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Creag Leacach Glas Maol Cairn of Claise Tom Buidhe Tolmount Carn an Tuirc Map (NB I took no photos on this trip - the ones below are from a second visit with Andrew in 2010) The Scottish Mountaineering Club book splits these hills into two excursions but in Cameron McNeish's book he remarks that 'there are few areas where you can walk over six Munros in such a relatively short distance - about 22km, with only 1017m of climbing.' So I fancied having a go at doing them all. The morning had started out fine - some cloud, some sun - and I decided to go for it. Trisha dropped me off in the Glen Shee car park at the foot of the Cairnwell by Devil's Elbow and I set off up the side of a hill (Meall Gorm - 759 m) - soon lost the track but I knew I needed to climb most of it then skirt north of the top to get onto the approaches to the first Munro, Creag Leacach. The approach was very steep, all grass and sweat, heather and wild pounding heartbeats, but at the top sure enough there was the path leading on towards Creag Leacach. It provided a steep ascent to the southern top followed by a nice amble over a rocky ridge to the summit (10.20).
I continued on along the ridge then, following the line of old fence posts almost all the way, to the great, grassy dome of Glas Maol - bit of a slog but not difficult. There was a cairn, a u-shaped windbreak and a trig point at the summit (11.10). Saw some ptarmigans on the way.
I carried on along the heights, past a husk of 30-40 hares on the NE side of Glas Maol, and had a nice easy walk along a cart-track which took me most of the way to Cairn of Claise - just had to cut across for the last 200 yards to get to the summit (12.00).
Weather all ok so far, and I felt fine. A bit tricky working out where the next Munro, Tom Buidhe, was though, and I sat on Cairn of Claise for quarter of an hour alternately looking at the map, the compass and the land trying to work it all out - for Tom Buidhe appears only as a gentle rise in the plateau from there. Had to allow for magnetic variation from true north but eventually worked it out. There was snow on the top of Cairn of Claise and I now met the first people of the day, a couple, and asked them for confirmation of Tom Buidhe's location. Totally useless - don't think they knew where they were. I passed another couple shortly afterwards but I'd worked it all out by then and just said hello. Having identified Tom Buidhe it was an easy stroll down from Cairn of Claise, over a slight boggy eminence called Ca Whims, which I personally wouldn't have bothered giving a name to, and on up a grassy path to the rather undistinguished summit of Tom Buidhe (1.05). There was a small cairn there.
Next it was an easy jaunt back down the hill and across to the adjoining Munro, Tolmount (1.40), despite a bit of hail & rain at this point, and I met a bloke on his own at the summit - he arrived as I was studying the map and trying to work out the way ahead. He asked if I was doing 4 hills today so rather smugly I told him I was aiming for all 6. We had a chat and then he left for Tom Buidhe without being much help regarding where my next peak was.
I think the map is misleading - it looks as if you take a line returning parallel to the trek out to TB but trying that looked as if I was committing to somewhere that didn't look at all right, and it was getting misty too which made it hard to work out. For a while I couldn't see any reference points. (What you should do, for future reference, is go back to Cairn of Claise and thence NW.) Almost ended up going over to the next valley but I stopped in time. Lost time though, wandering round the northern shoulders of Cairn of Claise looking at the map every 2 minutes and trying to see through the mist. It was getting a bit cold and miserable and after 5 summits I was feeling a bit tired too… but eventually, folks, Our Hero worked it all out, traversed a wee boggy bit and ended up at the rocky top of the sixth and final Munro of the day, Carn an Tuirc! (3.30). Lunar appearance, bare and rocky, with two cairns a couple of hundred yards apart on the flattish top - the southern one is the highest.
After that it was a straightforward descent - steep through rocks at first then heather/grass down to the valley bottom and a simple walk-out to the rendezvous where I met my old pal from Tolmount again. I got there at 4.30 and Trisha was due 5.00 but turned up about 4.45. Weather fine during the descent.
31/5/00 Pitlochry - walked over the dam and had a look at the fish ladder then bought a couple of Leki walking poles (£24.95 each) from an outdoors shop. Visited Killiecrankie where the fleeing soldier jumped the ravine - saw a great spotted woodpecker there. Then off to the Edradour distillery, the smallest in Scotland, followed by Loch Lowes where we watched a pair of ospreys and their chicks. PS Notes from the second trip, 22nd August 2010: I had spent the Thursday with my Aunt Madge and drove over to Ramsbottom on Friday evening to spend the night at Andrew's. The next day we had driven north and stayed at Blairgowrie. Sunday we climbed the six Munros: Creag Leacach, Glas Maol, Cairn of Claise, Tom Buidhe, Tolmount and Carn an Tuirc. The first part of the day was a bit cloudy with the occasional icy shower but navigation was a lot easier this time round as I had the Adventurer 2800 GPS loaded with the OS 1:500000 maps for the entire country. I took a paper map and a compass along too, of course. Once down from the final Munro it was a long, hard slog back up the road to the car, much different from the previous traverse of these hills when I'd been picked up at the end by an obliging wife. | |||||||||||||||
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