As befits a three day wander across the Grampian Mountains this is going to be a long report, so I have decided to split it up a little. This first post will serve as a summary and may really be all you want to read (if you also take a …

Having now been walking in the Cairngorms and surrounding hills for a few years I’m starting to better put together my internal map of how the glens and hills of the region fit together. There is however one area that still isn’t fixed properly in my mind yet. It is a blank space in my mind’s map; and that is the hills around Glen Gairn. The River Gairn rises on the southern slopes of Ben Avon and eventually meets the River Dee at Ballater making it the longest tributary of that river. With the direct link to Deeside it was once a well populated glen with pastures and homesteads scattered along its length. Nowadays the shielings are ruins, the glen is silent and I was fascinated by this wild area so close to the populace villages of Deeside. Although the trip I ended up doing didn’t take me all the way along the Gairn (something I still plan to do) I visited its central section and enjoyed my night spent there gazing at the distant stars.

Saturday 25th February – Corgarff castle to River Gairn wild camp
Distance: 23km
Time: 6 hours
Ascent: 800m
Hills: Brown Cow Hill (Corbett, 829m), Meikle Gael Charn (Corbett Top, 802m)
Route: View on OS Maps

Saturday dawned bright and chilly in Aberdeen. Though the preceding few days had been mild to the point where I had dropped down to just a windshirt for the walk to work, the weekend forecast was a little less promising. In particular MWIS was predicting very strong winds (gusts to 80mph) for Sunday afternoon. With this in mind I came up with a plan that gave me an opportunity to head up onto the plateau of Ben Avon, most eastern of the big Cairngorm hills, on Sunday morning in the hope of catching a break in the weather. To get there I would camp in Glen Gairn, to the south of a winding route that takes you up onto the plateau. Another consideration was the sky show promised for Saturday evening with the Moon, Venus and Jupiter all in close proximity in the west after sunset.

Sunday 26th February – River Gairn wild camp to Corgarff castle
Distance: 20.8km
Time: 6 hours
Ascent: 700m
Hills: Carn Ealasaid (Corbett, 792m)
Route: Click to view

Part one of this trip can be read here.

The clear skies continued into the morning which unfortunately somewhat muted the sunrise. By the time I got up at around 8am the sky was blue but a dense fog was clinging to all the surrounding summits. In particular I could see that Ben Avon was shrouded in it above about 800m. There was a chill to the air and it would be a bit longer before the sun broke through to my camping spot so I warmed up by getting all my gear sorted and packed up. The tent fly was drenched with dew but there was no sign of ice or even frost: a very mild night for February in the Highlands.

Date: 11th February 2012
Distance: 16.45km
Ascent: 126m
Time: 5hrs 14mins
Hills: None whatsoever
Weather: Mild, light breeze, later drizzle turning to light rain
Route: View on OS Maps

Lossiemouth harbour on a steely grey Saturday morning in February is a quiet, empty sort of place. There were only a handful of dog walkers on beach, an old gentleman wandering down the street with his newspaper, and twenty-seven eager Stockets ready to face the perils of the Moray Coastal Trail.

Date: 15th January 2012
Distance: 22.12km
Ascent: 708m
Time: 5hrs 59mins
Hills: West Wirren, Hill of Wirren (Graham, 678m), West Wirren
Weather: Very cold, light winds, clear skies, haze developing at low levels
Route: View on OS Maps

I’m not sure whether the driver was slightly masochistic or just trying to acclimatise us to the cold we would face once we jumped off at Tarfside in Glen Esk, but it was absolutely freezing on the coach that took the Stocket Hillwalking Club away from Aberdeen for a day out. Actually, looking back, “jumped off” sounds a bit too active…. I’d met up with some work-related friends at eight on Saturday evening and finally got to bed at four the next morning. I was feeling particularly bleary eyed as I stumbled off the coach into the bright winter sunshine just a few short hours later. Water would have been good at this stage but already my hydration pipe had frozen solid so it was a cup of sweet black tea that did the job of slightly reviving me.

Joe Dorward is passionate about that corner of the Cairngorm Mountains, largely west and north of the village of Braemar in Aberdeenshire, which is known as the upland of Mar. Beginning with camping holidays to the area as a young boy, he has spent many enjoyable days exploring the rivers and glens of this rambling area of rough moorland and heathery hills, and is gradually constructing his guide to them, a fabulous website called the the upland of Mar.

Date: 7th January 2012
Distance: 19.43km
Ascent: 562m
Time: 5hrs 57mins
Hills: Sgor an h-Iolaire, Creag nam Ban, Creag Ghiubhais
Weather: Overcast and light rain showers. Some sunshine. Very strong winds on the tops.
Route: View on OS Maps

With the weather continuing to threaten high winds and unpleasant conditions on the tops, Dave and I decided to try a low level walk making use of the service bus going out from Aberdeen to Braemar. The basic plan was to jump off at Crathie and then make our way back east along the river to Ballater, going over a number of small sub-600m bumps that lie along the south bank of the River Dhé. These hills don’t really feature on any lists (though I’m told one is a Marilyn) so we were assured a quiet day with plenty of pathless wandering.

Date: 2nd January 2012
Distance: 30.00km
Ascent: 920m
Time: 6hrs 8mins
Hills: Mount Keen (Munro, 939m), Gathering Cairn (790m) Weather: Cold, bright sunshine in the glen during the morning. Later high winds and snow showers. Route: View on OS Maps

With my car on the fritz and an uncertain weather forecast I decided to do a local walk to kick-start 2012. Mount Keen is the most easterly Munro and can either be accessed from the south via Glen Mark (the more popular route) or from the north via Glen Tanar (as well as more adventurous and less trodden routes coming in from either the east or west if you prefer). I’ve done both the northern and southern approaches in the past but must say that I prefer the delights of the Glen Tanar approach which also has the benefit of being slightly closer to Aberdeen and on better roads. In his Christmas special Coast to Coast from Aberdeen to Knoydart, Cameron McNeish came by way of Glen Tanar to Mount Keen and the time he spent there demonstrated the attractions of this particular glen. The estate are working to regenerate the Caledonian Forest and they maintain good tracks through the woods and upper, wilder parts of the estate as well as providing a walkers car park at the entrance.

As 2011 draws to a close and the weather is wild and windy outside, I thought it a good opportunity to browse back through the reports and photos from my trips out in the Scottish hills over the past twelve months and put together a quick summary. A mild and wet December is now fizzling out and looking back it is hard to believe how warm and sunny the early spring was.

Date: 13th November 2011
Distance: 20.74km
Ascent: 628m
Time: 6hrs 24mins
Hills: Gael Charn (Corbett, 821m)
Weather: Mild with light winds, later sunshine after cloudy start
Route: View on OS Maps

Outside it was dark and drizzly, Aberdeen shrouded in a clinging fog. The pavements were slick with rain and the traffic lights danced eagerly through their cycle despite the lack of an audience. The coach was thankfully warm and I got the back seat where with my iPod on I could catch up on some much needed sleep on the long crossing to Tomintoul. When I woke some time later it was light outside and the skies were looking much better. We had left the Aberdeen mist behind and bands of blue sky appeared as we rolled through the foothills of the Cairngorms, turning off the Nethy Bridge road and pulling up at the turning area near Dorback Lodge.