Braemar (Apr 07)
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With it being Easter Weekend, and also being off both jobs on the Friday, I decided to go to a place that I've wanted to go to for a long time, and one that I promised myself that would be my first trip when I got a car etc. So this weekend I headed to the lovely hilly area of Braemar. Braemar is not only a fantastic place to go for hill walking, but is a really nice wee town to visit if your looking for a day's trip somewhere, as the journey there from all directions is a really nice one, wither it be from the south, north, west and east of Scotland. I was using this weekend as a discovery weekend to see what Braemar had to offer, as it's a place that I want to go a few times, due to the walks, Corbetts (mountains between 2,500 ft and 3,000 ft) and of course, the Munro's (mountains over 3,000 ft) I have a few books on different walks in this area, so wanted to go and do one or two, plus have a look about to see where I could camp rough, and not have to stay in campsites. I arrived in Braemar on Friday lunch time, after taking the long route to get there (see map) and booked into the campsite for the Friday night, thinking that it would give me the day to have a look about. I did that and found a great number of places to camp rough in the surrounding area. Also, when I arrived at the campsite, I was surprised to see not one, but two of the tents that I am buying this week. It is the Hilleberg Akto, (here is another review of it - review) which I have wanted for years, and only now able to get it. Tiso's in Aberdeen have ordered me one and I am going in on Tuesday to see it pitched, not that I need to, as I went over and spoke to one of the owners in the campsite and had a play about with it and a sit inside it. Really glad I had that chance to speak to someone that has had this tent for years, and thankfully I know I have made the right choice in an amazing tent. I watched it being pitched in under 25 seconds. Every review and person I've spoken to regarding this tent has said the same thing.....that it's bomb proof hahaha, so that is my kinda tent. So back to the weekend. I had a look about Braemar on the Friday and had an early night and on the Saturday, I got up early and decided to go check out another walk that was in my book. This involved driving back on myself for about 18 miles to Ballater, and down a road that lead to Glen Muick (pronounced Glen Muck). This road was a single track road for about 8 miles and ended up at the mouth of Loch Muick, simply a stunning area. The walk in my book starts at this point, and walk around the Loch is 9 miles, but at the opposite side of the Loch from the carpark is the Munro that I'm planning on doing next week. It is called Lochnagar, or it's proper Munro name is Cac Carn Beag. This is the name you will see on O.S. maps. Now this road from Balleter to Loch Muick was stunning, and have found 3 ideal places to camp rough next weekend with only a short 5 min drive to the start of the walk. More about this next week. So after this, I decided that I was going back to Braemar to do my first Corbett of 2007. The Corbett I chose to do is called Morrone, and is situated directly west of the village, and can be seen from every part of the village. (see multi-map). At 2,818ft, Morrone is slightly less than a Munro, but the initial climb makes it feel like a Munro. The weather was amazing, and I even got sunburnt on the way up. At the top, there is a big old......telephone mast hahaha, plus a hut and toilets, but the views from the top are stunning. You can see right over to the west into the Cairngorms and to the east, there is a perfect view of next weeks adventure....Lochnagar. After coming down, I headed back into the village to get some food and beers for the campsite, and went back and cooked myself some Irish stew and rice, then threw back a few bottles of Czech beer, went down very well, then headed into the village to the local and had a few Irish ciders and staggered back along to the campsite in the early hours of the morning. On the Sunday, I then went to see another walk in my book, a road that heads towards Linn of Dee. From the map, it's the white road going directly west from Braemar, and loops round on itself to a dead end. This Glen was stunning and again, there are numerous places to camp and get a campfire on the go. There are two walks in my book that I would like to do, one starting at Mar Lodge, and the other further alone the road at the end at Allanaquoich. Def a weekend trip down that road for the next again weekend. There are a few photos below of this Glen. After this, I decided to head home a different way, and go up through the country (see map) This was a more direct route, albeit through the countryside and back roads, but it was a shorter route by far, less traffic, and the scenery was amazing. I planned this route as on the way were two castles, and I plan to have a page for Mountains (Corbetts & Munros) plus for castles that I've visited, so thought I'd start by visiting these ones. The two castle that I got to visit were Glenbuchat Castle, and Kildrummy Castle. I was able to get out and walk about the ruins of Glen Buchat Castle, but the other I had to pay. Now I feel quick strongly that I shouldn't have to pay to get into castles, especially when it is my history, charge the English and foriegners to see it, but we should be able to flash our Scottish passports and get in for free, so I sneakily drove round to the hotel and got some photos of the castle from there. From there it was a straight road home, passing through a nice wee village called Alford (missed out on the castle there, forgot about that one, but will do it next weekend) and back to Inverurie. Before I left on Friday, I bid for a PDA and sat nav for the PDA on ebay, and on my return I found out that I had won it, so I am now the proud owner of a PDA with sat nav, two birds with one stone really. See the ebay auction item that I have one HERE. Hope you enjoy the photos, I limited myself to taking just 100 photos this weekend, which I must say was hard going ha-ha.
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