An overnight trip into the Western Cairngorms with a camp near the summit of the Devil’s Point

Day 1

Date: 4th August 2012
Distance: 22.23km
Ascent: 1,678m
Time: 10hr 15min
Hills: Braeriach (Munro), Angel's Peak (Munro), Cairn Toul (Munro), Devil's Point (Munro)
Weather: Early bright sunshine, cloudy later with a heavy rain shower
Route: View on OS Maps

Other than perhaps getting up to head on holiday, 4:30am on a Saturday morning isn’t a time I would normally be pleased to see. Looking outside didn’t do much to engage my motivation; Aberdeen was wreathed in a dense, Victorian fog and I could barely see the other other side of the street. However, I had somewhere to be and someone to meet so after a few last minute preparations and a pain au chocolat consumed between yawns I was on the road.

Walking through the Fisherfield forest, often called the Great Wilderness, brings with it an experience few people get to enjoy as part of a normal, everyday existence. In the well developed land of Great Britain, where tarmaced roads have been run to the furthest flung corners of the island, it is hard to get away from the marks of human civilisation. Fisherfield is one of the most isolated spots by this measure with the encircling roads failing to encroach on this unspoilt area of wild land. Dominated by hills, mountains and lochs there are few buildings and fewer people.

Date: 21st July 2012
Distance: 18.34km
Ascent: 1,218m
Time: 4hrs 30min
Hills: Craig Maskeldie
Weather: A warm, humid summer's day with rain on and off
Route: View on OS Maps

Well, it had been several weeks since my last drenching in the Scottish hills. Saturday rolled around and I had a free afternoon so the bag was packed, sandwiches were made and I was heading down the road to pay another visit to the Angus Glens. Around this time last year my girlfriend and I had enjoyed a wander down Loch Lee and enjoyed views of the craggy hills which crowd in around the Water of Lee. We hadn't been up the hills on that occassion (there was a barbeque to enjoy, after all) and since those views I had been keen to get back and take in a few of the summits. Although I have a long route planned out I ended up just doing a short walk today, mainly because the weather really wasn't very enjoyable.

It doesn’t seem all that many years ago that only those people travelling to the far reaches of the world, places like the remote Himalaya or the Poles, had access to satellite communications technology. These satellite phones were heavy and prohibitively expensive. Now a wide range of handheld devices are available which tap into global satellite communications at a fraction of the price that a satellite phone would have cost you just a few years ago. Whilst these devices may not allow full conversations to happen when off grid, they do provide a convenient way of communicating your status (whether good or bad) back to friends and family, and, through social media, the wider world. They also offer the ability to contact emergency rescue services in locations that getting a phone signal might be impossible and for this reason are increasingly being carried by people going off into mountainous or remote areas both on land and sea.

Date: 23rd June 2012
Distance: 31.42km
Ascent: 1,410m
Time: 10hrs 15min (including several breakfast stops!)
Hills: Beinn a' Chlaideimh (Ex-Munro, 914m)
Weather: Early bright skies, mild, later on low cloud and humid with brief rain showers
Route: View on OS Maps

Aberdeen on Friday evening was warm and muggy with a constant threat of precipitation in the air. Carting my backpack, change of clothes and barbeque provisions up the long hill of King’s Gate to the Atholl Hotel was certainly a good warm up for the weekend and it was a relief to get hold of a cold pint of beer whilst we waited for everyone to assemble. Recent tales of backpacking and camping were swapped and possible side-excursions for the day were discussed. We had a chat through the various weather forecasts and chose the most optimistic one for the next day’s walking.

Date: 17th June 2012
Distance: 12.78km
Ascent: 886m
Time: 3hrs 30min
Hills: Mayar (Munro, 928m)
Weather: Dreich
Route: View on OS Maps

I suppose it was inevitable that my run of good luck with the weather had to come to an end at some point. This was to be the weekend. After a cold, rainy Saturday spent in various coffee shops and the art gallery to get my long and rambling Ben Alder report written up I was determined to get out on Sunday, especially as MWIS had forecast better weather in the Southeast Highlands for the day. After recent long drives I tried to minimise driving time by heading down the road to my "local" hills in Angus and headed up Glen Clova to the Glen Doll car park where there is a good choice of potential routes and hills. As I left Kirriemuir and picked up the winding Glen Clova road the clouds let spill a substantial part of the North Sea and pretty soon it wasn't a road I was following, but a river.

Date: 5th June 2012
Distance: 16.47km (cumulative trip total: 66.72km)
Ascent: 203m (cumulative trip total: 3,299m)
Time: 4hrs 1min (cumulative trip total: 21hrs 34min)
Hills: None
Weather: Sunny with a cool breeze
Route: Click to view on an OS Map

If you missed Part 1 or Part 2 of this outing then you can read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

Wrapped up in my down sleeping bag on my incredibly comfy air bed, itself resting on wonderfully soft mountain turf, I was at first very confused about where I was and what my alarm was doing going off at the uncivilised hour of 4am. Then it came back to me, I was camped just a short distance away from the summit of a Munro. A few minutes spent outside the tent around midnight had shown a clear sky which promised great things for the dawn. Reluctantly I unzipped my bag and sleepily dragged my clothes back on. Stifling a yawn I unzipped the inner of my tent and peered out. The pre-dawn sky was a deep indigo with bands of red cloud sitting just above the golden haze of the horizon. My legs were objecting to more physical exercise so soon after a twenty mile day but I cajoled them into action and we got up to the summit cairn of Beinn Eibhinn just in time to see the sun peek above the eastern hills. The quality and colour of the light was just staggering and I spent a happy half hour wandering around snapping photos and breathing in this utterly magical time of day. In a cruel season of wet and windy weather this was truly a summer morning to savour.

Date: 4th June 2012
Distance: 30.39km (cumulative trip total: 50.25km)
Ascent: 1,997m (cumulative trip total: 3,096m)
Time: 11hrs 6min (cumulative trip total: 17hrs 33min)
Hills: Ben Alder (Munro), Beinn Bheòil (Munro), Carn Dearg (Munro), Gael-Chàrn (Munro), Aonach Beag (Munro), Beinn Eibhinn (Munro)
Weather: Sunny skies with cloud returning later. Chilly north to westerly breeze all day.
Route: Click to view on an OS Map

If you missed Part 1 of this outing then you can read it here.

The bright skies of the night before had been a good portent and I awoke after a long, comfortable and slumbering sleep to find the tent lit up by the rising sun. I’d slept through sunrise but poked my head out in time to see the sun crest the notch of the Bealach Dubh. Warm and cosy, I was reluctant to get up but knew that I had a big day ahead. Outside the world was frosty, the grass sparkling with a million frozen crystal drops and the tent covered in a layer of thin ice. I got my stove going and soon had hot coffee and porridge which was a great way to start the day.

Date: 3rd June 2012
Distance: 19.86km
Ascent: 1,099m
Time: 6hrs 27min (total)
Hills: Carn Dearg (Munro), Sgor Gaibhre (Munro)
Weather: Chilly, overcast, strong northerly wind
Route: View on OS Maps

Ben Alder. A remote, sprawling mountain often discussed in hushed terms amongst Munro baggers. It’s a long way from anywhere and unless you are cycling in from Dalwhinnie a traverse usually requires an overnight stay in the bothy at Culra or taking a tent. I don’t have a bike and dislike the idea of staying in such a potentially busy bothy so for me it was going to be a camping trip. With the region home to anything from 2 to 14 Munros (depending on how widely you cast your net) there was plenty of potential for a big rambling route picking up a number of summits. After reading with interest the recent report on V-G of a low level five day route I modified my original plan and incorporated some of Geoff's elements, turning it into a high level three day route with the low level option there as a good FWA (foul weather alternative) should things turn south.

Date: 27-28th May 2012
Distance: 14.55km
Ascent: 505m
Time: 11hrs 2min (total)
Hills: Cruys (741m), Cairn of Meadows (687m)
Weather: Very warm, unbroken sunshine
Route: View on OS Maps

I ummed and ahhhed all day on Sunday over whether to head to the hills for a quick overnighter but eventually at just after 6pm I got moving and after adding a splash of petrol to the tank was heading down the A90 towards Brechin. Temperatures in Scotland have soared over the last week and whilst I was turned back by snow on the Strathfarrar Ridge just 8 days previous the car thermometer was now holding steady at 25C…. at 6:30pm.