all the summits I have ever done there...and was basically looking into the Lairig Ghru from my summit perch.
When I turned around I could then make out Carn Aosda and Cairnwell in the distance. With three summits now bagged for the day I thought longingly about Carn Bhac away in the distance (about 5.5k at least) and decided there and then that I would make it my final destination. You reach a stage, when bagging, that you start to plan your final Munro...it has to be relatively easy if you want friends and family to come along and help you celebrate...and at this moment there seemed like no better choice than Carn Bhac!! It is a long walk in from Inverey but it is not a steep climb, or awkward to reach, it has no technical difficulty and best of all it means a night on the lash in Braemar afterwards to celebrate...beats the phone box I needed for my PHD leaving doo!!!
There now remained the small task of getting off the hill and back to the car...I retraced my steps once more to the foot of Mam nan Carn (opposite end this time) and then headed east around the slope to the bealach at the foot of Beinn Lutharn Bheag, then turned off south west to the Loch nan Eun below. Once at the Loch I traversed around it and reached the outward path heading down Allt Easgaidh...all the way down Glen Taitneach 7k back to the hotel. Then reached the bottom and had to wade across the river to reach the bloody hotel!!! I made it back to the car by two o'clock...only seven hours after leaving...a clear three hours quicker than anticipated (WH had suggested 8-10 hrs for a 27k route taking in the first two Munro's...I had added a third Munro and at least 6k to that and still done it in 7 hrs).
The next target is Kinlochleven in two weeks with the CMB crew...canna wait!!
PS...CBA syndrome is canna be ars*d...and I had rid myself of that feeling well and truly today...normal service is now resumed.
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