The month of May saw a couple of trips to the Cairngorms which ended up being notable for wildlife as well as the hills.
The first of these trips was a few days hillwalking in the eastern Cairngorms. It was that spell in May when it still felt like winter, before we had some brief summer weather ahead of it all turning back to winter again! I managed a couple of Corbetts at least. First up was Culardoch which was a real battle with the elements as I staggered to the top in dense mist that parted only briefly for a suggestion of a view.
The second Corbett was a wonderful walk to Carn na Drochaide which although still cold and blustery, afforded great views of the snow-patched bigger hills all around. I'd started from a beautiful wild camp spot at the edge of the pine forests and after a short pull, had a glorious high level stroll to the top in spring sunshine.
I'd connected these two hills together by walking through a secretive place I'd been to once before many, many years ago. Like a miniature Lairig Ghru, it forms a deep, rocky cut through the hills and is a very distinctive landscape feature although it doesn't have a name on the Landranger map. On my first visit there, I was thrilled to see lots of ring ouzels as it was my first ever sighting of this bird. They are summer migrant birds that look like a blackbird but have a necklace of white feathers. They are quite beautiful and always exciting to see. On this return visit, I wasn't disappointed and their calls rebounded off the rock walls, adding to the eerie atmosphere created by the dense mist that had filled the pass. So I have given the place a name and will forever more call it Ouzel Pass.
My next trip was a much anticipated route and I'm really not sure why it's taken me so long to walk this way. It was the Minigaig, the old drove route that crosses the Cairngorms between Blair Atholl and Kingussie. It was initially a straightforward walk north, leaving Blair Atholl via Glen Banvie and then passing over low hills to Glen Bruar. As I walked north, the hills started to close in with steeper slopes and eventually the track became a narrow path that ascended sharply out of the glen's dead end. It was here that I saw the first adder. A small one, about 30cm, that wriggled quickly away. I continued climbing and just a little way further on, I saw my second adder, stretched out onto the path. It was fully grown and incredibly beautiful showing that black zig-zag pattern that contrasted with the almost pale green of the rest of its body. A beady, red eye watched me as I gingerly stepped around it through the heather, wondering if its friends were lurking in the shrubbery!
The excellent little path continued over the hills. There was nothing for miles and miles all around (except adders it would seem), just endless emptiness. I loved it and really enjoyed the walking. Just before the final climb to the top of the pass, I pitched the tent. It was already well into evening and the weather was closing in. That night's entertainment in the tent, aside from a batch of Jim Crumley newspaper cuttings, was watching a dipper pass up and down the river in hurried flight. When I'm camping, I always leave my shoes in the porch of the tent, especially if they are muddy. Next morning, having seen two adders on the trip already, I did check them carefully before slipping them on in case anything had slithered in there during the night!
It was a clagged-in morning with the tops shrouded in swirling, dense mist but although there were no views from the top of the pass, I enjoyed the lost world atmosphere created by the elements. A small cairn of white, quarzite rocks marked the top of the pass ... and the end of a good path. Down the other side, the route became indistinct and before long I was bashing onwards through bog and heather, following roughly where the map indicated the route should be. Every now and then a good bit of path would reappear then quickly disappear again. The effort of the walk was lightened however by the rampant bog cotton and the joy of seeing the extensive woodland regeneration here with young pines and birch craning their necks above the heather.
It was good though to eventually pop out onto the firm track that I would follow down Glen Tromie. With warm sunshine starting to break through, I found my third adder of the trip basking on this track. What a beauty it was. The biggest of the three I'd seen both in length and girth. It didn't move at my approach so again I had to step round it, giving it plenty of space. I was so thrilled to have such a good view of this one as they really are beautiful animals.
It was a very pleasant walk down Glen Tromie with blue skies above and all around the lush, green woods of early summer. Where the glen broadened to grassy meadows, I tried to imagine the drovers here with their cattle. They would be at the start of their journey to the markets in the south. I was finishing my journey by picking up the Speyside Way path for the final few miles into Kingussie.
I was delighted to have finally walked the Minigaig, though I think I will be re-naming it, Adder Alley.
No comments:
Post a Comment