Sat 11th & Sun 12th July 2020

Glenshee

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In the words of our very own William Wallace…“FREEDOM”…albeit in a very different context but freedom all the same.

Ours came in the form of a wild camping weekend, whereby we set up camp on top of a munro, a room with a real view, just perfect to come ‘home’ to after a long days hiking, ticking off another four Munro’s.

It felt great to be back out in the wild landscapes of the Scottish Highlands without a sole in sight…never take the simple things in life for granted!

With several lockdown restrictions being lifted here in Scotland it was time for us to travel slightly further afield and head to the mountains. 

This weekend we decided, after dreaming about it for so long, to wild camp, anywhere really would do as long as it was somewhere in the middle of nowhere.

We chose to head to the Glenshee area to undertake a four Munro circuit which would cover the Munros of Cairn of Claise (hill of the hollow), Carn an Tuirc (hill of the wild boar), Tom Buidhe (yellow hill), Tolmount (valley hill) and the corbett, Sron na Gaoithe.

I read that some people class these sets of munros as ‘dull hills’ which were only there to ‘tick of the list’.  I found this hard to believe, as how could any high level walk in Scotland, where you can see far and beyond, be classed as dull, especially if you have the weather.

Today we set off later in the day as normal as we felt we wanted to miss the early risers, but also, we had all night, literally, as we intended to walk until sunset then wild camp whenever, wherever we felt like doing so on top of the mountains.

We arrived to a pretty full car park (cars not people) and set off straight away.  The first Munro on our list was Carn an Tuirc a conical shaped mountain. 

We followed a faint boggy track passing shielings before reaching a burn which we almost walked beside all the way up. 

As we got nearer the top it became steeper but the path turned into a stony climb before reaching the summit. 

From here we walked towards Cairn of Claise which could be seen in the distance.  It was here that we were going to pitch our tent for the night before summitting a further two Munros. 

The wind at this point had picked up and because we had stopped in order to pitch the tent things became really cold.  Putting on every single item of clothing I had carried up with me I tried to get warm (It didn’t happen). 

We quickly tried to find a comfy spot but could not find anywhere to shelter from the now very strong winds so anywhere did. 

After setting up ‘home’ we quickly got inside to try and get a bit of warmth, set up our beds, made tea, done the dishes, tidied up then it was time to head back out and fight the elements to undertake our final two Munro’s for the evening.

It was boggy, it was freezing, it was long, it was tiring, and it was blowing a hoolie! 

Finally we got back to camp (thank god), and got ready for bed.  This involved a quick brush of the teeth, a quick wash down before getting into bed with several layers on.  After shivering for an hour I had to put more layers on until I had once again emptied my bag.  As I lay in my tent, in my sleeping bag, in my sleeping bag liner, with two layers of trousers on, five tops on, including full waterproof gear whist wrapping myself in a foil blanket, I shivered and I shaked ALL NIGHT LONG….but I wouldn’t have changed it for the world as I was out on the mountains – my favourite place – and it was utter freedom (Read : I bloody well would have changed it for the world and at this point I was kicking myself for not carrying a thicker sleeping bag with me).

We woke early, not sure if we ever slept but stayed inside the tent until the sun started to thaw us out…my body was aching.

After breakfast and packing up we were off again to touch the top of Munro number four which we were really at, just not up at the Cairn, the real top.

Today was an easy day and it was warmer.  We could walk as fast or slow as we wanted as we had already completed what we had came out to achieve four Munro’s and it was now just a case of walking along the summit then heading downwards towards the car.

The day turned out nice, we could see for miles all around us and the wind had eased, thank goodness.

I felt happy, I felt at ease and I felt truly grateful to be out once again in my favourite place in the world. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿⛰️💙