Ben MacDui, Beinn Mheadhoin & Derry Cairngorm

Dates: 19-20 September 2020

Yes, yes, I know all you're interested in is the sighting of the Big Grey Man, but you'll have to wait for that. All good things come to those who wait, blah blah blah.

So, the forecast of an Indian summer in the north had us scurrying round for the backpacking gear at the end of last week. We left Yorkshire after work at 5 on Friday afternoon, and after a diversion south on the M6 and an unplanned detour via Coupar Angus (is there a local bylaw against road signs in eastern Perth?) we reached Glen Clunie, south of Braemar, by 11pm. Not, I admit, before I may have muttered that 'we might be getting a bit old for this kind of thing'.

Still, at least we were able to get the last space in the Linn of Dee carpark at 7.40am. Last space at 7.40am! Lordy, lordy… how times are changing! We walked up to Derry Lodge without seeing a thing. But we were more than hopeful. It was murk that we knew hid blue skies above - but not for long. As we headed up…

…Glen Derry, something was in the offing.

Across the glen, the outline of…

…Derry Cairngorm was starting to take shape. And even…

…Beinn Mheadhoin in the distance. Turn around, and this was the view back down…

…the Derry. Further up the glen, here is where the…

…Glas Allt Mor snakes down off the Moine Bhealaidh.

My idea was to pitch the tent up at Loch Etchachan and then do the surrounding hills. The good thing about this plan was that we were there early, and managed to bag…

…take the best pitch. By the time we left, the following morning, there were various other tents around the Loch, some at angles I'd have been asking for a top rope on. We even had a nice bit of ambient sound from the stream that links the two parts of the loch, a nice view of…

MacDui from the tent door, and en suite facilities in…

… Loch Etchachan, where we could admire the…

…art work in the water. Oh, and the little bit of air-con kept any late-lingering midges away. All in all, I think this would count as a Superior Room.

After lunch we headed up MacDui, up a bit (with our tent just visible between the two parts of the loch)…

…before contouring round. One thing I love about the flanks of the Cairngorms is…

…the running water. Ditto the…

…still water and…

…exotic mosses.

Then, a few yards from the top, we saw The Big Grey Man! Here…

… he is, lying on the ground. Obviously he's seen better days. His nose has shrunk, and his mouth has gone, but it's obvously still Him. Right? Here is an artist's impression…

…of what he might once have looked like. Personally, I can't see what Collie and the others found so scary. He looks quite benign to me.

Apart from Him, we arrived at the summit of MacDui without seeing anyone else. The top, in the middle of a day as glorious as this, was predictably busy. I know there are those (even, dare I say it, on this site) who seem to resent the crowds of people discovering the hills for the first time during the pandemic, but not me. Solitude is still there for the finding. But never mind that, we had some great human encounters on these two days. More of that in a bit. In the meantime, if you were ever wondering why the…

…viewfinder on MacDui is now unreadable, here is the reason. Small dogs scratting away on it. I blame the irresponsible owners. Speaking of small dogs, here is…

…Shinty doing her famous Shiny Grass Slide. What's so funny, eh?

Enough larks. We went back down the same way, with distant views across Loch Etchachan to…

…Cairngorm, and underneath to the…

…autumn colours. There may have been some snoozing in the tent, before we nipped up Beinn Mheadhoin for the sunset. On the summit tor we met a lovely Slovenian woman who lives in Inverness. She kindly took this photo of…

…two ageing gimmers, and a young dog whose paws were suffering from a day on the granite. From the top, a view across to…

…MacDui and infinity beyond. Spot another sunset seeker, about to come up. Here…

…he is with the nice Slovenian lady. Nice to see social distancing protocols observed!

All day, the distance views had been crystal clear. Here is the view northwest to the…

…Fannaichs?

A good night, and up on Sunday morning to see the sun touch the cliffs of…

…Carn Etchachan. Only the smallest temperature inversion to see down by th eDee, with…

…Lochnagar beyond. A last look back to…

… Loch Etchachan, before we headed up Derry Cairngorm. Here is the view over to…

….Cairn Toul and the west. And here is Shinty looking east towards…

…Beinn a'Bhuird. All in all, it was a morning to savour. The autumn colours of the grasses…

…on the ground…

…always have me stopping and staring. That's Bheinn a'Ghlo in the background, for anyone whose eyes eventually find the horizon. I do find photographing the Cairngorms a happily impossible task. How to get the sense of space? Hey-ho. No harm in trying.

About half way along the ridge to Carn Crom, we met our first people of the day - a lovely couple from Banchory. We spent five minutes talking to them, but I suspect if we'd been five hours together we wouldn't have run out of things to say. And here's another couple of walkers heading in the same direction as us, having spent the night on the summit of MacDui. Below them is…

…Derry Lodge. All that remained was the trail back through…

…the woods to Glen Derry, and an hour's walk out down Glen Lui. One last look back up towards…

…Derry Cairngorm. And to cap it all, before the long drive home, a picnic by the…

…Linn of Dee. All in all, bliss. Nice to feel that we're still young enough for this kind of thing.