Half way! (June 2002)

3 Munros and 5 Tops

One advantage of being self-employed is the possibility to take advantage of the fickle Scottish weather. Just such a chance occurred the day after I was doing some work up in Aberdeen. After visiting friends in Banchory, I headed up to the car park at Loch Muick. With all the rear seats out, its possible to sleep in the Espace and carry a bike (or two). So, I was ready to go at 7.15am next morning (28th June). Weather good - cloud high - no wind.

By 8am, I was stashing the bike in the trees at Glas-allt Shiel, and heading off up the path - good underfoot initially, up past waterfalls to the Dubh Loch.

passing the Dubh Loch en route for Cairn an t'Sagairt Mor

A bit muddy for the next mile or so, then continued up gentle grassy slopes to Carn an t-Sagairt Beag (10.30am) well populated with a herd of deer. Not quite sure why I hadn't planned to include the White Mouth Munro - that had to wait for a second trip in 2004.

Across on Carn an t-Sagairt Mor, I could see something white or metallic just below the summit. Intrigued, I headed in that direction, and found the remains of a crashed plane. A few minutes later (11am) i was on top of the first Munro of the day, with its curiously split cairn.

40 minutes later, across a shallow depression, I was on Fafernie - surely the "top" with the least drop between it and its Munro!

Another drop of 10m, then a slight rise, and within 10 minutes I had reached Cairn Bannock. Munro number 142 - the half way mark. A quick calculation showed, that if I took the same time to do the next 142, I would "compleat" in 2028 at the age of 71. Perhaps I needed to show a little more urgency!

Anyway, Cairn Bannock was a good half way point for an inhabitant of Selkirk:

Tops come easy in this corner of the world:

- Cairn of Gowal (12.20)

- Creag of Gowal (12.35)

- then a little back-tracking to Craig an Dubh Loch (13.05)

The last of these gave a good view down on to the crags which I had seen from below 3 hours earlier. A few minutes later, up a wee rocky rise, and I was on Munro 143, Broad Cairn.

From Broad Cairn, a good path led down to the bealach, and then more steeply down through Coire Chash to the head of Loch Muick, and my bike.

Now for the next 141 ...

(written 15/08/09)