Hoarding Hopes

Braeriach and the Lairig Ghru

Posted by jamesk | Filed under Stuff

My oldest friend Matt and I spent three days in the Cairngorms last May Day bank holiday weekend. I was expecting everything, and got more!

I used to spend my childhood holidays up there, but haven’t been back for over twenty years. Now that I have a growing family, I’m increasingly aware of the importance of giving them somewhere in their childhood that they will love and think of through their adulthood – a refuge from London and the busy, aggressive Southeast. So, back to Scotland for me, with a mind to bringing them all up to experience it over the next few years.

Matt and I arrived in Boat of Garten last thing on the Friday night – in plenty of time for a drink as it happens, since the Boat Hotel’s public bar stays open till 1am on Fridays and Saturdays. One guinness and I was off to bed in the B&B, absolutely knackered by the travel.

Boat is a funny little village – it has a railway station used by the Strathspey Steam Railway, a Post Office, a village shop, and a hotel. It also has the RSPB’s Osprey centre at nearby Loch Garten and a good golf course. It also has a fantastic new restaurant, which we enjoyed both evenings we were there. The Bistro seems a little out of place, until you remember the golfing tourists, as it’s quite expensive for the area and has a very classy menu.

The next morning, we bought stuff for lunch at the Post Office, and then set off to tackle Braeriach. We parked up at the end of a road at Whitewell in Rothiemurchus, and started on foot from there. The weather was sunny and fresh. It was promising to be a beautiful day.

I’ve walked the paths around the Rothiemurchus estate many times – my father used to walk off with my elder brothers up the hills, and Mum and I would accompany them for the first part of the expedition through the estate’s paths.

We walked past small lochs, massive anthills, along ridges high above rushing burns, up narrow footpaths winding around twisted Scots pine roots. Finally, we emerged above the trees and out into full sunlight. The sun had been getting warmer and warmer without our noticing, sheltered as we were below the trees, but now that we saw it, we also felt a stronger breeze just ensuring that we stayed cool.

We were into the mouth of the Lairig Ghru. The last time I was here, there was a shelter – the Sinclair Hut, I think – which was a great picnic spot where we all had lunch before Mum and I turned back, leaving the others to walk further up. The shelter’s gone, apparently to stop walkers who aren’t properly prepared from coming up this far. We stopped for lunch just above its old location, with a fine view back across Rothiemurchus.

Then upwards – the path towards Braeriach became very steep at this point, and – given the wonderful weather – we were carrying far too much (always better over-prepared than under, but had we known …). This was the first stage of the walk which really brought home to both of us how unfit we’ve become over the last few years – cycling around London and Cambridge, jogging on flat roads, really doesn’t prepare one for burning thighs from climbing every higher along a boulder-strewn path. Had I thought about it, I’d have run up and down the local church tower every day for a couple of weeks beforehand. Maybe next time.

Towards the top of the slope we ran into a herd of reindeer, as one does in the Cairngorms, with lots of young. The last time I met these chaps, I was very little and got butted by one of them when I (allegedly) got too close (never mind that it was eating from my hand – you can see I haven’t quite let that one go yet).

And then, something remarkable: at the top of the slope, before turning right to continue the ascent to Braeriach, I saw the continuation of the Lairig Ghru. That’s the first time I’ve seen beyond the Sinclair Hut, and in fact we found we were looking at the Corrour Hut’s roof gleaming in the sunlight. It was a fabulous moment for me: the first time I’ve seen beyond the hills overlooking Rothiemurchus and Coylumbridge. The ridges just continued off into the distance as far as we could see. I’ve seen miles and miles of Alps and the Hindu Kush, but never before beyond Cairngorm. It was truly thrilling.

Onwards: we clumped upward through a couple of areas of snow (and made sure we got our camera angles right to maximise the effect) before making the summit of Braeriach. Again, the views in both directions were brilliant – looking back over the area we’d come from bathed in afternoon light was beautiful; looking forwards to the jagged edges of Cairn Toul and the Angel’s Peak was breath-taking.

But we had to get on, aware that it was 3 o’clock (after a late start), and we still had a long way to go. As we trudged towards the Pools of Dee, Matt pointed out a small bird hobbling and fluttering away from us. It was, of course, a hen Ptarmigan, and she was trying to distract us from the 3 small eggs in a nest 6 inches in front of us. Just as well she did, otherwise we would have crushed them underfoot without even noticing.

Conscious of time slipping past, we turned towards the northern end of Loch Einich, instead of following the trail across the plateau to approach it from the south. Big mistake. The slope down, without any path, was far steeper, longer, and more gruelling than we anticipated. I am still hobbling on very painful knees over a week later as a result. Sometimes the longer walk on better ground is a much wiser option!

Finally down, we had a marvellous walk back towards Inverdruie in the early evening, no other people around, birds singing wildly, the burn gushing along beside us.

Boy did I have a big supper!

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