It’s pretty rare to be able to be so confident of the weather here in Scotland that you can set out on a 9 hour route into the mountains taking little more than your lunch and several litres of water. But the
fantastic heatwave in July with day after day of perfect sunny weather allowed us to do this two weekends in a row! It felt more like being in the Alps than being in Scotland!
With temperatures of 20C even on munro summits it was almost too hot for walking, but approaching by bike was a double win, allowing us to gradually ascend above the worst of the heat whilst generating our own breeze. And of course at the end of the day we got to enjoy a nice long ride back out of the mountains too 🙂
13th July 2013 – Beinn Lutharn Mhor & Carn an Righ from Spittal of Glenshee
Cycle in: From the Spittal up Gleann Taitneach to the ford at the end of the double-track
(7.6km, 130m ascent, 1h 15min due to rough track)
Walk: upto Loch nan Eun, over E flank of Mam nan Carn and N to Beinn Lutharn Mhor. Then over SW flank of Mam nan Carn and up to Carn an Righ summit. Then E along the valley track (S of Mam nan Carn) to Loch nan Eun, and back down to the bikes (16km circuit w/ 950m ascent, 6h 20min due to heat!)
Cycle out: back down Gleann Taitneach to the Spittal (7.6km, 130m descent, 50 mins thanks to gravity!)
20th July 2013 – Carn an Fhidhlheir and An Sgarsoch from Linn of Dee
Cycle in: W from Linn of Dee past White Bridge and S to Geldie Burn, then W along double track to the ruins of Geldie Lodge and onto single track for ~500m. (13.7km, 170m ascent, 1h 30min due to excellent track)
Walk: W along the single track, across the Allt a’ Chaorainn, across heather & peat hags onto N flank of Carn an Fhidhlheir and up to summit. SE from summit then NE to col and on up to An Sgarsoch. E and then N from summit down central shoulder and across heather to pick up the singletrack just W of the bikes. (15km, 790m ascent, 6h 20min due to scorching heat during steep heather trudge!)
Cycle out: back the way we came, downhill this time! (13.7km, 170m descent, 1h downhill!)
- Jon & Hazel
