BREEZY NAVIGATION DAY

 

Final day with Bridget and Sue on their week long walking holiday in the Cairngorms. We've certainly had a mixed bag of weather the last 7 days. Snowy and cold, cloudy and wet, sunny and snowy. We finished with a stormy and wet day forecast for the high mountains. We decided to head away to some lower mountain ranges and opted for the lovely region around Strath Dearn, or as most folk call it, The Findhorn Valley.

We had an hour of 'indoor theoretical' with a coffee in the cafe. We then headed up the beautiful Strath Dearn. It's a glorious journey in itself. We were the only car at the carpark and on the hill. As we set off a big shower came through from the SW. The winds were bearable at the 500m altitude. It was still a skill to hold map and compass steady. Ideal 'realistic' weather conditions for navigation. 

The hills surrounding the River Findorn are quite featureless and pathless. Great terrain to learn navigation. The sun popped out and blue skies for an hour made it quite ppleasant.We covered lots of skill including micro nav, relocation strategies, timing and contour interpretation. Above 650m it became a bit tortuous so we called it a day and walked back down the hill.

We finished off the week in another cafe for some more theoretical navigation and a coffee. 

A brilliant week with some great company, banter and laughs. 6 Munros, lots of vital navigation skills, wonderful Cairngorms wildlife and some stunning scenery. 

Sue and Bridget are coming back in Winter. The finest season.

BYNACK MORE

 

Day 6 for Bridget and Sue. The best weather day this week. We were treated to some lovely and welcome sunshine. Another Munro for them. Bynack More. This is a great Cairngorms summit. A lovely, easy walk low down passing by the beautiful Lochain Uaine. Then a gradual climb onto a long plateau, all on excellent paths.

There were a few snow showers higher up and a stiff SW wind. Overall though we had stunning views in the clear air and bright sunshine. 

We found shelter from the high winds by taking a line below the crest of the ridge. We had a lovely view from the summit where the wind was bearable. The first views from the 5 Munros we had climbed this week. For lunch we descended the short distance to the Barns of Bynack. 

The Barns of Bynack are a stunning collection of granite tors standing over 20m. They are this mountains finest feature. It's a pity most folk don't bother exploring them, just a 10 minute walk from the summit. They also make a brilliant spot to escape and shelter out of any winds.

We timed lunch perfectly. Lovely Autumn sunshine and windless with our big granite windbreaker. On our return the winds had actually receeded and it was easier walking. Another short, sharp snow shower on top but the late afternoon we had a dry and beautiful descent back down to Glenmore. Brilliant day again and a welcome respite. Tomorrow looking very wet and very windy.

NAVIGATION DAY

 

Day 5 with Sue and Bridget on their Cairngorms Hillwalking Holiday. A forecast of rain and wind and low cloud was looking good for ideal navigation training. The Moine Mhor (Great Moss) or 'The Graveyard' has some Mountain Leader candidates have renamed it is a brilliant place to hone your navigation skills. We combined this with 'bagging' another Munro summit, Mullach Clach a' Bhlair. 

It started off dry but that  didn't  last long. An hour into walking up from Glenfeshie and the waterproofs were on. It was actually windier on the excellent path up towards Carn Ban Mor than on the plateau itself. We were in cloud above 900m for the rest of the day. Realistic conditions for when you need your navigation skills. The ladies did well, spot on map and compass skills all day. Made more challenging by the wind and rain. We saw no one all day, not even on the return walk beside the beautiful River Feshie.

MOUNTAIN HARE PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP

 

Day 4 on Sue and Bridget's Cairngorms Guided Walking Holiday with me. Today was for Mountain Hare Photography. Both ladies very keen wildlife enthusiasts. Our Mountain Hare of course the most adorable mountain species we have here. 

It was a reasonable weather day, cloudy but light ish winds at the altitude for my mountain Hare photography location. The star of the show was of course Fionn who posed for us nicely. Some drizzle in the afternoon and another cold day, especially if stood around with the camera.

Late afternoon we took a drive round to Loch Garten area to do some birdwatching and especially to see Creted Tit, but no show on this occasion as the light faded. Glorious 10 minute sunset to end another great day.

MUNROS & WILDLIFE TOUR

 

Day 3 for Bridget & Sue on their Cairngorms Walking Holiday with me. Today we had a hillwalking/wildlife tour up in the hills. A bright and breezy start to the morning but cloud soon coming over the mountains and a bit gloomy.  Not ideal wildlife photography conditions. Of course our beautiful wildlife live up in the mountains and are used to all kinds of weather, unlike us humans. 

We headed up onto the plateau and found shelter from the strong Southerly winds. Despite the relatively warm wind directions it was still cold. Plenty of layers and thick gloves whilst we found our main objective.  The wonderful Ptarmigan. 

There is an area that I've seen more Ptarmigan than usual since the Summer months. Any regular readers of my post may know, the Ptarmigan in the last couple of years have been low in number. My usual 'guaranteed ' locations to see them have yielded fruitless on many occasions. This latest area is my first port of call at the moment. We weren't disappointed. We counted a wonderful flock of 10 ptarmigan amongst 2 Mountain Hare. Brilliant. 

To warm up again after an hour of photography in cold conditions we headed to Cairn Gorm. Another Munro for Sue and Bridget. The weather started to brighten up a bit so we headed to the Loch A'an basin for some nice views. Unfortunately the cloud came down. We were treated to some  more wonderful Ptarmigan on our return. A pair of very photogenic birds. Posing nicely in a stylish spell. A great end to the day.