On Friday evening, seven of us assembled at our palatial holiday house (much grander than a cottage), An Torr, on the outskirts of the Highland village of Newtonmore. It was a case of planes, trains and automobiles Patrick flew from London, Judith, Karen and I got the train and David and Susan and David White had driven up. That day, Karen and I had bagged two of the three Munros behind Newtonmore (A Chailleach and Carn Sgulain) in changeable weather after an unpromising start. We embarrassingly failed to find a bridge over a rather deep river despite a prominent cairn marking the turnoff until Karen pinpointed our location on the map on her phone. That stopped me sneering about unnecessary electronic aids! There was no need for ice axe or crampons as the relatively few patches of snow were soft.
Fortified by a supper of haggis pie and pannetone we repaired to our spacious bedrooms. On Saturday, we all drove off to tackle the first Corbett of the week, Meallach Mor near Kingussie. This involved a long walk in Glen Tromie in snow flurries and then a shortish and
straightforward plod uphill. There was a fair amount of snow on the ground as we climbed and it was distinctly chilly. Rather than retracing our steps we walked back most of the way along a ridge with good views towards the Cairngorm plateau and not much wind, though no sunshine.
That evening we had supper in Kingussie with Ibex escapees from London and the South East, Saaj and Jane, and their children, Miriam and recent arrival Douglas. It was great to catch up with them.
Sunday’s hill involved a drive to Old Bridge of Tilt near Blair Atholl and then another longish walk up wooded Glen Tilt and the crossing of five bridges to reach Beinn Mheadhonach which had eluded us in 2022 due to very high winds. This time there was hardly a breeze, the sun shone out of a brilliant blue sky and the snow underfoot on the long summit ridge was scenic rather than challenging.
After the now rather tiresome slog back down Glen Tilt and the return to Newtonmore we enjoyed Patrick’s signature spag bol followed by cinnamon oranges and relaxed in the vast lounge. David White had gone up into the Cairngorms for the day for photography instead, climbing up to Ben Macdui where an ice axe and crampons were needed.
On Monday David White had to work so he stayed at the house. Karen and Judith took the bus up to Aviemore to climb Cairngorm in stunning snowy conditions (“living the dream” as Karen put it) followed by refreshments in the Ptarmigan Restaurant and a helpful lift back from David White. David and Susan, Patrick and I drove down the A9 to beyond Dalwhinnie and then walked up the glen signposted towards the Gaick Pass and leading to the adjoining hills of A’Chaoirnich and An Dun. The former was the easier of the two so we opted for that, having pretty much decided that both of them were not feasible for an early spring day. Moreover, An Dun is unrelentingly steep and had a prominent cornice.
The ascent of A’Chaoirnich involved an easy traverse and gradual ascent to a large flat summit plateau and a miniature summit cairn. It would have been unpleasantly exposed in standard Scottish hill conditions but we had another windless and sunny day with practically no snow underfoot. After retracing our steps down the bleak glen for a couple of hours (and planning to return to bag the one that got away) we drove back to Newtonmore for a roast venison feast courtesy of David White followed by chocolate cake certainly no shortage of carbs to keep us fuelled.
On Wednesday, Judith and I were driven up to the end of the road behind Newtonmore by Patrick to attempt the third Munro, Carn Dearg. We walked in along a stream a nd then over a bridge and up across boggy moorland towards the snow covered hill which looked intimidatingly steep. However the upper part of the route turned out to be a fairly gentle and ice free slope leading up to a level ridge and the summit cairn, dramatically perched on the edge of a crag. We retraced our steps to return for the pick up by Patrick, facilitated by WhatsApp. David and Susan had the day off, sampling the delights of the Sugar Bowl café in Kingussie in the afternoon.
On Tuesday everyone except David White (who stayed at the house to work) drove down the single track roads to the Auchlean car park to the south east of Kingussie. The target for today was the Corbett Carn Dearg Mor above Glen Feshie. Apart from a stretch of heather bashing due to a non existant path on the map, it was a straight forward ascent to the summit. Unfortunately no views from the summit due to thick cloud, but the surrounding mountains could be seen on the ascent and descent. After another culinary delight in the evening Karen was dropped off at the station to catch the sleeper train back to London.
Having run out of Corbetts in the Newtonmore area, Thursday involved a 90 minute drive down to the Loch Rannoch area. Parking a couple of miles short of Rannoch Station, the walk headed north along the Allt Eigheach before a tussocky ascent of Meall na Meoig. Good views from the top, but bitterly cold with a sub zero wind chill (lunch was had beside a neighbouring frozen lochan). A traverse of the Beinn Pharlagain ridge southwards brought us back to the outward track and the cars.
We were lucky with a week of dry weather and mostly light winds, and everyone was happy with their Munro and Corbetts tallies!
Phinella Henderson & David Watts
Comments