Hiking, Biking, Running and Climbing - Life is Good!!
I've been looking at the munro book quite a bit recently and getting a little bit addicted to working my way through it - I don't like to climb mountains just for the sake of climbing them, but there is a certain pull towards hiking all of the highest mountains in Scotland (284 mountains over 3000 feet are listed as munros). I'm in no rush to complete them, but it's really exciting to see some different parts of the country, and what better way than to climb a mountain while you're there?!
Last week I went up Ben Chonzie & Ben Vorlich, both near Comrie/Loch Earn (weather not great at the top so the views weren't too special, but the wildife - particularly the mountain hares and the 6-legged 2-headed sheep! - were nice)... On Friday I drove up to Glen Clova, planning to hike up Driesh & Mayar, which turned into a bit of an epic. I'm trying to improve my navigation in the hills, but in conditions where you can't see more than 10 feet in front of you its not that easy. So even now I'm not really sure where I went exactly, but I went round in circles a lot, stood on top of both munros at least once, and ended up having a lovely extended (and totally unintentional) run through Glen Prosen + hike up/over the Kilbo Path - the weather was fantastic in the valley!
I carried on to Braemar, and went out for a really nice meal with mum, dad, Uncle Gavin & Auntie Lynne at the Gathering Place. It was great to have a catch-up with them, and get up to date on family news! On Saturday I was going to do something fairly comfortable with mum, dad & the Robertsons but it didn't quite turn out that way ;) After giving my car its annual clean in the morning, dad suggested I set off without them because the weather was so nice and they didn't know what time the others were arriving.
I set off about 11:30 and biked up to Loch Callater from Auchallater, leaving my bike at the lodge. Clear blue skies & sunshine - even I can navigate in that sort of weather! Hiking the ups and running the flats/downs is a quick & enjoyable way of covering fair distances - so I ended up doing a bit more than intended:
Carn an t-Sagairt Mor, Carn a'Choire Boidheach, Lochnagar (Cac Carn Beag), Cairn Bannoch & Broad Cairn - a nice circuit of 5 munros with amazing views of the Cairngorms. I was dropping down to Jock's Road & couldn't resist going up the other side to climb Tom Buidhe & Tolmount as well, before running the rest of Jock's Road back to Loch Callater & my bike. A well-earned G&T was waiting for me on my return ;)
On Sunday I drove to Blair Atholl to meet Richard & just to make sure my legs were getting enough exercise for the weekend. We hiked in from Loch Maraig to climb Beinn A Ghlo - 3 munros known as Carn Liath, Braigh Coire Chruinn-Bhalgain (try pronouncing that one after a drink) and Carn nan Gabhar - the weather once again was amazing all day!
See more pics!
Last week I went up Ben Chonzie & Ben Vorlich, both near Comrie/Loch Earn (weather not great at the top so the views weren't too special, but the wildife - particularly the mountain hares and the 6-legged 2-headed sheep! - were nice)... On Friday I drove up to Glen Clova, planning to hike up Driesh & Mayar, which turned into a bit of an epic. I'm trying to improve my navigation in the hills, but in conditions where you can't see more than 10 feet in front of you its not that easy. So even now I'm not really sure where I went exactly, but I went round in circles a lot, stood on top of both munros at least once, and ended up having a lovely extended (and totally unintentional) run through Glen Prosen + hike up/over the Kilbo Path - the weather was fantastic in the valley!
I carried on to Braemar, and went out for a really nice meal with mum, dad, Uncle Gavin & Auntie Lynne at the Gathering Place. It was great to have a catch-up with them, and get up to date on family news! On Saturday I was going to do something fairly comfortable with mum, dad & the Robertsons but it didn't quite turn out that way ;) After giving my car its annual clean in the morning, dad suggested I set off without them because the weather was so nice and they didn't know what time the others were arriving.
I set off about 11:30 and biked up to Loch Callater from Auchallater, leaving my bike at the lodge. Clear blue skies & sunshine - even I can navigate in that sort of weather! Hiking the ups and running the flats/downs is a quick & enjoyable way of covering fair distances - so I ended up doing a bit more than intended:
Carn an t-Sagairt Mor, Carn a'Choire Boidheach, Lochnagar (Cac Carn Beag), Cairn Bannoch & Broad Cairn - a nice circuit of 5 munros with amazing views of the Cairngorms. I was dropping down to Jock's Road & couldn't resist going up the other side to climb Tom Buidhe & Tolmount as well, before running the rest of Jock's Road back to Loch Callater & my bike. A well-earned G&T was waiting for me on my return ;)
On Sunday I drove to Blair Atholl to meet Richard & just to make sure my legs were getting enough exercise for the weekend. We hiked in from Loch Maraig to climb Beinn A Ghlo - 3 munros known as Carn Liath, Braigh Coire Chruinn-Bhalgain (try pronouncing that one after a drink) and Carn nan Gabhar - the weather once again was amazing all day!
See more pics!
posted by Mhairi
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