Wednesday, October 01, 2014
We went to the Cairngorms to recce one of the routes for Braeriach, the third highest mountain in the UK and the one I want to do next spring when there's a chance of seeing dotterel.
A well-maintained path runs across open moorland for about three kilometres, while ahead you can see the notch in the skyline that is the Chalamain Gap.
This is the narrow pass between the tail end of Lurcher's Crag (western end of the Cairngorm massif) to the left and Creag a' Chalamain to the right. I've seen it referred to as a boulder field, but not even this quite prepared me for what is in effect a corridor of tumbled, shattered rock. Some of it looks as though it's still tumbling. Most of it is stable but now and then you step on one that seesaws or shifts.
We got about halfway before turning back - enough to know that although it's a struggle, we should be able to cope with it on the day. However, even after negotiating this, there's still some way to go to the summit.
On the drive to the Cairngorms this morning I spotted two swans on the far side of Loch Droma, but we decided to leave them for the journey home. They were still there this evening, but the light was failing and out of about twenty shots, not one had both birds with their heads up. These were my first whoopers of the winter.
Apart from the swans, the best bird was a distant red grouse.
// posted by Christine @ 2:57 PM 
