A Cairngorms Cocktail (By Robin Wallace)

(24-25.6.16) Sgor Mor,Carn a' Mhaim & The Devils's Point. 33km, 12hrs,11mins. 1.417m ascent

During the week, Kevin and I hatched a plan for a two night trip into the Cairngorms with some summit camping. As it drew closer to the weekend, the weather forecast was prescribing thunderstorms across Scotland. Not wanting to completely cancel our trip, we adjusted our plans for a night at Bob Scott’s bothy instead. We agreed to take bikes to shave off some time heading into the bothy, when Kev text to say he was on the bus into town, I thought he was bringing his folding bike. A breakdown in communication, meant we never actually agreed to take the bikes. On the drive up the weather was dry and sunny, we descended down in the car from the Glenshee ski centre and saw dark gloomy clouds over the Eastern Cairngorms. I took my sunglasses off and yes, the clouds were that dark, it didn’t make a difference! Then the hailstones arrived battering the car. By the time we reached Linn of Dee a few rumbles of thunder passed over us with some flashes of lightning. After reading Nice2Nettle’s trip report, we were both a bit concerned about the walk in. Weighed in the rucksacks in the carpark with my electronic luggage scales, including food and bevvy, my pack weighed in at 10.5kg and Kev’s at 12.5kg. After that, we got the waterproofs on and set off in a thunderstorm. The storm itself pulled away to what sounded like the North East and we pushed on along the track, stopping occasionally to talk to other walkers who informed us that the bothy was busy. When we arrived at Bob Scott’s, there were two other lads who were just sitting out the storm before heading back to Linn of Dee, it was looking like we were getting the gaff to ourselves. Not long after, two older lads doing the Lairig Ghru popped in and were deciding whether to stay at Bob Scott’s or push on to Corrour, with my tunes on the go, they decided to down tools and spend the evening with us with some good craic and a few drams.

Next again day, we were up and away just before 8am and we walked along to the currently derelict Derry Lodge, derelict for how long though, with plans for a hostel to be opened there.  According to the 1:50K map, a substantial bridge lies just north of the bothy, it must have been swept away in a storm because it wasn’t there and in hindsight I don’t ever recall seeing it on previous visits. We crossed the other bridge and followed the river thinking it might have been easier to cross at the ford opposite Luibeg. This wasn’t the case as the river was in spate. Nothing else for it, boots off and around the neck and wade across.

Safely over the river, we got our boots back on and ascended up through the pines and on to the open hillside, the next 100 metres was a steep pull up through the heather before easing off and up to the trig point of Sgor Dubh. With the cloud base sitting at 900-1000 metres, most of the Munros to the north of us were just in the cloud and no more. However we had a clear view west along to the true summit of Sgor Mor, we made our way along. The typical Cairngorms terrain meant it didn’t take long to cover the 3km along to the summit. From the summit of Sgor Mor we headed for Carn a’Mhaim. We skirted to the east of Creagan nan Gabhar, collecting some water from the Allt as we descended. The going got a bit more wet and boggy before we struck the Lairig Ghru path. We had a quick breather and opted to head directly north up more steep heather clad slopes, gaining the ridge and the path to the summit. The cloud was trying hard to lift, we spent quite a bit of time loafing around the summit and eventually we got the views. We got a nice break in the weather, the sun even made an appearance. It was only 12pm, and it was decision time of what to do next. We didn’t want to call it a day and head back so we decided to walk along Carn a’Mhaim’s north spur and drop into the Lairig Ghru and have a brew in Corrour bothy. We reached the Lairig and walked along to Corrour, the rain started 5 minutes away from the bothy and we managed to get in before getting a proper soaking. There were a few other folk mulling around, I got the stove out and boiled some water for a brew. The rain was off and feeling revitalised after a cup of tea, we decided to climb Devil’s Point too, forgetting we had to get down the Glenshee road before 8pm to beat the road closure. Another front was menacingly making it’s way down the Lairig, and the heavens opened once again. Opted to wait until we reached the summit before getting the waterproofs on, we got a bit of a soaking. We retraced our steps back to Corrour bothy, meeting a DoE group and others. It was quite busy around the Devil’s Point and the bothy. Afterwards we began our walk back to Glen Lui and Bob Scott’s to pick up the rest of our gear. Back at the bothy, we gathered our gear and walked back to the car, a mountain bike at this point would have been welcomed. From the bothy, over the 3 hills and back to Linn of Dee turned out to be a cracking 12 hour shift out in the hills. Just the tonic to escape all the Brexit aftermath. By the time we got to Braemar, the Glenshee road was closed, annoyingly the chippie was too! We ended up getting some scran from the chippie in Ballater, before the long detour home. Dropped Kev off at 1am! A memorable trip away, with the weather being better than expected.