Book Review Merchant Adventurers by James Evans – Kindle Edition Completed 25 August 2014

Today Britannia may no longer rule the waves but even so the English are proud of their Maritime Heritage so much so that it is easily forgotten that not too long ago England was a maritime minnow when compared to other European Nations. Spanish, Venetian and Portuguese naval and trading fleets all easily surpassed those of England in the mid-16th century and it was not until over a century later that (by then) Britain’s naval ascendancy commenced.

 

This book recounts the story of how in the early 1550’s the English started to look beyond their shores and near neighbours to the global opportunities that would eventually lead to an outward facing great maritime trading empire. The book opens with the account of how in early 1554 Russian fishermen in the White Sea discovered 2 great ships whose crews had appeared to have frozen to death and how the fishermen recovered the log of Sir Hugh Willoughby (a relation to short time Queen Lady Jane Grey). Evan’s uses this log later in the book to trace the voyages of Willoughby’s 2 ships (of the 3 which set out from London in the Spring of 1553) postulating that they approached as far as the western coast of the islands of Novaya Zemlya –possibly the 1st to do so.

Sebastian Cabot

Why on Earth were English merchant ships this far North in winter? The answer is provided in the 1st part of this excellent tale. The rise of Spanish and Portuguese hegemony over the Atlantic (supported by Papal Authority) had left few trading opportunities to other Nations and indeed the English under Henry VIII were more interested in naval campaigns against the French than voyages of Exploration. Nevertheless in the 1490s John Cabot (of Venice and latterly Bristol) had sailed a Bristolian vessel across the Atlantic – probably to Newfoundland where there was no Spanish commercial competition. After this voyage he returned to the Mediterranean along with his son Sebastian who would in the eventually become the Chief Pilot of Spain. Sebastian Cabot would return to England from Spain in 1547 and would be the main champion and driving force for what would become the Joint Stock Company (an innovation at this time) of ‘Merchant Adventurers for the discovery of regions, dominions, islands and places unknown’.

Cabot and John Dee postulated, without evidence, that there was a North East Passage that would allow ships that could clear the North Cape to then turn South East and reach China. This staggering , lack of geographical knowledge seems odd to modern readers but shows just how poorly the globe was understood just a few hundred years ago. Cabot thought that England’s northern position would give her a clear run to access this route and secure fabulous wealth through trade with the Cathay. Economic impetus for the English was provided by Henry VIII’s wars against Scotland and France during the 1540s which had been funded on credit: by loans and by repeated debasement of the currency. When attempts were made to restore the coinage, exchange rates shot up and the demand for English cloth in Europe collapsed. ‘Our chief desire, is to find out ample vent of our woollen cloth, the natural commodity of this our realm.’ The best places, he concluded, would be ‘the manifold islands of Japan and the northern parts of China and the regions of the Tartars next adjoining’ wrote Richard Hakluyt.

To such an end the Merchant Adventurers were set up and built 3 high quality ships at great expense – even including defences against the tropical Toredo worm that they expected to encounter once the North Cape had been rounded. The ships – the Bona Confidentia, Bona Esperanza and Edward Bonaventure (named after the King Edward VII) – set out with Royal blessing in spring 1553 just days before the death of the King. The fleet Admiral was Sir Hugh Willoughby but the chief Pilot was the hero of this book and the protégé of Cabot himself –Richard Chancellor.

 

The routes of these 3 ships – which became separated in a storm off Norway is retraced using the logs of Chancellor – who returned safely to England the Next Year having agreed favourable trading rights with not the Chinese but with Russia’s Ivan the Terrible, and Willoughby whose fate as mentioned above was not so kind. The whilst Edward, captained by Richard Chancellor, sailed into the White Sea and dropped anchor by the Dvina River, its sister ships, the Bona Esperanza and the Bona Confidentia, were some 200 miles to the north-east and became trapped on a deserted part of the North coast of Russia by the onset of winter.

Richard Chancellor at the court of Ivan the Particularly Unpleasant

Evans recounts the experiences of Chancellor at the Russian Court in the winter of 1553/4 and the safe return of Chancellor and the hope that Willoughby had managed to sail beyond Russia to China (until his log books were returned to Chancellor on his second mission to the court of Ivan in 1555. In addition to the fascinating tales of exploration, Evans reminds us of the turbulent political backdrop of England at the time. Having sailed under the rule of the Protestant Edward, Chancellor returned to the new Catholic Regime of Mary Tudor, several investors in the company had been executed for their part in the attempt to place Jane Grey on the throne and now England’s King (though not Regnant) was Spain’s Phillip II – Regnant king of a trading rival and global superpower.

The latter part of the book records Chancellor’s second visit to Russia, sadly ending the wreck of Chancellor’s ship and the loss of both Chancellor himself (whilst successfully saving the ambassador from the Russian court) and his oldest son as well as most of the crew. The stay of the ambassador in London is recounted and the setting up of further profitable (though not the expected fabulous ) trading relationship with Russia is also recounted but in less detail towards the end of the book.

This is a story of Exploration and dashing bravery; of technological improvement and diplomacy but also of commerce and the drive that commercial motives can provide to all of the above. It is the story of how the English first lifted their trading eyes to see ‘over the near horizon’ and is a previously untold story deserving of greater recognitioin. The subjects of this book deserve to be much more famous. Many fine men are featured here but the hero of the book is undoubtedly Richard Chancellor, the first Englishman to master the techniques of ocean-going navigation and one so valuable that in the words of Haykluyt:

‘the company’s loss of a ship and its goods was ‘a Trifle, compar’d to that of Richard Chancellor, worthy of Immortal Memory’.

Evans is right I think to claim that had he not died when he did, the Chancellor would surely have gone on to greater achievements and fame – ‘Where he led, others, like Sir Martin Frobisher or Sir Francis Drake, more famous and more celebrated, followed.’ A fantastic tale of derring do well worth reading.

 

 

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ZV off for Servicing (Again)

ZV has developed a high voltage relay fault. In short (if you'll excuse the pun) this means that the alternator cannot charge the battery and that a repair is needed as a failure of avionics in flight in IMC is not a good thing. So with good VMC, after 2 weeks of crummy August weather, a ferry flight to Dundee was in order. This also meant that we could take the opportunity for instrument approaches as long as the avioinics were still OK (the battery did last out) provided we had a mobile phone and bluetooth headsets and a safety pilot (Alex) to remain unhooded

Start up was a bit of a faff - a lot of priming required before eventually the engine kicked into life. Oddly ZV never seems to start easily. Soon though we had her going and an IFR clearance direct to Dundee. Cleared directly to DND and FL 60 1013 was set on the main altimeter straight away and we were cleared for take off without delay. As this was my 1st flight in a month I was a little rusty for the 1st 5 minutes but soon had everything sorted and we were stable at FL 60 and en route. WIth 30 miles to go we were handed to Leuchars for traffic service and with 12 miles to go (on GPS as DME and ADF turned off to load shed until 10 miles from DND) I asked for descent to 3000ft to DND. Being cleared to an altitude Alex reminded me to set QNH before descent.

Free calling Dundee with 8 miles to the beacon I needed to expedited the descent as my initial descent was too shallow. CLeared to the Beacon and asked to call beacon outbound the 1st approach was NDB to ILS. No issues on the approach , I rolled out with 30 degree cut to gain the localiser and was soon inbound on the G/S and localiser. For ractice I used a DH of 350ft rather than my rating minimum of 600 (I did have a safety pilot who was enjoying the sunny weather I could not whilst under the hood). At DH I looke up and was pretty much bang on. Under the hood again I initiated the go around and repositioned for the 2nd approach and NDB

The approach was fin apart from rolling out too early ad south of track which meant a 30 degree correction. Once I had sorted this the appraoch was fine - down to DH of 650 ft where I levelled and bore in on the airfield before initiating go around for the 3rd approach - which would be NDB to ILS. Like the 1st this one was a good approach, this time though I carried out a flapless landing - lessons from which - don't reduce speed too early as it will annoy everyone else and the wind will affect you more. Looking up at 350 ft I was bang pn again and the landing was fine - if a little long (reduce power steadily on flare to sort this)

 

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Munching Blueberries on Bennachie

 

 

Yesterday evening I found myself wandering over my local hill – Bennachie – as I am wont to do whenever the weather is fine and I am not otherwise engaged. My plan for the evening had been somewhat different as I was going to be taking our Intern for a flight around the Cairngorms. For once, and after a weekend of absolutely dire weather it looked as if a flight would be great – the Cairngorms were absolutely clear of cloud then I checked the weather forecast. Aberdeen airport TAF indicated thick fog and 0 visibility by 5pm, available diversions would be Dundee and Inverness. Dundee had the same forecast as Aberdeen. Inverness on the Moray coast was clear but a diversion there would have meant an overnight stay so with reluctance (and some scepticism re the forecast) I called the flight off and as the fog would be limited to the coast went for my faithful fall back option – Bennachie which is how I came to be eating wild blueberries on Watch Crag by 7pm.

 

Bennachie is a shapely ridge with 5 ‘summits’ from West to East – Hermit Seat; Watch Crag; Oxen Crag; Craigshannoch and Mither Tap. The most prominent summit is Mither Tap and this has an Iron Age Hill Fort atop with some very well preserved walls. Although it appears to be the high point of the hill this is an optical illusion brought about by its sharp outline, at 518m (1699ft) it is 10m lower than the more rounded Oxen Crag at 528m (1733 ft) a couple of km to the west. I have walked over the many trails on Bennachie hundreds of times and have never yet tired of the walk it is always possible to vary the route and even now I am often surprised by new options.

 

Last night I walked along the bottom of the hill to take one of the rarely trodden paths (most paths are well maintained by The Bailies of Bennachie) from the base of the hill directly towards Watch Crag. This Path is one I discovered only this year and does not appear on the tourist guide to the hill though the OS 1:50 000 does show it partially ascending the hill. Nevertheless as there are stone milestones or something like along the route it mut at one time have been a well-used route. Rarely do you meet anyone on this route and it gives an excellent view of the ‘back’ side of Oxen Crag. Just before reaching Watch Crag there is a turn off towards Hermit Seat. I took this turn off and visited Hermit Seat (approx. 1km ) before returning to Watch Crag.

 

From Watch Crag there were good views all around so I decided to linger. I knew wild blueberries grew somewhere here so decided to try to find some. Within minutes I had located a fine source of these small and delicious fruits and decided to eat a couple. Next time I shall bring a Tupperware box and collect enough to take home for a smoothie. As the sun was still high in the sky I lingered a while to enjoy the views before heading east over a small col to Oxen Crag from where it was possible to see clearly the fog bank that was no shrouding the coast and starting to come inland. As it was now nearly 8 O’clock and Mither Tap was starting to get c cap of misty cloud on it I decided I would finish the night’s walk on Craigshannoch and save Mither Tap until next time. On Craigshannoch I came across only the 2nd Hare that I had seen on Bennachie – this on a youngster. A couple of years ago I had seen a large adult at the same place. It was on the walk over from Oxen Crag to Craigshannoch that I met people for the 1st time. This side of the hill is often much busier than the route I had taken because most visitors head to Mither Tap from the car park closest to Aberdeen. Though when I say busy its usually less than 10 people at most that one ever meets. Last night as I approached Craigshannoch I met 1 walker and a mountain biker and that was it for the evening.

 

I finished the evening by walking back to the ‘Back ‘o’ Bennachie’ car park through the woods below Oxen Crag . In total I had spent 3 hours on the hill on a fine summer’s evening and had met only 2 other people. A great walk

 

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More of the Mounth - East of Glen Shee

One of the great advantages to living in the North East of Scotland is that you can be flexible with travel plans to the Cairngorms, you can change plans at the last minute without incurring a massive expense. Our original plan was to walk in the West Mounth hills with an overnight stop (for which Angus despite my advice had bought a good half ton of sausages) but as the forecast worsened from Rain Showers to Gale Force Winds and extensive heavy rain Angus and I decided to stay at home on the Friday and go for a day in the East Mounth hills on Saturday when the forecast was promising improving conditions. Our new route would go over the 6 East Mounth Munros (5 of which I had previously walked) none of which was particularly challenging to walk but all of which offer excellent views of the surrounding Cairngorm hills.

 

Driving to meet up with Angus at the Glenshee ski centre on Saturday morning I was wondering if indeed we had made a good decision. Before Ballater the rain was extensive and dark black clouds were down to about 300 feet above the ground. Fortunately, almost as I cleared Ballater the cloud lifted and the sun came out. The top of Lochnagar was still covered but it did seem that the fluffy stuff was trying to get out of the way.

Reaching the Glenshee ski centre just 2 minutes before Angus I parked up and when Angus arrived we decided that the day would be better if commenced with a bacon butty so went inside and ordered what turned out to be a very fine butty indeed and a coffee each. Eventually we set out at 0950 from the small car park below the 1019m Carn an Tuirc which would be our 1st hill of the day. Last time I had been here was in late September 2013 and I seemed to remember a dry path along the side of the Allt a Gharbh choire. That path was no longer there – well not in the same state. Of course the summer of 2013 had been a particularly dry one which had left the path nice, dry and obvious. This time it was wet and largely untrodden and pretty overgrown which in many ways a refreshing change is given the number of tracks that are cutting their way across the hills these days. The final few hundred meters to the summit are over broken rock but once on top the view opens up beautifully – to the North Ben Macdui , Bynack More and Ben Avon are obvious to the East Broad Cairn and the Lochnagar massif - - yes the view to Carn Aosda and Cairnwell isn’t great due to the ski developments but beyond that the view to the West Mounth is unrestricted. Sadly none of my photos really do justice to the view. At the summit Angus celebrated by doing his Munrobot. Given the earlier bad weather it was a real pleasant surprise to find absolute stillness on the summit. There was neither a sound nor breath of wind – not a common occurrence. We stopped awhile to savour the tranquillity.

1st Munrobot of the day

By now the cloud had lifted well above the 4500 foot height and was beginning to break up nicely. We had originally talked about walking around direct to Cairn of Claise but decided to take in Tolmount and Tom Buidhe to the East. The walk across to these 2 pretty indistinct lumps is straightforward but across boggy ground so wet feet it was – at least for me in my Innov8s though Angus claimed he was better off with his Goretex Brashers. Although indistinct and frankly hardly worthy of the title of Munro (IMHO) Tolmount does provide great views into Glen Callater and across to Lochnagar and towards Dreish and Mayar across Glen Clova so it is worth the visit just for these views. On top we met 3 Glaswegians who had camped in Glen Callater overnight in what they described as ‘shite’ weather. As we arrived they were just finishing their cigarettes and lie us their next stop was Tom Buidhe just to the South. We let them get ahead and tucked into the 1st of our sandwiches and McVities Chocolate Digestives (Angus having had to leave his sausages at home had brought along a full pack of biscuits). Soon we also were on our way to Tom Buidhe which was just a short down and up from the cairn at Tolmount. Although a slight worn footpath leads off form Tolmount’s summit, this soon become indistinct and you simply follow your nose up Tom Buidhe from where the views to Glen Clova are at least worth the walk though the hill itself is uninspiring. After 2 more McVities we were headed west again towards Cairn of Claise.

 

The route to Cairn of Claise was back across the boggy ground. Last time I came this way one of my Innov8s was sucked from my foot leaving me with a rather dirty sock and a 1 footed retrieval job. This time the ground was boggier but I seemed to find a slightly better path. Approaching Cairn of Claise you start to come across the steel piquet’s of a once existing boundary fence that lead directly to the summit. After a while the fence gives way to a stone wall which I can only assume to have been a job creation or welfare to work scheme at some time in the past. We found the summit plateau to be covered in Mountain Hares and also noticed a large flock of Ptarmigan. The summit of this hill is once again a boulder field but easily negotiable. At the top we took time to enjoy the by now bright sunshine and finish off the sandwiches. At this point a gentleman in shorts arrived and told us that he liked to come this way once a year to check up on the Arctic Flycatcher. Asking us if we had seen the Arctic Flycatcher I had to admit that I might have but as I was unsure whether it was a bird an insect or a fish I couldn’t confirm or deny a sighting. Taking me for an obvious idiot the chap had to explain that the Arctic Flycatcher is Scotland’s rarest plant existing only in a 50m2 patch of ground between Tom Buidhe and Cairn of Claise. I still don’t know if I saw one or not.

Glas Maol was our next stop and the track across is straightforward. We did come across a gate all on its own on the way across which roused some merriment but the walk over wasn’t particularly inspiring given we could see the top of one of the ski runs pretty much all the way. Not lingering at the top we carried on over to Creag Leacach which is the Munro I had not been to before. This is a far more interesting hill with a boundary wall running right over the top and a rubble strewn summit. From Glas Maol, Creag Leacach looks to be a stiff climb but in fact is very easy apart from having to be careful not to step on a loose rock. As we climbed new views to the south and the flat lands were revealed. On the summit we took time to finish off Angus’s pack of biscuits. We now had a choice we could continue to go back to the road by going over the top of Creag Leacach and following the ridge down but this would leave us with a couple of km of road walking back to the car so instead we decided to trace our way back towards Glas Maol and contour round towards the ski lifts which would offer a slightly better way off the hill than the road. We decided to contour as I knew from experience that the 1st part of the descent from the summit of Glas Maol is a bit of a knee cracker.

Final Munrobot of the day

Descending by the ski runs wasn’t ideal but it was easy and we were soon back at the Ski centre to collect the car. I had promised to show Angus the statue of Wainwright that I thought I had seen here before but either someone has moved it or we went past it because I couldn’t find it. 40 minutes later we were in The Bridge at Aboyne and supping pint of Trade Winds to finish off a fine day in the hills.

The Cairnwell's despoiled summit from Creag Leacach

 

Distance 23km; 1207 m ascent

 

 

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A Long Way for 2 Munros; Ben Avon and Beinn A Bhuird - Friday 20 June 14

 

 

Having agreed to meet Angus at the Invercauld car park at 0900 I arrived 10 minutes early which gave me just enough time to sort out my kit and look organised before Angus arrived with a minute to spare. As we set out the day sunny though not particularly warm - around 15C.

As far as I could make out most people tackle these hills from Glenn Quoich which is closer to Braemar but we decided to follow the route in from Invercauld via Gleann an t Slugain. This entailed a long steady walk in being passed on the way by cyclists who hoped to get to the mountains more quickly and keep the foot slogging to a minimum. We were contemptuous of this approach – no point going for a walk and then getting on a bike (though on the way back we were a little bit envious).

 

The walk through the Invercauld estate is straightforward with sign posts pointing the way to Glenn Slugain. Before 30 minutes had passed we had seen an eagle soaring above the cliffs overlooking the road to Braemar. After an hour or so of steady gentle uphill and about 6km into the walk the path we were following split in 2; Angus had been this way before and suggested the lower path was more sceninc and he was right. Following this entered a charming little glen that led up to the ruined lodge marked on the map. In the small stream we followed we could see trout no more than 4 inches long flitting through the clear iron stained pools.

Enchanted Valley

Passing the ruin which judging from the way the roof slates were laid out had never been a completed building, we continued gradually gaining height and before long we had good views of the corrie walls of Beinn a Bhuird directly ahead of us. As we left our wee glen the Allt an t Slugain ends but after a km the bigger Quoich Water leads the path northwards. We would need to cross the Quoich Water onour return journey but for now we kept to the east of the river on a well trodden path that after 3 hours of walking eventually led us up the Glass at Mor onto the col between Ben Avon and Beinn A’ Bhuird. As we arrived we felt a strong wind coming from the north as is was funnelled between the 2 mountains – time to put on a jacket.

Tors on the col between Ben Avon and Beinn A Bhuird and view North

 

From the col, where the first of the granite tors that litter Ben Avon and the northern part of Beinn A’ Bhuird are encountered, there is a steep climb to the left on an unconsolidated gravelly path that took us onto the Plateau of Ben Avon from where we could see a number of further tors. Given more time it would have been good to wander across the plateau for longer but we limited ourselves to a visit to the high point at Leabaidh an Daimh Bhuide where we finished off Angus’ last sandwich – Smoked Salmon and cream cheese YUM.

 

Ben Avon for Lunch

Making our way back to the col we had to be careful not to slip going downhill befire climbing up the opposite slope to Beinn A’ Bhuird. So far, apart from the eagle and trout we had seen little wildlife but on Beinn A’ Bhuird we encountered several Ptarmigan at different points. On seeing us they would try to lure us from their young by feigning a broken wing. This might work for predators but for us it was confusing – we didn’t want to unduly upset the adult bird but once it left its young they were near invisible so we had to walk slowly and carefully away.

Beinn A Bhruid and Angus celebrating a Munro

After visiting the North Top we kept close to the corrie edges for fine views of the valley we had come up earlier in the day to our left and towards Ben Macdui and the rest of the Cairngorm massif to our right. Ben Macdui several hundred feet higher than ourselves was covered in cloud and there seemed to be plenty of snow still on her though none at our level except in the shaded corries.

 

There is a choice of routes off Beinn A’ Bhuird a very distinct path leads to the Llyn of Quoich but we didn’t take this instead we stook to the edge of Coire na Ciche until it led into boulder field and a then the ridge leading to Carn Fiachlach from where there was a thin path leading back down to the Quoich Water. For the crossing of the Water, Angus slipped off his boot and socks and waded across before drying his feet with a towel. As he got ½ way across I charged past him in my Innov8s but was nearly rewarded for my show of bravado by a ducking as I slipped on something soft and very nearly fell. A lesson to be a little bit less of a show-off (pillock) next time.

 

To get back to the car park we simply retraced our steps of the morning down the Gleann an t Slugain though oddly the path seemed much longer on the way back and has cyclist after cyclist sped past we did start to wonder why we hadn’t brought our bikes. Just before 2000 we finally arrived back at the cars and within minutes we were on the way to the Boat Inn in Aboyne for a well-deserved pint.

 

Distance 37km; 1440 m ascent

 

 

 

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Unplanned Micro Adventure in ZV 23 June 14

 

 

The plan was to fly to the grass strip at Insch for a familiarisation with Alex to provide guidance. We would stop for a cuppa at Insch and then zip back to Aberdeen to allow Alex to carry out a check ride on another member of our syndicate who needed to revalidate. We would leave Aberdeen at 1715 do a couple of circuits and land at Insch by 1800 and be back at Aberdeen by 1900 at the latest.

 

It didn’t work out that way! We 1st left the flying club and immediately turned back as it was pi**ing in a heavy rain shower – no chance of a VFR departure so back to the crew room and a 10 minute wait for the shower to pass. 10 mins later we started up and launched keeping at 800ft to stay clear of the lingering remnants of the earlier shower and with 10 degrees of flap for good visibility we followed the A96 and broke out into glorious sunshine as we cleared the Tyrebagger pass. From here the flight to Insch was simple– follow the A96 and then head just South of Insch avoiding the village of Premnay. Calling up Ken Wood who is the operator of the airstrip we told him we would be overhead shortly. It turned out we were more shortly than expected as the strip is hard to see unless you know exactly where to look so we were overhead before we saw it. Jinking to avoid overflying the village of Leslie at the western side of the strip I positioned to go downwind for a left hand circuit to runway 31. This 1st attempt I was too high (1000ft) given the tightness of the space available and did not extend the downwind leg long enough so we ended up going round for a second attempt . Again I ended up too high on finals – again too high on downwind leg and not reducing power sufficiently.

Insch Airstrip (google maps)

Overshooting again Ken asked us to fly a right hand circuit for noise abatement – this time Alex demonstrated with a downwind leg flown at 700ft and long downwind to go around the back of Premnay. This time no bother and Alex carried out a touch and go before handing controls back to me as we turned crosswind. This time I nailed it – 700ft on downwind ; round the back of Premnay a jink on the approach to avoid a farm and a fine landing – remembering to keep back pressure on the control column to avoid the prop hitting grass. Taxi in to meet Ken and a coffee – Job done.

 

ZV Marooned in Insch

It was now that the fun started. I went out to the aircraft and Alex called Aberdeen to tell them we would be taking of shortly and returning directly. Aberdeen ATC told us to stay on the ground as there had been an evacuation of the tower and to call back in 30 mins. 30 mins later we called and were told that cloud at Aberdeen was down to 300ft and they wouldn't accept us for ILS as they were then recovering everything that had been in the hold during the evacuation, we could wait another 30 mins and call back. This we did but by now they were still unwilling to accept us for ILS still – worse there was heavy rain showers with Broken cloud (5-7 Oktas) at 300ft now forecast for the next 2 hrs as a minimum. Decision time – sod it Ken offered a lift to Insch and we took it. I would go home we could get a beer and then I would drive Alex back to the airport to collect his kit and car. So it was we got back to the airport at 2100 in the Mx5 rather than the Cessna and eventually I was back at home at 2200 – further delayed by road works at Inverurie. ZV is still at Insch Airstrip and I hope to collect her tonight if the weather is OK.

 

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White Mounth Munros; A Circular around Lochnagar – Saturday 7 June 14

Setting out from home at 0700 I was at the Spitall of Glen Muick an hour later having passed a surprising number of campers – both tented and in vans on the road in. The road from Ballater is narrow so I progressed the last few miles at a leisurely pace just in case anyone was coming in the opposite direction. Parking at the Spitall car park at around 0815 I paid the £3 charge (levied for footpath maintenance) and set of across the river Muick towards the Lodge on the other side of the flood plain and then followed the Allt na giubhsach towards Lochnagar.

Despite the bright sunshine there was a chill wind blowing along the valley and for once I put on my Paramo Smock whilst still climbing uphill. Last time I was here I had been in a T-Shirt all day and desperately thirsty for most of the day. Today I had plenty of water all day and all the streams I crossed could provide ice cold water to replenish my bottles. The path up to the col separating Lochnagar and Meikle Pap is obvious and was easily ascended. I did consider a quick run up Meikle Pap but in the end decided to leave something for next time – perhaps to combine with a visit to Conachcraig.

I believe the first part of the ascent to the top of Lochnagar is called ‘the ladder’, the ‘staircase’ might be more suitable as form the col below Meikle Pap there are rocky steps that are easy to follow. With an obvious and cairn marked path from the top of ‘the ladder’ to the main peak – Cac Carn Beag. Following the cairns I was reminded of the debate regarding their impact on the landscape – with many people getting agitated by their presence but to be frank I consider these to be amongst the least intrusive evidence of man on the tops with footpaths these days making navigation easy; Landover and bulldozer tracks everywhere and my least favourite – Wind Turbines being the greatest despoilers of the mountain landscape.

 

 

The walk across the top of the 1st 2 Munros – Cac Carn Beag and Carn a Choire Bhodeach was straightforward with clear views all-round – despite hazy conditions ruining my photographs. I had been on these 2 before and decided to have my lunch of 2 cheese rolls on Carn a Choire Bhodeach though I ate whilst walking – the stiff cold wind deciding me against a leisurely lunch.

Following the stalkers path across Allt an Dubh Loch I managed to keep my feet dry on the stream crossings and nearly skewered a frog with my walking poles – seeing him only at the last minute and keeping the pole in the air. So for he had been the only wildlife I had spotted though I would see quite a few Hares from here onwards. Having kept my feet dry crossing the stream I managed to soak them by taking the direct route to the top of Carn an Sagairt Mor. I have been meaning to visit this hill for some time and to take a look at the remains of the RAF Canberra Bomber that crashed here in November 1956. I found the remains of the engines and some aluminium but couldn’t spot the remaining large wing section that is still on the mountain (as far as I know) so shall have to visit again. If passing this way then spare a thought for the 2 young men (Flying Officer Redman and Flying Officer Mansell) who died here and please do not remove parts of the aircraft as souvenirs.

 

 

Canberra wreckage and well worn tracks on Carn an Sagairt Mor

 

Heading almost directly south from the summit one quickly crosses the path from Lochcallater Lodge to Lochnagar and it’s a couple of km to the 4th Munro of the day Cairn Bannoch. Navigation even in poor weather ought to be easy as there is a clear path between the 2 Munros but be careful not to stray south onto Fafernie or you’ll end up in Glen Doll rather than back at the car park. There is a path right over the top of Cairn Bannoch where you get excellent views back to Lochnagar.

Loch Muick from Track off Broad Cairn.

 

View Behind on descent

There is a clear path from Cairn Bannoch to the rocky summit of Broad Cairn. Look right and there are good views across to Glen Doll and Dreish and Mayar as well as Tolmount. As I arrived at the summit of Broad Cairn the view to Loch Muick opened up as did the view to the wide bulldozed track that was the route off the hill once I was clear of the not very extensive summit boulder field.

From Broad Cairn to the Spittall car park is 8km but it is impossible to get lot as one follows a wide bulldozed track pretty much all the way. I stopped at about 700 metres to remove my jacket as the wind was lesser now and the sun was hot. Where I stopped I picked up litter that had been left – a 1litre cherryade bottle – before carrying on. With good views over Loch Muick the walk was pleasant enough and there were 2 big herds of Red Deer watching as I descended to arrive back at the car at 1615.

 

Broad Cairn – 8k to Car Park

29km; 1280 m ascent

 

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