[Trip Index] [Munro Index] [Home] 17th May 2006   Carn an Fhidhleir An Sgarsoch Map These hills are two grassy domes which are easy enough to climb once you get to them. The difficulty is in the distance you have to travel to get to them - it's a long approach from the Linn of Dee. Fortunately, however, there is a cart-track which runs about 7 miles of the way and with no major uphill bits this makes a good route for a mountain bike. The cart-track to the hills The forecast for the day was rain after 3.00 with the odd shower beforehand so I made a fairly early start, driving to the Linn of Dee and setting off on the bike at 8.15. Progress then was a bit slow because: a) It's gradually taking you uphill even if it is an easy gradient b) A slight headwind c) There were streams to cross. I got to the White Bridge with no trouble at all and continued as far as a derelict shell of a building where the river splits and the route turns 90 degrees to the right to follow the Geldie Burn - a substantial stream which is fed by several tributaries. At the first large tributary, the Allt Dhaidh Beag, there was a footbridge to help you cross but at the next one, the Allt Dhaidh Mor, there was neither bridge nor stepping stones. It was a real obstacle and I only got across by pushing the bike uphill for a couple of hundred yards and even there it wasn't easy. Still, if it was easy we wouldn't be doing it, eh. Anyway I did finally get across and carried on almost as far as Geldie Lodge (9.50). Just before the lodge, however, it's necessary to actually ford the Geldie Burn and this was obviously going to be an even bigger problem than the Allt Dhaidh Mor - there was just no way of getting across this without getting my feet wet. I decided to leave the bike there, on its side in the heather. Then I took my socks off, rolled up my trousers, put my boots back on and waded across. I had to pour the water out of my boots afterwards but once I'd dried my feet and put socks and boots back on everything seemed OK. My feet didn't seem too soggy and nothing rubbed. Geldie Burn I carried on to the Geldie Lodge ruins at which point the cart-track changes into a footpath, albeit well-laid with sand and gravel. It was certainly easy to navigate as it was just a case of keeping on walking along this stony path to the end, a shade under 2 miles. There a less distinct, muddy path took up the story, heading south-west through the heather and peat hags of the valley bottom towards Carn an Fhidhleir. It was Carn an Fhidhleir, the further of the two hills, to which I was heading first. The stony path to Carn an Fhidhleir (shown on the right) It started to rain at this point but cleared up again after 15 minutes. It was a bit of a slog crossing the glen and then climbing the eastern flank of Carn an Fhidhleir but at least there was a discernible path most of the way - I only lost it occasionally. I reached the summit at 12.10 - marked by a small cairn on a grassy, stone-littered, gently-rounded dome. Apparently this summit marks the meeting place of Perthshire, Inverness-shire and Aberdeenshire. Sunlight on the hillside and rain in the glen An Sgarsoch as seen from Carn an Fhidhleir   From the top of Carn an Fhidhleir a path leads south-east to the bealach between it and An Sgarsoch. Another brief shower passed by while I was walking along this and then the path just disappeared, as these things do. I just headed for the mid-point of the broad, south-westerly shoulder of An Sgarsoch and there managed to pick up a path again. The ascent proved to be a straightforward slog up the hillside through heather at first, then stones, then finally, nearer the top, short grass and moss embedded with stones, much like Carn an Fhidhleir. I reached the summit at 1.55, a broad space which used to be a place where cattle and horses were bought and sold. Why there I have no idea but Cameron McNeish affirms it to be so. He says the event was referred to as the 'Feill Sgarsaich'. Summit of An Sgarsoch The weather now was OK although still occasionally threatening. I headed north from An Sgarsoch, passing to the west of the small hill, Scarsoch Beag, and managed to pick up a path which wound round it. Eventually this path too petered out so I strode directly through the heather until I regained the original, outbound stone path. That afforded me an easy route back to the Geldie Burn, which I forded as before, and then retrieved my trusty bike. (3.05) The return bike trip was much quicker than the outbound one, with no headwind and a mostly favourable gradient, and I was back at the car, gingerly massaging my backside, by 4.15 after a 50 minute ride.