Members Attending

Jim Aire; John Calder; Raymond Evenden; George Henderson; Susan Henderson; Paddy Marrs; Alyn McNaughton; Louise McCulloch; Mike Partington; Norrie Shand; Lorn Smith; Ewan Stewart; Gerry Weir.

Guests

Malcolm Russell; Tanya-Anne MacKenzie

Apologies

Adrian Mowat; Ania Borg; Bill Dallas; James Duncan Fraser; Jim Linden

Intro

Muir Cottage is always hotly anticipated on the Club calendar, not least because of its beautiful location and stunning journey along the River Dee to reach it. It’s an extremely comfortable, well-equipped hut and the owners, Cairngorm Club, do a lot of good work outwith the hut itself to help maintain and promote the Cairngorms for everyone to enjoy. Adventures can begin right from the door of the hut, due to its proximity to the surrounding hills, with good tracks even to those a bit farther afield, such is its reach.

Our carbon footprint could have been better for the journey to the hut, but work/life commitments meant a full car park, yet we managed to offset that to an extent with just a couple of cars making very short journeys on Saturday and the rest setting off for their chosen destinations on two wheels (or, as in Jim Aire’s case, one wheel!).

The Club was last here back in March 2020, the last meet before lockdown. C-19 was already rampaging, but I think we all thought it’d be over in a few weeks and we’d be back to normal…little did we know!

Friday

With the reasonable conditions, those who were able to, took the opportunity to get into the hills on route to the meet.  Raymond went for a run/hike on Carn nan Gabhar to the West of the A93, just before Braemar, and was up and down in under two hours.  His was a clockwise circuit, via Loch Callater and the Stables bothy, giving a welcome and pleasantly descending ridge run after the sharp climb up the SE flank of the Corbett.  On his way, he crossed paths with Norrie, who’d walked the same route up Glen Callater, but had opted against the run over the Corbett, choosing instead to have a cuppa and a snack at the bothy, before returning the way he’d come in.

George and Susan were, as ever, up with the larks for the cycle in from Inverey through Glen Ey to Altanour Lodge and had a mammoth hike from there over Carn Bhac to Beinn Lutharn Mhor and on to Carn an Righ, before the lengthy walk back to the bikes via An Socach.

On their return to Altanour, a third bike was there, which turned out to be Gerry’s.  Gerry, and guest Malcolm, had driven up in the morning in Gerry’s lovely new van, leaving the van and their gear at Muir and – the chat in the van must’ve been bad! – they then cycled off in opposing directions!  Gerry headed up to Altanour Lodge and dumped the bike there, having also opted for Beinn Lutharn Mhor and Carn an Righ, before the long hike back to his trusty steed.  Darkness descended, but Gerry had the good sense to send word ahead that he was on route back to the hut.

Norrie initially, then Gerry, got the tunes going in the evening as the stragglers (workers 😉) arrived in dribs and drabs. 

There was a buoyant mood in the camp amid hopes for an improvement in the claggy damp forecast for Saturday.

Saturday

Saturday dawned and Norrie was up early and ready for the off, having to return home for a, whisper it, golf event!

Shortly after this, as everyone buzzed around fixing breakfast, packed lunches, rucksacks and bikes, Jim Aire discovered he was a wheel short for his bike!  After mentally retracing his steps, it was just a question of whether it was at home in the garage (or lying outside the house, where the car was being loaded); at Tesco in Blairgowrie (where he’d stopped for supplies) or, by the roadside in Inverey, where he’d stopped to answer a call of nature!

The hut has some bikes for general use, Malcolm and Louise had claimed two of these and the remaining one had a puncture.  However, Gerry stepped in and lent his bike to Jim as he would not be using it today.  Jim later phoned home, where his good lady confirmed the wheel was in the garage (though, not before pretending it wasn’t there!).  We forgot to ask Gerry to rattle out a quick chorus of the Kenny Rogers classic (you picked a fine time to leave me) “Lucille” later that evening – perhaps this can be rectified at a future meet!

It was overcast at first light, but mild and with barely a breath of wind.  Everyone headed off in various directions, mostly on two wheels, leaving the hut under dull, leaden skies with mist shrouding the hills, but the cloud miraculously lifted and rewarded us with fine conditions for the rest of the day. Malcolm rode along to the Linn of Dee, turning off towards White Bridge, in search of The Red House (Ruighe Ealasaid), the very recently-opened bothy that’s been worked on since pre-Covid.  Turns out Malcolm was just the second visitor since it’s official opening and was left lamenting the absence of a pen or pencil to make an appropriate entry in the bothy book.  The bothy has been restored to a high standard and, if anyone’s out there soon, take a pen just in case!

Gerry, after a big day on Friday, took the van down to Glenshee and parked up by the plantation at Glen Clunie.  He followed the Baddoch Burn along the track for 3km, before striking up the hillside of An Socach, eventually reaching the long summit plateau, where he partook in a small birthday libation to himself.

Mike and Louise had made a similarly short journey by car, stopping at Auchallater, in order to ascend Tolmount and Tom Bhuide via Loch Callater and Jock’s Road, retracing some of Norrie and Raymond’s steps from the day before.

Tanya went full throttle on her e-bike from Muir to Derry Lodge, before setting off on foot towards Beinn a’ Chaorainn and Beinn Bhreac, stopping by the Munro Tops on each of these hills too, before returning to the bike and haring back to the digs.George, Susan, John and Alan followed, self-propelled in the remnants of Tanya’s slipstream to Derry Lodge and then set off up Glen Derry on foot, stopping briefly to pay homage to the Hutchison Memorial hut and onwards via Loch Etchachan to Beinn a’ Mheadhoin, and its distinctive Tors, in the heart of the Cairngorms, gathering on the highest tor that marks the true summit.  The weather was much better than forecast, mild and dry with stunning views, as opposed to the gloomy forecast of low cloud and drizzle.  A long outing of 35k, 10k of this by bike, easing the pain on weary feet, though not for les petite derrieres.  

That left Raymond, Jim A (back up to two wheels), Lorn, Paddy and Ewan, who all cycled along the road to Victoria Bridge on the Mar Lodge estate, crossed here and headed for the Linn of Quoich before doubling back on ourselves around the side of Creag Bhalg and through Glen Quoich to the meeeting of the Allt an Dubh-Ghleann and Quoich Water, where the bikes were left and the river forded, relatively dry shod. 

The group then headed for The Sneck, which connects the hill to Ben Avon, taking in the Munro Top of Cnap a’ Chléirich on the way.  It wasn’t long until the group were scrambling all over the tors at the summit, where care was needed as they were a little greasy.

After a food stop, the group retraced their steps to The Sneck before following the Glas Allt Mor towards Gleann Slugain.  About 1km before their right turn back along the Quoich Water, they encountered a walker heading in the opposite direction.  It seemed very late in the day to be contemplating either of these hills and, in conversation, realised she was heading in the wrong direction and couldn’t quite work out why.  Her bike was back at the Slugain Lodge ruin so, joined us for the 1km walk back the way she’d come, before we parted ways, and off she went, still shaking her head at how it had come to be, but all’s well that ends well and we were able to see her carry on towards Slugain for at least another kilometre, re-assuring us she was safely on her way from there.After the march back to the bikes, it was a joyous hurl back to the hut via the Linn o’Dee, where the ‘45 did what they do best of an evening … good food, whisky, craic, laughter and song.

Sunday

Paddy, Ewan and Lorn joined Tanya for a shorter day on Sunday, on the way home.  The weather was a little less pleasant, with the clag down on the tops, but a good day was had on An Socach in Glenshee, retracing Gerry’s steps from the day before, but using bikes to get a little further up the Glen before striking up a more direct route to the summit.  Cool and damp on top with no views, after a quick snack and photo, the group located the good track to descend, that George & Susan had mentioned, taking them back to the track and soon at the bikes, flying out in no time.

Until next time….