A Quick Wander

After seeing the forecast for the end of the week (heavy rain & thunderstorms) I quickly decided on a short trip to the Cairngorms (again), I soon packed a couple of night’s food & jumped in the car to the Linn of Dee. I’d no plan other than make for Bob Scott’s, I’d figure something out before the morning.
Day 1
The ‘plan’ that came to mind was head for Braeriach & pitch up near the Wells of Dee, a familiar route, it didn’t take long to walk over the bealach, enter Glen Dee with the familiar sight of Corrour bothy; the Cairn Toul/ Braeriach ridge didn’t look as though it would provide any spectacular views today.

I arrived at the bothy around 10:30am, time for a short stop to chat with the residents who were still engaged in final packing & giving the place a brush out.
It was soon time to hit the road again, make the climb up Coire Odhar before detouring up to Devil’s Point. The summit did provide a reasonable view up the glen but judging by the cloud base it was probably going to be to best view of the day.

The summit of Cairn Toul predictably was a cairn in the mist.

And so was Angels Peak.

A bit of relief came in the form of a male Snow Bunting who came for a visit (& cereal bar crumbs).

Then it was a misty trek over to Braeriach via the Wells of Dee for a fill up….another cairn in the mist.

It was only 4pm & the wind had been increasing steadily all afternoon, the thought of a damp, blustery camp gave way to plan B; descend into Garbh Choire. I back-tracked a couple of 100m then turned south following the rim of Coire Bhrochain & soon located the steep grassy descent line through the huge boulder fields that generally cover the slopes. It took about an hour to make the nearly 600m descent & finally reach the coire floor, about 200m upstream of the refuge.
The revised plan had been to pitch further down the valley but the weird weather, varying from a flat calm with lots of midge to 40+gusty winds, intervened & I opted for the relative luxury of the refuge.
Day 2
A leisurely 8:30 start, cloud continued to cloak the tops.

The ‘plan’ was to head over Ben Macdui so made my way north-east to join the Lairig Ghru, during the cross-country trek my  chosen line of ascent up the steep west flank revealed itself, more or less straight up the Alt a’Choire Mhoir

The 500m climb proved as steep as it looked but not difficult & I was soon on the path to the summit; the wind had increased to 30+mph but at least the cloud had lifted.


I enjoyed the views for a while then made my way down to the Sapper’s bothy for a bite to eat out of the wind & to ponder the afternoon’s return route options; via Sron Riach, via the Hutchie or over Derry Cairngorm.
I decided on going back via the Hutchie, made my way down to Loch Etchachan, topped up the water bottle then sat back for a while out of the wind. Another change of plan, stay high & go over Derry Cairngorm; no arguments when solo walking.
I climbed south directly up Creagan a’ Etchachan which provided an unusually clear panorama of the Macdui/ Cairngorm plateau.

I was soon on Derry Cairngorm’s summit.

The boulder strewn ridge meant for or slower progress than I would have wished for given the incessant wind & blustery showers but it was soon over & down into the relative calm of the pine trees in Glen Lui….. pesky midges…… & the short stroll back to the car.