Footprints Across Scotland
Why not make a few of your own!
17th January 2015
A circular walk from Linn of Dee via White Bridge returning by Derry Lodge with a detour up Carn a' Mhaim.
Route Map
An early start had me down at Braemar just before dawn and I was pleased to follow a gritter out of the village and down toward the Linn of Dee, unfortunately he did a ‘U-turn’ at Inverey leaving me to negotiate a slightly icier surface thereafter. The road was closed just before the bridge at Linn of Dee as there was a fear of falling tree’s after the recent strong winds. I pulled onto the grass verge below some pines and started to get my kit ready whilst having a brew. A guy emerged from a nearby car that I thought was empty. He had arrived the night before and said he had slept well enough on the mattress in the back of his estate. My offer of a coffee was gratefully accepted and we chatted about plans for the day. Mine was to follow the Dee to White bridge then up toward the Lairig Ghru before turning east to Derry lodge and return down Glen Lui. He was thinking much the same but was originally thinking he would do it counter clockwise instead. I loaded up my snow shoes and left him to prepare his ski’s, giving them a coat of wax. The snow was hard packed and rutted by land rover wheels but was not overly icy. It was already proving to be a fine day and the sun was now out and lifting the temperature slightly. After turning up Glen Dee I was soon at the Chest of Dee, stopping for a snack while enjoying the falls and marvelling at the way the ice was narrowing the water channels and starting to cover the rivers surface.
The Chest of Dee
My friend the skier caught up at this point, he’d also decided to do a clockwise circuit. He was soon off making steady progress, leaving me to don snow shoes before following his tracks.
River Dee and Beinn Bhrotain
The only other blemishes to the snowy covering were prints left behind by deer, hare and grouse amongst others.
Surveying the route ahead
The only movement and sounds came from the tumbling waters of the Dee as they bumbled downstream lapping at snow topped part submerged boulders in the rivers course. The Glen narrowed as it was sided with steep slopes of Beinn Bhrotain and Sgor Mor.
River Dee
Patches of heather showed through the snow where deer had overnighter and a group on the lower slopes of Creagan nan Gabhar looked like they were not long out of their snowy beds.
River Dee and Beinn Bhrotain
The river held a deep blue contrasting the surrounding whiteness of the hills. The way widened onto more open country at a Glen crossroads.
Beinn Bhrotain and the Devils Point
Glen Dee would continue north to become the Lairig Ghru, branching west enters Gleann Geusachan whilst heading east the pass leads to Gleann Laoigh. I was at a bit of a crossroads myself, should I take in Carn a’ Mhaim or just continue on my low level route. My preferred ascent would have been via the Taillear burn but that was probably a hours walk further north under the current conditions.
Taking it all in
I decided to take a fairly direct line from the south and see how I progressed. The soft snow lower down had my snow shoes occasionally pushing through into the heather but generally there wasn’t much of a problem. I made a rising traverse to negate some of the steepness until I reached a band of rocks high up.
Boulder field near the top of Carn ' Mhaim
Removing snow shoes made for easier going over the boulders but added the hazard of finding the snow covered gaps between. Soon though I emerged onto what I recognised as the normal ascent route from this side.
Devils Point from Carn ' Mhaim
Snow shoes were back on as the snow cover on the ridge was iced hard. It was very still in the fading light at the top and I enjoyed what I consider one of the best views in the Cairngorms, overlooking the Devils point and the Lairig Ghru.
Ben Macdui
Turning the south east top to the south I followed the south east ridge down a good way down before taking a direct line to the Luibeg Bridge. The snow was quite deep in Gleann Laoigh Bheag and even with the snow shoes I was sinking deeply at times.
The route down to Glen Luibeg
After threading my way through the younger pines I managed to pick up the main path. A number of grouse took courage from the fading light and slowly walked away instead taking flight. I managed without head torch until I reached the Derry at which time I needed it to select a crossing point as the bridge had been washed away earlier in the year. The waters were quite low and I managed to partly boulder hop and splash through shallower parts to gain the other side without too much fuss. The last few kilometres back to the Linn of Dee were a bit tiresome again working along the icy ruts of the landrover track. Back at the van I made a brew while changing and reflecting on what had been a most memorable winter outing, truly spectacular.
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