I had a day off work on Monday 7th August, so decided to put it to good use. Beth bought me a collection of pocket guides to the Scottish mountains last Christmas, and one of the guides is dedicated to the Cairngorms. The Cairngorm Mountains are about an hour's drive to the south-west from where we live in Fochabers, so I hope to do a lot more exploring in that area over time.
The Cairngorms were made a National Park in September 2003, and encompass the largest area of arctic mountain landscape in the British Isles. Four of Scotland's five highest mountains are within the boundaries of the National Park; it contains remnants of the original ancient Caledonian pine forest, while heather moors cover much of the land.
The name of the mountains, from the Gaelic name Càrn Gorm, is taken from only one of the many summits in this massif and means Blue Mountain. However, the original Scottish Gaelic name for the whole range was Am Monadh Ruadh, or ‘The Russet-coloured Mountain Range’. These mountains form the heart of the Cairngorms National Park – Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhonaidh Ruaidh.
On the morning of my wee adventure, I parked the car at the village of Coylumbridge and headed through the pine forest for nearly four miles following the course of a river, the Allt Drùidh (the Stream of the Drenching), gaining height until I emerged into open moorland. The above photo shows the last tree I would see for a while! The photo also shows the head of the Làirig Ghrù, the dramatic mountain pass which cuts north/south through the Cairngorm Plateau. I followed the path to the right and climbed the ridge called Sròn na Làirige (the Nose-shaped Ridge of the Pass).
The next photo shows the view to the south along the Làirig Ghrù with Beinn MacDuibh (The Mountain of the sons of Duff) in the background, the second-highest mountain in Scotland (and indeed Britain).
I walked along the ridge towards Braeriach (in Gaelic, Am Bràigh Riabhach - The Brindled Upland) which itself is the third-highest mountain in Scotland - Ben Nevis being the highest, of course. And all the while, the fairly thick blanket of cloud which had been present for much of the day lifted, so that as I walked along the plateau I was met with the most glorious views lit up by bright sunshine.
Below is a view south towards Glen Dee, where you can see the River Dee flowing from it's source in the Làirig Ghrù on it's way to the North Sea at Aberdeen.
The last photo gives you an idea of how bright it was by this point: it was taken on the eastern slope of Braeriach looking across to Cairn Toul (Càrn an t-Sabhail - The Barn-shaped Mountain) on the left and Sgòr an Lochain Uaine (The Peak of the Little Green Loch, known in English as ‘The Angel's Peak') on the right. The 'Little Green Loch' is shown between the summits, and looked like a mirror reflecting the sun.
I walked from one end of Braeriach to the other, passing by the Falls of Dee, a beautiful waterfall where one of the tributaries of the River Dee flows down the southern flank of the mountain. I also came across a herd of reindeer, there were a dozen of them watering themselves from the Pools of Dee, but Santa was nowhere to be seen.
Unfortunately the batteries in the camera had conked out by this point, so there is no record of the heroic ten-mile walk I had to endure down a steep path into Glen Einich (Gleann Eanaich, or Glen of the Boggy Place), and all the way back to Coylumbridge. It was a gorgeous walk, but my wee leggies were suffering somewhat by the time I got back to the car at 7:30pm, bearing in mind that I had set off on my walk before 9am that morning! Some fish and chips procured in nearby Aviemore helped to fortify me for the drive home, though....