Wednesday 23 June 2010

Monadh Mor & Beinn Bhrotain (Cairngorms)

On a day when the weather forecast was for bursts of rain with cloud maybe down to 700 m, Ron and I set out to do these rather remote hills, hoping that our navigational skills would not be too tested.
On reaching Glen Feshie, all the hills were clear and it was dry! In fact, the whole walk was characterised by the dryness, both in the air and on the ground. I don't think that I have seen the hills as dry as this for a very long time, if ever. Apart from a fairly strong northerly wind, conditions were ideal, and we made good time.
Crossing the plateau SE of Carn Ban Mor, Ron pointed out an adult dotterel and three chicks (there may have been more but that's all I saw). There were still extensive areas of snow on all the hills around, but we only had to negotiate one small patch.
On reaching Monadh Mor, the views to the east were spectacular with Sgor an Lochain Uaine, Cairn Toul and the Devil's Peak particularly so. Ron has done the first two, also from Glen Feshie, so I was trying to see a possible route for me, as I have not. After the almost flat Monadh Mor came the climb up the boulder field that is Beinn Bhrotain, then back by almost the same route. Eight and a half hours to do about 28 km and 1600 m climb-not bad (for me anyway).
Then the drive home, and not a chippy between Glen Feshie and Fort William!

1 comment:

Norman W said...

Well done for bagging these two which I bagged from Linn of Dee. In my case it was 15k cycle and 22k walking for a total of 37k in 8.25hours, so yours was a much more sensible plan ! You must have been starving at the end, but I'm told chips are bad for you anyway !!