Munro Madness : 5

Munros this section :

Mount Keen

Driesh

Mayar

Cac Carn Beag

Carn a' Choire Bhoideach

Carn an t-Sagairt Mor

Mount Keen.

Braemar is a good place for a day off - so good, I'll be back for another in a few days time.  There are two castles, the ancient ruins of Kindrochit, and the imposing seventeenth century Braemar Castle.  And cheap beer in the Invercauld Arms, all good.  I have an easy section now - compared to the last one at least.  I'm heading east towards the isolated Munro, Mount Keen, so my first day has no climbing at all, in fact it's a familiar route past Balmoral, I came this way on my walk from Inverness to Aberdeen a few years back.  This time on reaching Ballater I check out its second curry house - also good!

Mayar.

From Ballater I have a simple enough day, over thirty kilometres but good paths and just a single Munro, lonely Mount Keen - there's a fine panoramic view from the top.  Turns out there is another stiff climb, over a thousand feet out of Glen Lee, then I find a camp spot in a high valley far from anywhere.  Two more Munros the next day, the evocatively named neighbouring peaks Driesh and Mayar, ascending the first of these the path on my map seems not to exist in reality, instead there is just a scarily steep slope that I am very glad to reach the top of.  Plenty of other climbs too, out of deep glens, this section is not as easy as I had hoped, still I am getting through it.  At least I seem to have stopped breaking things, touch wood.

Cac Carn Beag.

My return to Braemar is surprisingly easy, given there are three Munros, including the peak of Lochnagar, or Cac Carn Beag as it is properly called.  A bit of a treat for me up there too, I'm just passing the lesser summit, Cac Carn Mhor, when the Red Arrows  fly by in formation, very cool.  I think I've built some muscles, as I power up the climbs and reach camp before 5pm, all good.  Maybe I was hurrying a bit as the weather has turned again, back to howling arctic wind.  Or maybe I just wanted to get back to the pub...


Photos to go with this post can be found here and here.