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Ben Avon Beinn a Bhuird Map Drove up to Braemar on Saturday with Andrew and stayed at Larchwood (£24) run by Carol McKintosh. On Sunday the weather was very changeable and it was raining briefly as we had our breakfast. The cloud was off the tops though and it was ok by the time we got in the car and drove to Keiloch for the start of the walk. This was going to be a long trip - 40 kilometres in all - but to make it a bit more manageable we had brought the bikes with us. The walk actually started by bike at 9.30. We rode for about 7.5 km, on tarmac at first, through the forest, then on a lower grade road and finally along a traditional rough, stony and bouncy cart-track. There was a gentle upward gradient which meant it took us about an hour before progress became so slow that we decided to leave the bikes in the heather and continue on foot. The hour did include about 15 minutes standing around, however, while Andrew hunted for a cover that had come off the top of the forks of his brand new Trek bike. He didn't find it.
It was 10.30 when we set off on foot and after passing the ruins of the Slugain lodge we followed a good path round the bend and on for a long way up Glen Quoich. A bloke in an orange anorak could be seen disappearing into the distance - we'd overtaken him on the bikes but somehow by the ruined lodge he was ahead of us again and after that left us behind.
Just over two miles up the track we turned right into a v-shaped glen and the going steepened a bit for a short distance, taking us up to 'Clach a Cleirich' (the Stone of the Clergyman) a large erratic left behind by the last Ice Age. From there we carried on over an easier gradient along a grassy glen and up to the valley head, a place called 'The Sneck' which stands on the rim of a great corrie to the north (Garbh Choire) and is home to wind-sculpted boulders and standing stones.
Turning right when we came to the lip of the corrie the ascent changed from an easy plod to a harder, steeper slog up a a path zig-zagging up to the Ben Avon plateau. On the way up the weather changed again - cloud obscured the heights and a strong wind drove icy rain into our backs, happily helping to push us up the hill a bit. Put anorak and overtrousers on at this point. The rain soon blew over, however, and as we made our way across the grass and rounded granite plateau the cloud parted and our target appeared - a great rocky outcrop called Leabaidh an Daimh Bhuide, the actual summit of the Ben Avon massif.
We arrived at the top at 13.00. There were a couple of blokes already there on the rocks and a lad with a dog turned up a few minutes later. The dog had done about 70 Munros but the lad didn't say how many he himself had done. We had a brief break and took some photos for everything was clear now and there were some great views. Several other tors were scattered over the undulating grassy plain to the east. Had a quick clamber up to the top of the rock - granite, a bit wet and slippery.
From Ben Avon we returned to the Sneck and ascended the opposite hillside non-stop, making for North Top, the summit of Beinn a Bhuird. The hillside was steepish and quite demanding but at the top you come onto an enormous plateau edged to the east by a series of dramatic cliffs and corries. The plateau made for easy walking though and we found our way easily to the summit - a fairly undistinguished pile of stones amid a level waste of grass and more stone (15:00).
From there it was a very long trudge over the plateau, skirting the sides of the impressive corries on our left, to reach our last target of the day, the distant South Top (15.50).
No difficulties but we were getting a bit tired by now due to the distance travelled. Heading east over a boulder field of rounded, unstable granite then south by a stream we eventually reached the stalkers' path at NO102971. That took us easily but lengthily down to the river Quoich where there was no easy way across. In the end I just waded across without bothering to take my socks off. More lengthy walking followed but the path was good and eventually we were able to rejoin our original outbound path. We got back to the bikes around 18.00 Andrew rode back slowly, hoping to find his missing bike bit but I bounced along quite merrily and was back at the car in about 20 mins. Andrew turned up just after 18.30. There were 2 Belgians in the car park - one of them was keen to give me lots of free soup packets which his mate had brought with him. I gave him 2 Kitkats in return. They were just leaving to walk up the road and set up camp. That night we stayed at Craiglea (£28) and went back to Gordon's restaurant for a meal again - the veg special of the day was exactly the same as the previous day - pasta bake (£7.50). . It was ok though. This time I had a rhubarb crumble and custard as well to replace some of the calories I'd burned up. Had a couple of pints at the Fife Arms. The European Championship final was on the TV - Spain beat Germany 1-0. | |||||||||||
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