This year, for the first time, my New Year week in the Highlands was a solo one. Ruth and Josh had decided they would instead stay with some of the younger Duffers, and a swarm of Dufflings, in a large holiday cottage in Glenelg on the west coast. But I don’t have sufficient tolerance for living among small children to do so for a full week, nor as close a friendship with that group, and preferred to do my own thing. I found that Aviemore Youth Hostel have a couple of private single rooms, so that was a convenient and inexpensive choice with plenty of walking options nearby to suit all weather conditions.

I drove north from Kendal on Saturday 28th, pausing at Talkin Tarn Country Park, east of Carlisle, for a parkrun on the way. I wasn’t feeling very energetic and finished in a disappointing 20:30 despite the course being a little under distance, not muddy and only slightly undulating. Nevertheless, it’s a scenic course and it was good to get a little exercise before continuing my drive.

The roads were quiet and I made good time to Aviemore, pausing in Perth for lunch, petrol and some groceries. I arrived around 3pm and was able to check in earlier than advertised. The room was basic but fairly spacious and had everything I needed, and I was pleased to find that the kitchen also had plenty of storage and fridge space to share.

Sunday’s forecast was for a moderately windy day with some rain arriving later, so I got a dawn start at Glenmore Lodge for a walk up Bynack More. While walking up to An Lochan Uaine, I passed a couple of pairs of walkers going the other way with overnight kit. We didn’t stop to talk but I assume they’d spent the night at Ryvoan bothy. The track gives easy walking and I was soon at the bridge over the River Nethy, and could see that the summit of Bynack More was clear although there was lower cloud over Cairn Gorm. After a spell of mild weather, there was almost no snow on the hills.

As I continued up the ridge path, I passed two young men descending, who had been to the summit and warned it was extremely windy. They must have started well before first light! The gusts did get extremely strong as I got higher up, but I wasn’t worried about sometimes getting blown a few paces off the path as the ground to the side was not steep. Before long I was at the summit, where I was able to find a bit of shelter behind the tors.

There were good views southeast to Ben Avon, Beinn a’ Bhuird and Beinn a’ Chaorainn, but the higher hills further west were in the cloud. I decided to pop down the ridge to the Barns of Bynack for a different vantage point, somewhat regretting that decision when it was a real battle against the wind to return to the summit! Soon, though, I was heading back down the north ridge, the wind gradually dropping as I lost height, and I was back at the car before any rain arrived.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2837131

Monday was forecast to improve to showers after overnight rain cleared. I opted to head to the Monadhliath hills, where I could bag a new Graham, Creag Liath, with the option of continuing over one or more Munros if conditions and motivation suited. I parked at the head of Glen Banchor a bit before 10am and waited a few minutes for the rain to stop as I could see brighter skies approaching. Sure enough, it did stop and I was able to avoid putting my full waterproofs on. A group of five walkers set off towards A’ Chailleach (Munro) while I waited.

Creag Liath is actually only a short detour from the standard route up the Munro Carn Dearg, so the path most of the way is pretty well-walked and there’s a helpful footbridge over the Allt Fionndrigh – essential as the rivers were in spate after the wet night. The summit gave decent views over flooded Speyside. As I could see Carn Dearg was also just about clear, I decided to continue that way.

Glen Ballach was very boggy so it was good to reach the firmer ground of the final ramp up to the Munro summit. The ridge has attractive crags on its east side. An unusual fogbow briefly appeared as cloud swirled below them.

I sheltered behind the cairn to put on an extra layer, as the wind was cold, and to consult the map. I reckoned if I walked fast I’d be able to visit the other two Munros and get back to the car before dark, so that became the plan. It’s about 8km along the ridge to Carn Sgulain, but it must be some of the easiest terrain between Munros, with no large or steep ascents or descents, and navigation made easy by a faint path and very clear line of old fenceposts the entire way.

Carn Sgulain was in mist and time was short, so I didn’t linger there, setting a compass bearing to cross the upper reaches of the Allt Cuil na Caillich northwest of A’ Chailleach. It was only a ten minute climb from there to the summit, which was just about clear with blue skies to the south of the large cairn.

It was only an hour before sunset, so I pressed on quickly, following the ridge a short distance west then descending the obvious but very boggy ATV track into the valley of Allt a’ Chaorainn. It was clear that the river was not crossable where the main path is marked, so I continued down the west bank to find the footbridge marked further downstream – somewhat hidden out of sight among trees but it’s there if you need it!

That just left 1.5km down a track to the car. I was not expecting to find a runner doing hill sprint repeats in that fairly remote spot, in the twilight ten minutes after sunset! Presumably he’d run up from Newtonmore for his workout as he was running back down the lane that way as I drove out. With the three Munros added, it had ended up being quite a long day (27km) but it was good to have made the most of the dry weather.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2838191

Tuesday looked wetter, with warnings of more flooding, so I decided to climb a Graham north of Carrbridge. I parked on the B-road near Auchterteang, and set off when there seemed to be the biggest gap between showers on the rainfall radar! That worked pretty well as I got almost to the summit before the next rain arrived. Most of the ascent was on a good Land Rover track, with just a short trot along the boggy ridge to the trig point. There was a light dusting of fresh snow on the ground, unlike the previous two days, and the temperature was much lower. I got brief views of the high Cairngorms in the brightest moments.

To make a circular route, I continued along the heathery ridge to Creag na h-Iolaire, visiting a few rocky ‘cnaps’ along the way, before descending by another track to reach my outward route a couple of kilometres above Auchterteang. I had need to put on full waterproofs, but the rain had only amounted to a couple of sharp showers.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2838964

I didn’t bother to stay up to see the New Year in. There didn’t seem to be any kind of celebration at the hostel as the residents who wanted to party headed into town for the purpose. More snow fell overnight, and the weather was set to improve through New Year’s Day, so I decided to head for another Munro, Meall Chuaich, which has an adjacent Graham I could include on the way up. The A9 was clear of snow so it was an easy drive up to Dalwhinnie to park in a layby around 10am. There were several other cars parked there, with one group of four just setting off – clearly a popular choice for New Year’s Day, thanks to the easy road access after snowfall I suppose.

After a couple of kilometres on the access road beside the Cuaich aqueduct, I diverted off the main Munro-baggers’ route to cross over the small hydro dam and ascend the heathery slopes the other side of the valley. That led me quite quickly to the summit of Creag Ruadh, the Graham. There were some reasonable views over Speyside, Drumochter and the surrounding hills, but all the Munro summits were in cloud.

A short descent took me to the dam of Loch Cuaich, then a short walk along tracks got me back onto the main Munro route from the bridge over the Allt Coire Chuaich. I could see the group of four, now well ahead of course, as well as a couple of solo walkers descending. The ascent was straightforward, with the snow soft and not too slippery. Sadly the summit did not clear by the time I got there, just as the group were setting off back down.

The wind was bitterly cold so I only paused very briefly at the large cairn. It was only when I was back on the track in the valley that the summit actually cleared and some decent blue patches began to appear in the sky. There were some glimpses of Ben Alder along Loch Ericht, and the large corries of Carn na Caim looked good in the snow. I was back at the car by 3pm, so perhaps starting an hour later might have given me better conditions, but 11am seems too late to start on a winter Munro day!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2839678

The Met Office thought there was a good chance of cloud-free summits by afternoon on Thursday (although the MWIS did not agree!). I decided to be optimistic and have a go at climbing Braeriach, as it would be good to visit one of the very high Cairngorm peaks during my trip. My plan was again to start at 10am and move fast to get the best of the day. There had been more fresh snow overnight, but the road up to the Sugarbowl car park was fully clear. I was surprised to find someone gritting the steps on the footpath down to the Allt Mor bridge, soon after I set off!

Initially, I was following several other sets of footprints towards the Chalamain Gap, and I hoped these would continue towards Braeriach. However, after a while I caught up with the family who had made them and it was clear that the high mountains were not their objective for the day, so I had to make my own footsteps thereafter. The boulder-filled groove of the Chalamain Gap was just as awkward in fresh snow as I remembered it from my last winter ascent of Braeriach with a few duffers 17 years earlier (to the day!). Nevertheless, I had soon clambered through without any twisted ankles and was back on the easy path down into the Lairig Ghru.

Soon after starting to ascend the other side, I reached the cloud-base at around 700m. The path was quite distinct to start off, but became invisible under the snow higher up the ridge to Sron na Lairige. From the 1180m cairn, it was pretty much white-out with navigation to the 1184m cairn and across the next bealach entirely by compass bearing and pacing. I was glad to reach the rim of Coire Bhrochain, helpfully not corniced so it was safe to use the steep edge as a navigational handrail to the summit. The right hand side of my jacket and trousers were well frosted up with ice thanks to a snow shower, blowing from the north.

It had taken nearly three-and-a-half hours to reach the top – a bit longer than I’d bargained for with the tricky navigation – so I turned straight around to get as far down as possible before dark. More pacing and bearings got me back across the bealach and Sron na Lairige and onto the right descent ridge. Although less precision was required on the descent, it felt trickier with worse visibility going into the wind!

The cloud had risen a little over the afternoon, and I started getting views over Lochan Odhar, Gleann Eineach and the Lairig Ghru when I reached around 900m (still 400m below the summit of Breariach)! By that point I had found the visible path and my own footprints (not being re-filled by the wind at that level), which sped progress the rest of the way. There was some brightness in the sky over Speyside but not over the Cairngorm hills.

I found that a few other people had walked as far as the Lairig Ghru during the day, adding to my morning footprints. It was after sunset by the time I got back up to the Chalamain Gap, so I expected that I might need my torch for the last bit of my walk. But thanks to the clearing sky and reflective white ground, I was actually able to keep walking without headtorch all the way, reaching the car at 4:30pm, 40 minutes after sunset. I hadn’t had the dramatic corrie views I’d hoped for, but I’d certainly had a large dose of Type 2 Fun and done some very useful practice of my winter navigation skills!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2840625

I fancied something less taxing for my final walking day of the trip, so on Friday I did some more Graham bagging on the Hills of Cromdale, east of Grantown. My preferred route was from Strath Avon, to the east of the hills, but that meant a fairly long drive. This ended up taking nearly an hour as, although all the roads had been ploughed after more overnight snow, they had not yet been driven enough for the grit to have full effect, and it was safest just to roll along at 30mph. I parked by the phone box at Ballcorach, rather than risking getting stuck in the unploughed car park the other side of the river.

The ascent via Knock was on a decent track to start with. This was snow-covered but a set of fresh footprints led up and down – I concluded someone had taken their dog for a walk up and run down. Beyond the end of the vehicle track was undisturbed snow, which was pretty hard work to wade through all the way up to the minor top of Carn Eachie and from there along the ridge to the first Graham summit, Carn a’ Ghille Chearr. I was surprised to pass a group of reindeer! I did not know that part of the tame Cairngorm herd actually live here on the Glenlivet estate!

It was cold in the wind and the summit was just in the mist, so I didn’t hang about before heading back south, diverging from my footprints after a while to stay on the ridge line. It was very hard going across the bealach as the snow was deeper there, generally around a foot, and the ground underneath was unfrozen and boggy. I passed another large group of reindeer here, which were happy for me to take a fairly close-up photo.

Eventually I reached the tall memorial cairn on An Sgoran, where I was surprised to see a pair of walkers coming up from the Cromdale side. They were locals making a regular visit, but only as far as the cairn. We chatted a little as we had some food in the shelter of the cairn.

Then I continued, finding shallower and firmer snow generally, to the second Graham summit, Creagan a’ Chaise, which has an even larger memorial cairn. That just left a gentle descent east through more soft and deep snow to pick up another vehicle track down to Milton, and then a couple of kilometres along the lane back to the car. The roads had cleared fully of snow by that time, knocking 15 minutes off the journey time back to Aviemore.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2841544

My plan had been to break Saturday’s drive back to Kendal with a visit to Perth parkrun, but it was cancelled due to ice. With my knee a bit sore from the snowy walking anyway, I didn’t bother to go to Faskally Forest parkrun, which did go ahead near Pitlochry (I wasn’t so motivated by a repeat location!) and was in Kendal by lunchtime. I decided to spend the afternoon and night there and spend the time with my parents rather than rushing straight home. And despite the widespread amber weather warning for snow, I found the motorways clear on Sunday morning all the way to Hilton.

Overall, a pretty good trip, bagging five new Grahams and revisiting six Munros. That takes me past the half way point on the Grahams list: 118 down, 113 to go. I reached at least one summit every day, despite the usual mixture of wet, windy and snowy Scottish winter weather. Not much sunshine this year, but still a good selection of contrasting walks with views from some of the tops. My full photo album can be found here.