In summer in Scotland the days seem to go on forever and around the longest day in late June, it never seems to quite get dark. These kinds of days beg you to have big outings in the summer hills, when you can walk for miles, pitch the tent high and sit outside until late at night. For this year’s weekend of longest days, I did just that in the eastern Cairngorms with my friend, Graham. At the far east of the Cairngorms massif, is the only Munro of the range that I hadn’t climbed – Ben Avon. Combining it with its neighbouring Munro, Beinn a’Bhuird, on a big circuit north of Braemar, would make good use of these long, summer days.
We started with a short bus ride. There are two great things about the bus that trundles back and forth between Braemar and Ballater. The first is that the bus stop is right beside the best cup of coffee in town which you can easily fit into the timetable. The second is that it drops you right at the start of the walk into Ben Avon! Once off the bus, we shouldered three-day packs and walked west through avenues of tall trees within the grand surroundings of Invercauld Estate. Before too long, the formal grounds gave way to a wilder landscape of pines and heather.
We made a long trek north, at first within the tight, rocky confines of Gleann an t-Slugain, then latterly through the wide glen below the scalloped edges of Beinn a’Bhuird. A stiff pull took us up to The Sneck, a rocky bealach between the two peaks. With a moderate wind blowing through, we dropped back down a little to pitch the tents in the high coire, below lingering snow patches.
These long days of light gave us the opportunity to climb the final section of Ben Avon that evening. We had the place to ourselves as the light mellowed and we walked across the moonscape plateau. We could see over this whole giant lump of a mountain and dotted all over it were Ben Avon’s characteristic granite tors, giant stacks of rock standing proud of the surrounding land. The highest of these was the summit proper. We walked there and a final, wee clamber took us up among the rocks to gaze out over this bizarre landscape.
The next day was just one of those long, perfect, summer days in the hills. Sunny, blue skies prevailed and the views were clear and extensive. From The Sneck we hauled ourselves up onto Beinn a Bhuird’s vast plateau to marvel at the sheer size of the place and its absolute emptiness, save for the odd mountain hare that we put up. There was an incredible sense of space here and we felt like the only people in the world as we trekked across the high ground. At one point, the plateau was cut by running water. A mountain spring started somewhere to our right and its little outflow stream meandered across our route, sparkling in the sunshine and tinkling gently. We lingered here a while, sipping the cold, clear water.
As we walked on, we eventually reached the edge of the plateau as we picked our way along the top of Beinn a’Bhuird’s cliffs, gouged out by glaciers into gaping coires below our feet. At some point in this big, flat place we walked to whatever point claims to be the top and marvelled over the views to the rest of the Cairngorms, stretched out to our west. Ben MacDui dominated this view, unmistakable by its bulk and extensive snow patches.
We pulled ourselves away from the views to begin our long walk down and out, leaving behind the open spaces to become enclosed in the dappled pinewoods of Glen Quoich. Here there seemed to be a stonechat on top of every small tree along the trail so that the evening air was filled with their characteristic call. It sounds like two pebbles being gently knocked together. We walked well into the evening and pitched our tents for a second night out close to what’s known as the Punchbowl, a round hole in the riverside rock carved out over millenia by the pounding water.
On the final morning, as we walked back to Braemar through the woods, the sense of summer days was diminished as drizzly rain and thick mist doused the world around us.
Fact File
More photos on Flickr - click HERE.
Start: Invercauld Bridge
Finish: Braemar
Public transport: Braemar to Ballater Stagecoach bus stops at the start - ask for the stop for Keiloch.
Route: Followed signed tracks for The Slugain, west through the estate, then forking right after Altdourie. The path passed through Gleann an t-Slugain and a little after the final steep pull out of the glen, there was a righthand fork which continued north below Beinn a'Bhuird and then climbed up past the stone called Clach a'Chleirich to the Sneck. Path split here, climbing steeply on the east for Ben Avon and on the west side for Beinn a'Bhuird. In clear weather the top of Ben Avon was obvious, though the path is sketchy given the terrain. Once up on Beinn a'Bhuird we headed west to the north top and followed the rim of the corries south, picking up the descent path west of Coire an Dubh-Lochain. The path made a long descent into Glen Quoich and eventually crossed the river (no bridge). We continued on the track to the Punchbowl and then took another track that contours west round the hillside above the road. This jojned the road opposite a track that passes through Mar Lodge Estate to Victoria Bridge, the only place to cross the River Dee. We joined the (quiet) road to walk east for just under 2km towards Braemar then picked a forest track which connects to the signed paths in Morrone Birkwood. This provided a lovely walk back to Braemar, especially in the murky weather.
Info: Great coffee in Braemar at Taste cafe which is right next the bus terminus.
