Scotland, September 2014. A Six Munro Walk from Glenshee.

We awoke this morning to fog but the forecast was for excellent visibility on the tops with cloud in the valleys so hopes were high for perfect conditions.  The support team drove us up the valley and over the top of the Cairnwell to our start point.  Although the summit of the pass was clear, we were in thick fog to start.  We quickly dropped to the burn and then, almost immediately began to climb, and climb.....  I certainly got my comeuppance for bragging that my fitness was returning; it was a lung bursting climb which had me gasping and sweat spouting out of every pore.  We soon climbed through the murk, however, and quickly reached the summit of our first Munro with cloud filled valleys spread out all around and summits poking through.  What a magnificent sight.  Then followed a superb roller coaster of a walk over five more Munros with the route never dipping below 800m; magical.  I had never seen so many mountain hares as I did on this day.  They were everywhere in large groups of ten or more and amazingly tame, as if they didn't know what to make of us.  I even managed some (poor) shots with my compact camera and would have given my eye teeth for my long lens; even the 100-400, but I have reached that stage when carrying an extra 15lbs of camera gear plus tripod does not hold many attractions.  As well as the hares, we saw plenty of ptarmigan again and several huge herds of red deer in the corries below us.  The arctic/alpine tundra not only makes for excellent walking, it is rich in specialist plants: club mosses, lichens and bright colourful mosses. At the end of 16 fantastic miles and 6 more Munros we dropped steeply into a beautifully sylvan glen to be met by the ever faithful support team and then retired to the site for the ritual beer shower beer before fish and chips from Braemar.

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Scotland, September 2014. Tomintoul.

A lazy start today.  Peter and Linda popped into Braemar and when they returned we sat in the sun eating wonderful croissant and danish pastries with our morning coffee.  In the fullness of time we all went into Braemar, where Peter and I bought energy drinks for our next Mumro marathon and my leader bought a new pair of walking trousers in the sale.  Next it was on to Tomintoul  over the Lecht at just over 2000 feet.  On the way we called in to see an exhibition by local photographer, Gerard Murphy, who had some excellent work: local scenes and travel photographs from Asia in both colour and black and white.  After a late lunch in Tomintoul, said to be the highest village in the Highlands, we drove down to Glenlivit.  Unfortunately we were too late for the distillary tour but not for the free tasting.  Wonderful; glad it was not me driving!!  Soon it was back to the site and an excellent BBQ.
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Both images the packhorse bridge at GlenLivet

Scotland, September 2014. Cairngorms, Day 3.

We decided to make an earlier start today and so were packed and away for 8.00 am.  The walk up through Glen Geusachan was wild, remote and beautiful; and also trackless, so tough on the legs.  As we climbed higher towards our first goal of Loch nan Stuirteag, we began to get superb views up to Cairn Toul, one of the big Cairngorm 4000s!  Following a cereal bar, we climbed up to the col separating Glen Geusachan from the vast boggy basin of the Moine Mhor (Big Moss).  From here we could look down onto Loch nan Cnapan, where I had camped and swum while doing my Mountain Leadership 40 years previously.  On that occasion we had to complete a night navigation exercise around the series of small lochans scattered hereabouts.  We also enjoyed superb views of a herd of red deer on the skyline that we were heading for,  The climb up onto the plateau of Monadh Mor was straightforward and I revelled in the walk across the arctic/alpine tundra with its low vegetation of mosses, lichens and club mosses, to the summit of our first Munro of the day.  A quick descent took us down to the col and excellent views across the glen and our campsite of the night before to the Devil's Point, perched high above the headwaters of the River Dee.  All that remained of the climbing for the trip was the steep, but short, pull up to the summit of our second Munro for the day Beinn Bhrotain.  As we descended from here towards Glen Dee in the early afternoon, the sky cleared from behind us giving beautiful light and enhancing the fabulous views up the Lairig Ghru and of the Devil's Point, Cairn Toul and Ben Macdui.  The walk out towards the Linn of Dee was now flat and easy going, but long at the end of a tough three days.  Just after White Bridge we were met by our faithful support team who had driven to pick us up and had walked up to meet us.  What stars!!!
Before long we were back at the site and it was beer, shower, beer before a huge pasta meal and then an early night for tired legs.

Today we had walked 17 miles with only 1000m of ascent and 2 more Munros.  Altogether we had covered 52 miles with a moving average of 2.3 mph and 1.8 mph total average.  We had climbed 3876m (12600 feet) and had been on our feet for 28 hours.  Our packs had weighed 25lbs.  I was well proud of my 65 year old legs!!