|
The day
dawned dull and damp as a small collection of Stockets met the bus at 7am.
It was a low turnout – 13 including two potential new members. Let’s hope
they weren’t put off too much!
The
mountain forecast from MWIS was grim reading – strong winds, low cloud and
rain. I suppose it was August after all. Perhaps this contributed to the low
numbers. Never mind, off we set in our luxury 40-seater coach, following
another Gordon’s bus all the way to the Braemar loo stop. It turned out to
be the Aberdeen Hill Walking Club on their way to do the Lairig Ghru. I
wonder why their bus was so full?
We duly
de-bussed at Baddoch shortly after 9am and started the 9-kilometre walk to
Loch nan Eun where the plan was to asses the conditions before committing to
the ascent of the 1045-metre Munroe. Very soon the first rain shower
arrived and waterproofs became the dress of the day for most of us. We
spotted two large herds of deer on the way in, the second one at least a
hundred strong. There seem to be more of these magnificent animals this year
than in previous years.
 At
the lunch stop at Loch nan Eun the weather didn’t appear to be bad enough to
preclude a bash at the summit. The cloud base was about 950 metres, the rain
had stopped and the wind was moderate, although we were relatively sheltered
at that time. The majority of us hadn’t claimed Bienn Iuthern Mhor
previously so there was a string ‘tick’ incentive to press on. Liz had
decided to miss out on the main top and do Bienn Iuthern Bheag instead.
Something to do with saving her energy for starting work the following day
after six weeks off! Peter and I, having already ticked off this Munroe
were happy enough to accompany Liz, leaving ten intrepid souls to march into
the cloud towards the main top.
It was a
surprisingly quick climb to the summit cairn of the Bheag, aided initially
by the wind in our back. The wind increased significantly the higher we
climbed and wasn’t far off the forecast by the time we reached the summit.
This was confirmed by the main party on the other top. Peter, Liz and my
self then descended north off the Bheag, with an impressive view of Glen Ey,
and followed the course of Allt Beinn Iuthern to the ruin at Altanour Lodge.
Halfway there we spotted the intrepid ten coming emerging from the cloud on
the east nose of Bienn Iuthern Mhor so they had made good time as well.
 It can be a long dreary walk out of Glen Ey, however we
were helped
along by a strong wind on our back and the purple heather was
quite spectacular
and eventually all arrived at the bus at Inverey by 4.45pm.
The social stop was again
at the Inver
Hotel, where they appeared
to be happy enough to see us.
A good time
was had by all before arriving back in Aberdeen at 7.30pm
Dave
Wood
|
