Dunkeld, Lochnagar

Exploring Scotland like I explored New Zealand....that's what I'm planning for this year! Not sure how many weekends I'll have free, but I want to take advantage of them. Met up with Neil (friend I met in NZ who lives in Glasgow now) in Dunkeld on Saturday and we went mountain-biking for the day. The weather was fantastic, and there were some great trails. He assured me it wasn't going to be technical biking, but we started off taking a single track around cliffs - that rates as technical in my book :)









Great fun though, and brilliant views around Dunkeld.









Took my car from there up to Braemar (SO nice to have use of the house up there!) and made plans for some hiking on Sunday.

Decided on Lochnagar - walked in from Easter Balmoral and up to Glendashiel, then cut across the heather and clambered up the ridge to the on the West side of the loch. The sun was shining perfectly about 10 mins before we hit the top, but strong winds and clouds managed to appear just as we reached the summit :) Came back around the top of the corrie and joined the landrover track back to the forest at Balmoral grounds.










The last part was a bit boring (about 7 miles of the same!) but we jogged some of it to pass the time a bit quicker. Not actually a run, more of a shuffle because my feet were pretty angry with me by now - about a mile after we started they weren't happy with the boots, and rebelled by producing giant blisters on my heels. They probably didn't like the fact I made them continue for 6 more hours and climb a munroe as well :)