Today was another day in the Cairngorms where we were able to use our bikes to significantly shorten the day. We climbed Derry Cairngorm & Beinn Mheadhoin which is a 31km day, of which 10km can be cycled which saves about 90mins of walking. The morning was beautiful with plenty of sun which made the cycle up from the Linn of Dee to Derry Lodge very enjoyable, it was just a shame about the headwind! Thankfully the sun stayed and successfully battled the predicted hill fog while we climbed Derry Cairngorm on the excellent path. This enabled us to make rapid progress while enjoying the fantastic views in every direction. When we got to the summit it was very windy so we didn’t stay there long, and the big hills of the Cairngorms were very shrouded in mist. We were soon at Loch Etchachan which is the highest loch in Scotland, which also had a slightly challenging set of stepping stones to cross the outflow given that we were only in approach shoes! After a steep pull up we were soon at the summit ridge of Beinn Mheadhoin. The summit. Read the full article…

Due to weary legs combined with very strong winds forecast we elected to have a lie in combined with an easier day. We elected to climb An Socach, which meant that again we could make great use of the bikes on the approach along estate tracks. The cycle in was fairly short, but harder work than expected due to the headwind, which was a sign of how windy it was going to be on the summit ridge. We made good time on the ascent which as very sheltered, and had a bit of a shock at just how windy it was on the summits. It felt more like winter than may! Despite walking into the wind along the 3km summit ridge we made good time and were at the summit 2hrs after leaving the van. We then made a hasty retreat back along the ridge and out of the wind. The views on the summit ridge were excellent, we could see a long way in most directions as the cloud base was above all but the highest summits. After making good time on the descent we were back at the. Read the full article…

Due to a poor forecast which was marginally better in the afternoon we had planned for a lie in followed by a short day. However the weather turned out to be much better than expected, so suddenly on route to our planned outing we changed our mind as we drove past the Fannichs and decided to have a big hill day. Normally it would not be possible or sensible to head out on an 8 hour hill day at 1:30 in the afternoon, however thanks to it being the end of may in the far north of Scotland, the sun doesn’t set until 10pm! The vastly improved weather forecast turned out to be wrong, but we still had an excellent day. We set off in the sun and made good time up to the first Munro, however on the climb up a shower passed through which caused us to put our waterproofs on, and they remained on until the end of the walk. We had fantastic views for a lot of the time, however as we got to the summit of A’ Chailleach a horrible hail storm was passing through.. Read the full article…