Day 2 of a great weekend's hillwalking based at the NTS Cottages on Mar Lodge Estate.
I led the same group of 5 friends as on yesterday's walk, this time to the Munro summit of Beinn Bhreac in Glen Derry. Our stay at Mar Lodge had been inspired by my reading the superb book "Regeneration" by Andrew Painting, describing the rewilding work done on the Estate since 1995. This walk not only gave a more relaxed second day, with easy sections on the Derry Lodge track at the beginning and end, but also gave me the chance to talk about the natural regeneration of the Scots Pine forest in the Glen.
A calm sunny morning was ideal for this, and we also discussed some of the issues caused by increased wild camping pressures around Derry Lodge and Bob Scott's Bothy.
The path leading to Beinn Bhreac from Glen Derry is not easy to find - just a tiny cairn barely protruding above the heather marks the junction - and I was glad that I had plotted the route on OS Maps the previous night, allowing me to check the position by gps. I again printed out a 1:25k enlargement of the Landranger map to use for the day.
The first section of path through the pines is unusually boggy, giving way to wet heath and blanket bog, before reaching drier moraine with dwarf shrub heath. I noted some seedling pines at around 700m, above the nominal treeline.
Higher up the path had some water ice, and on the plateau there were patches of snow near the summit.
We descended to find a sheltered spot for a quick sandwich break where a ring contour mound gave protection from the cold north-easterly breeze.
The group were in fine spirits again today and we chatted happily all the way down Glen Lui to the Linn of Dee, anticipating our hot baths and hearty dinner to come.
It was a pleasure to lead this great bunch again today and we are already planning further Munro outings for 2024.
Area :
The Cairngorms
The Cairngorms are ‘a little piece of the arctic in Scotland’ according to the SMC Munros Guide and the area contains many of the tallest peaks in the East Highlands. Ben Macdui (1309m), Cairn Gorm (1244m) and Braeriach (1296) are probably three of the better known and the whole area is full of steep corries and high plateaux. Access to the mountains is typically from Aviemore or Braemar.
