Ben Dubhchraig, Ben Oss, Ben Lui and Beinn a Chleibh - 31/05/14

Guest munro-ers on this day were: Sally Champion, Sean Watters, and Claire Tochel 

We took the advantage of having 2 cars with us to do the Ben Lui ridge leaving one at each end and avoiding the long road walk/hitch hike at the end of the day.

The forecast had been for a near perfect day, but as we approached the starting point, we were disappointed by the low hazy cloud. 

The start of this walk was not particularly easy to find, and we needed to cross a river and also a railway line (which apparently was strictly prohibited). But we found the track eventually which for the first wee while was wet and boggy and through the trees.

But as we ascended the clouds cleared and by the time we were through the trees the sun was burning down on us. The climbs to all the munros were pretty straight forward, though most of them were pretty steep and peaky - no plateaus. So we climbed up and down, up and down, up and down, and finally up and down (struggling to remember any defining features). We mostly stopped and had a snack at the top of each one. The descent back to the bottom from the final munro was a lovely and interesting path along a river through sparse deciduous woods. It was a lovely day out in the sun with great views and not bad company.

River crossing

Picnic at the top

The last bits of snow still about

Sally cooling down on the way down.

Cac Carn Beag (Lochnagar) - 17/11/13

We have got a bit behind with this blog so as I write this post it is well over a year since we climbed Cac Carn Beag - thank goodness for photos to help jog the memory.

It was my first time in this part of Scotland and interesting to see the uniquely different landscape - big and fairly barron with beautiful stags roaming all over. Most of the hills are fairly rounded, though this one we climbed was a bit more interesting.

It had been a relatively last minute decision to head to the hills having spotted a good 'chance of cloud free Munros' on the mountain weather, and we stayed in relative luxury (compared to a tent) in a B&B in Braemar. So after a good hearty breakfast we set off up the hill with clear blue sky all around. From memory, it was not a particularly steep or challenging hill, though quite a long walk. The views of the cliffs walking up were fairly spectacular and the last bit was a sort of horse shoe plateau one had to walk around. I do remember fairly well that once on top the winds were fairly brutal and cold!

It was a circluar route and on the return we dropped down fairly quickly and there was a long flat walk along the shores of Lochnagar.