Sunday 17th September 2019

Cairngorms

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The plan this weekend was to do a four Munro traverse in the Cairngorms with a wild camp near the summit of Braeriach, the third highest mountain in Britain.

However due to weather conditions which were not in our favour – high winds and freezing conditions on the summit – we opted against the wild camp and instead chose to do a long day hike which would tick of the Munro of Braeriach.

Braeriach is perhaps one of the finest mountains in the Cairngorms.

It goes down as one of the great expeditions in Scottish mountaineering. It can be well seen from all it’s surrounding Cairngorm Munro’s due to its bulk and height.

Reaching its summit plateau requires a long approach walk, over 2.5 hours just to get to the base of it and walking in you can see how this area still remains a truly wild place.

On reaching the summit you don’t find a peak as such it’s more of a widened plateau but what you do find is dramatic views all around.

From the top the plateau rolls out to Am Moine Major (the Great Moss), which then leads to the more defined peaks of Sgor an Lochan Uaine and Cairn Toul.

Today it looked like a beautiful summers day….but in reality it actually felt like a freezing cold Autumn/Winter day….the wind was gale force and blew us off our feet for 6 solid hours or more…the sound rang in our ears constant, it actually felt quite draining…but the sights to be seen made up for it.

The whole walk on the top of these mountains had exceptional beauty which words can sometimes not express, so I am going to let the pictures speak for themselves and even these pictures don’t actually do this walk justice.

Thanks to Andy who done the photography on the top of the mountains due to my hands swelling up because of the freezing conditions and having to remain in my pockets whilst at the top!!…..and p.s. I did have gloves on!

This is where the River Dee begins

We exited the mountains through Rothiemurchus Forest as the sun was setting and what a wonderful forest this is – and it has just 100% increased my love affair with trees!

This forest is a special and beautiful place in the heart of the Cairngorms National Park, “One of the glories of wild Scotland” as Sir David Attenborough once stated.

Superb ancient Caledonian pine forest is everywhere with many miles of trails, carpeted with heather and blaeberry and it has been described as the Crown Jewel of woodlands in Scotland.

Once again no need for words…the photo’s tell our story…and at this point I was happy that my hands felt slightly better to take some amazing photos and capture such beauty!