Geldie Munros

I've been putting these 2 munros off for years as I knew the route was a bit shit with miles of flat landy track, bog and boring featureless hills.. It was exactly that however it was another scorcher and the mileage suited my running plan so I got on with it!

On approaching LOD bridge from Braemar I was directed into a field on the right to park because the LOD car park was full. This actually suited me perfectly as I was going west towards White Bridge anyway, oh and free parking in a field! 

A convenient pile of wire and posts to padlock the bike to..

I'd done 14 miles on Braeriach the day before so I was only looking for 20 miles on this run and no more as I'm teetering on the edge of a couple of injuries. The route from Lynn of Dee is 26 miles so I biked into White bridge to cut it down to 20 miles on foot.. 

Geldie Lodge

To begin with it was actually great running and I cruised to Geldie Lodge on the easy landy track pretty quickly before starting to climb onto the first hill Carn an Fhidhleir (994m). I was on Fallon's route and as is usual on his routes I found myself  without a path in the middle of bog and deep heather! very hard going climbing direct onto the shoulder and summit where I was happy to be back on a path and get back to running..

Back of Cairn Toul from the shoulder of Carn an Fhidhleir

The views were great though on such a clear day. These hills are typical Cairngorm rolling grassy hills but the skyline was pretty cool and it was great to see the Lairig munros from the back.

Carn an Fhidhleir

From Carn an Fhidhleir it's good running over towards An Sgarsoch until the route drops down on a steep faint path then gets lost in bog before climbing up onto An Sgarsoch (1006m).

The path appears again half way up. 

I was surprised to see so many other folk out here being so remote but this is the norm now with all the Covid mountaineers!

An Sgarsoch

My legs were feeling good considering the week I've had training. Since Tuesday I was on Corrennie, Pitfichie, Pressendye, Braeriach and now half way round this route. That's 56 miles and 14,000ft for the week..

Mourne Skyline is only 4 weeks away now, well if it goes ahead of course with the changing Covid restrictions. This only leaves me 2 weeks hard running left before I cut back a bit for race day.

The climb onto An Sgarsoch

An Sgarsoch summit

Once onto the summit it's good running again heading NE towards Geldie Lodge. The path did continue in a more easterly direction but I went with Fallon and dropped off a perfectly good path into steep heather then 40 minutes of hell crossing very difficult boggy ground! I was raging by the time I got to Geldie and fukn soaked haha! 

Then it was back to miles of mundane landy track back to the bike then Braemar for a coffee and a Bakewell! Yaldy!!

I won't be in a rush to get back here again, it's really not my bag and without the good weather it would've been grim! However, at the end of the day it's the hills, it's fresh air, it's peace (mostly), it's my sanctuary, peat bogs or not!! 

Braeriach

After the usual faff and late start ;) looking for mystery coffee shops that don't actually sell coffee in Granton we finally got going at 2pm! With a good forecast and promising blue skies from Alford all the way to Aviemore I was keen to get the vest and shades on and get running! However that black cloud that seems to follow me was waiting for us hanging over the Gorms! Typical..

Luckily it cleared and turned into a scorcher of a day and made for very hot tough running! 

The climb onto Sron Na Lairige

This is a great training route and one of the quickest ways into the heart of the big boys. It gives approx 14 miles and 5000ft ascent and depending on weather will give you views that rival anything west (well, almost..).

Starting from the Sugar Bowl car park, through the Chalamain Gap, down to the Laraig Ghru, straight up the other side onto Sron Na Lairige then onto Braeriach. Return the same way. 

Carn A Mhaim left, Cairn Toul center and the shoulder of Angles Peak to the right with Lochain Uaine half way.

The last time I did this route was hogmany last year with virtually no snow and it was a cracking day then as well! 

Cairn Toul and Angles Peak with it's NE ridge clearly visible from the lochain

The running is excellent under foot pretty much from start to finish with Sron Na Lairige having the only rough sections apart from Chalamain Gap of course which is just big boulder hopping.

The views up here are unreal! It's tempting to keep running round to Angels and Cairn Toul but I was only looking for 14 miles as I had a longer run planned for the next day.

I'm uber conscious of injury just now with Mourne only 4 weeks away so I'm sticking to structured mileage and ascent. I've had a fairly tough few weeks training trying to get speed and distance back and I'm starting to creek already with a couple of niggles but just need to keep an eye on them and not over do it.  

Looking west from Braeriach

The crags of Braeriach and the Lairig Ghru

While I slogged on a bit further on my own to get water for us both (from the Wells of Dee) my lazy running buddy sat on their arse on the summit cairn sky gazing as usual! ;) I've become quite a servant in the hills these days and enjoy nothing better than running around after people.. ;)

 

Lairig Ghru

Braeriach summit

My lazy running buddy was kind enough to take a couple of action shots for me! :)

The route's an out and back which is fine because it's just as good going back the way with a final climb back up to Creag a Chalamain and the sting in the tail after descending down into the LG from Sron Na Lairige.  

Chalamain Gap

Then all that's left is the Gap and good trail back to the car park. Love the Chalamain Gap, such a cool section of the run and is as good climbing up as it is descending.

There were loads of folk out and about a long the route and we stopped and spoke to just about everyone one of them! It's great seeing so many people enjoying the hills just now..