I found myself with some time to squeeze in a hill, but it was to be a companionless adventure this time, with the usual suspects either putting up walls or tearing down trees. I figured that with the bike in tow, I'd be able to make Beinn Bhreac and Beinn a' Chaorainn in fairly short order.
I left Glasgow at 0700, and listened to an audio book version of H G Wells' War of the Worlds on the way up the road. It seemed to chime with the state of the world and helped pass the time on the long drive.
The wee Mazda rolled into the Linn of Dee car park at 0930 and the car park wasn't too busy. I paid my £3, took the bike off the car, ate some of the previous night's chicken shawarma and lebanese bread, then headed up through the woods at 0945.
It was a warm morning and it was a real pleasure to be wheeling into the Cairngorms again. Fortunately no one was with me to smell my garlicky breath from the shawarma. I approached Derry Lodge after about 20 mins and checked the path for a way up Glen Derry. The climb was about 140m ascent from the car park, but it didn't feel like it - the bike well oiled and feeling great.
I approached the point I'd read about, 2km up the path and hid the bike reasonably well in the heather at 1025. It was a beautiful day.
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| Cairngorm pine forest in Glen Derry |
I even dropped a layer so that I was down to just a t-shirt for the next part of the ascent. I followed the vague path which pretty quickly petered out and then just bashed up the heather for a couple of hundred metres to get onto the ridge line, near the bealach between Meall an Lundain and Beinn Bhreac. Once the heather was out of the way, it was an easy wander to the start of the slope.
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| Beinn Bhreac |
Now, this picture doesn't make it look like much - and it's not, at 931m, it is dwarfed by the mountains on the either sides of both glens. But a Munro it is, so on I went.
I made it to the top of Beinn Bhreac at 1140.
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| Summit of Beinn Bhreac |
It was a bit windier at the top, so back on with the base layer which did the trick. I didn't hang about much and took a long look at the Mòine Bhealaidh ahead. Like everything in the Cairngorms, it's a big distance. However, it was a nice day, the wind was behind me and I was keen to see what the Mòine held.
Turns out, mostly bog and marsh, but I did see what I think was a snipe and there was something big flying overhead - though from the distance I couldn't tell if it was a buzzard or something else. The views to my left to Ben MacDui where I was last month were excellent. A lot less snow!
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| Beinn a' Chaorainn |
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| Over to MacDui |
I got to the foot of the slope and realised I'd been going for about 3 hours without eating. Man cannot live on shawarma alone apparently and so I stopped out of the wind and tucked into some trail mix, chocolate and coffee. Energised, I was ready for the climb up onto Beinn a' Chaorainn. It was fairly easy going, only 200m or so of ascent and I was on the summit for 1315. It was fairly windy though so it was on with another layer and then duck behind the cairn for a roll.
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| Summit of Beinn a' Chaorainn |
Across the glen, the sight of Beinn Mheadoin is very impressive. Still some big areas of snow around, but none that I encountered directly.
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| Beinn Mheadoin and the barns |
From the top, it was a slight run down the other side being very careful on some steep scree-y slopes and then before I knew it, I was in Glen Derry again.
Glen Derry was a long walk out, but the changing landscape means you are never bored. Some of these trees must be the oldest in the country. I had the place to myself and it was absolutely lovely.
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| Granny pine |
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| More pines |
I made it back to the bike at 1505 and it was a very quick descent to get me back to the car park at 1530. It was back into the car, ready for more War of the Worlds and a coffee at Perth on the way home.
Here's the Relive of the walk:
Bike distance (total): 14km
Bike time (total): 56m
Bike ascent (total): 164m
Hike distance: 16.7km
Hike time: 4h 42m
Hike ascent: 701m
Munros Completed: 191
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