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Beinn Bhrotain Monadh Mor Map This was a long trip, about 23 miles, but a reasonable track along the River Dee enables you to use a mountain bike to cover the first few miles. I had been at Braemar just a month earlier in an attempt to tackle my outstanding Cairngorm Munros but had been out of luck with the weather. On that occasion I had driven the six miles to the Linn of Dee car park and then watched raindrops falling in the puddles there for half an hour. It was cold, wet and gloomy and I couldn't summon any enthusiasm at all for getting the bike out and setting off in those conditions. Unfortunately the forecast for the following day was severe snow storms so in the end I just turned around and drove all the way back home. The first time in 19 years that I'd returned without doing anything. Couldn't be helped though. Now I was back, however, and staying at the same B&B with Wilma, a nice lady who filled me up with breakfasts so substantial that I needed little more to eat till tea time. Once again I drove to the car park. Cloudy but not raining this time so I got the bike out, kitted up and set off west along the cart track (8.48). It was good going as far as the White Bridge (approx three miles) where the track turns right and narrows to footpath width despite still showing on the OS map as a double dotted line.
This stretch of track is crossed in places by streams running off the hillside and to prevent the path from being washed away someone has built a series of stone gullies, each made up from three slone slabs in the form of a truncated vee ie \__/ although with the angles a bit less severe. It looked straightforward enough to ride across this… but it wasn't. As I rode forward my front wheel descended into the gully and there encountered the 'up' slab while the bike was still angled downwards. This, unfortunately, meant that it hit it at a much steeper angle than expected and instead of bouncing up and over the bike just stopped. Now Newton's First Law of Motion came into play as I sailed gracefully over the handlebars, coming to an abrupt stop when my forehead encountered a large but thankfully smooth and flat lump of rock. Evolution is a wonderful thing, however, and has apparently equipped me with a fine, solid wall of bone up there so thankfully I was able to stagger to my feet, dust myself off and carry on. At the next gully I carefully walked the bike across. After a mile or two the track became rougher and eventually it reached the point where progress was so laboured and slow that I dismounted, left the bike in the heather, and continued on foot. I walked on for about a mile until I reached the Allt Garbh where I turned off the track and followed the stream up the mountain - grass and heather mostly and not unduly steep. The highest point of the Allt Garbh lies just below a col and from there it was only a walk of a couple of hundred yards to reach the eastern top of Beinn Bhrotain..
There was light cloud all around now so no great views, visibility about 200 yards. Nothing much at the eastern top so I retraced my steps to the col and then headed west to the true summit. This entailed crossing one enormous snow field which I couldn't bypass. There was barely any snow elsewhere but here a great white expanse led up the slopes and simply merged into the whiteness of the cloud - it looked like it went on forever. I knew it didn't, however, so gritting my teeth I slogged up it till I eventually reached grass and rock once more. Then I continued on to the plateau which proved to be a typical featureless Cairngorm tundra with grass, lichen, rounded red granite and microflora. In those cloudy conditions it would have been very easy to get lost on such a wide plateau for it looks exactly the same in every direction. GPS is a wonderful thing though and after a couple of readings to check my position I was able to follow my compass and walk directly to the summit cairn (12.25). A great feeling of satisfaction when it appeared out of the mist directly in front of me, just where it was supposed to be. How did I ever manage before hi-tech arrived?
Nothing to do apart from confirm the GPS position, take a photo and head off for the next Munro. Heading NW across a pink granite boulder field I followed the compass, checking it every minute, and arrived at the col between Beinn Bhrotain and Monadh Mor without any problems. A short steepish climb up the opposing hillside then an easy stroll across the plateau, the ups and downs barely discernible, reaching the summit at 13.40.
Once again I checked the position with the GPS because the cairn here seemed so undistinguished and had been achieved with barely any ascent from the surrounding plateau. I had a quick bite to eat but didn't linger there long before setting off north and descending over the boulders towards Loch nan Stuirteag, a fair-sized pool which lies between Monadh Mor and the Breariach/Cairn Toul massif. As I descended from MM happily the clouds lifted and I was able to see across the western plateau (the Moine Mhor) to Sgor Gaoith, my 100th Munro. Ahead of me the lower slopes of Braeriach and Cairn Toul were now visible but the tops retained their mystery, shrouded still in cloud.
From the lochan it was an easy but lengthy descent following a path by the outflow. This found its way south to Glen Geusachan then east until it joined the River Dee just below the Devil's Point. After a long walk back along Glen Dee I reached the bike at about 5.15. Then a slowish ride back to White Bridge (walking it across the gullies!) followed by a brisk and bouncy ride back to the car (5.58).
Back in Braemar I had a bar meal at the Fife Hotel (nb be sure to get there before 8.00 if you want to get fed). It was a fairly dire reheated meal (£5.50) - it's fodder, I suppose, after a fashion, but pretty awful really. Plus a couple of Guinesses at £2.50 each. A good day all told, despite the bike crash and the cloud at the tops. Saw no-one else on the hills. | |||||||||||
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