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Thursday
evening again saw Graeme Boydel, Carl Scarth and myself set off from
Tyneside around 6.30pm heading for the Linn of Dee in the Cairngorms to
deposit the car in the carpark and walk for an hour or so to Derry Lodge
for our overnight pitch. Traffic was surprisingly quiet for the Easter
weekend heading into Scotland and we made really good time to Braemar
allowing us to catch the hotel for a pint before heading off to Derry
Lodge.
We had been keeping a close eye on the forecast as some snow had fallen
over the preceding days and there was a long debate about carrying our
crampons or leaving them in the car and just taking axes. We decided on
the latter but were still unsure as we were planning to tackle Ben
Macdui.
Friday morning came and we had a late start around 10.30am which allowed
the overnight showers to dry off the tents then headed up over Derry
Cairngorm to Loch Etchachan hoping to find an early pitch and then
travel light up onto Beinn Mheadhoin. The weather turned quite wet
towards the top of Derry Cairngorm and navigation was required to safely
traverse as the cloud was down and the wind was biting. The lunch stop
was particularly cold. After searching for a reasonably sheltered, dry
pitch around Loch Etchachan for some time it was becoming clear we had
more chance of bumping into the Easter bunny, so we decided to head down
towards Loch Avon to find a pitch, this lost us some considerable height
and changed our following days ideas a little.
Loch Avon pitching resembled Loch Etchachan but eventually we got
perched upon the heather not far from the Shelter Stone, not ideal but
comfortable enough. Saturday dawned with bright sunshine but the clouds
above looked as if they were in fast forward mode. We decided that we
would venture up into the clear sky to tackle Cairngorm and Macdui
hoping we would be able to stand up. Another late start at around
10.30am (Bryan would be proud, Terry not so) saw us head up a good
scrambely path to Coire Raibeirt & onto Cairngorm which had a good flow
of people from the nearby ski car parks. We had another cold lunch break
in the crags to the Eastern end then bashed on around an Sneachda past
the snow holes at Coire Domhain and up the icy slopes towards Macdui.
Now was around the time we were thinking about those crampons sat in the
car boot as going was a little tricky. In most there was a good thin
crust of snow over ice to offer enough grip to traverse the slopes but
your route choice was critical to safe passage. It was easy to be caught
out and there were a few slippery moments and a couple of axe arrests
just to keep your hand in!Ben Macdui was summated and an enjoyable
descent heel plunging through the snow back to Lock Etchachan and then
down to find a late pitch in Glen Derry. A great day, the wind died down
and the views were fantastic in the sun.
Sunday, another sunny day! We'll pay for this I am sure. I actually used
sun tan lotion. Another 'lazy' start at 10.30am we decided to back track
up the glen a little to bag Beinn a' Chaorainn then across to Beinn
Bhrac. The weather was great and we had a good hour for lunch enjoying
the sunshine. We arrived back down at Derry Lodge around 5pm for our
last night before the journey back on Monday. Derry Lodge is a great
place and usually as many will know you get a handful of backpackers
pitching there especially at Bank Holidays. On arriving we saw what must
have been an 8 berth tent next to the river, no one in residence though.
Alarm bells were beginning to ring in our heads we all knew what was
coming.
Later that evening they arrived, approximately 6 lads which to be fair
weren't really rowdy, but we were pitched well away from them. Then the
fire started and by the time we retired was well away. This wasn't
really a major issue to us I suppose but it was on Monday morning when
they got the fire going again. We started packing up around 10am as did
they, fire still smoking away and to our astonishment they left and it
was still alive. We all decided to go and sort it once we finished
packing up. Another chap from Kendal was already on the case soaking the
ground with water, but they had left cans, broken glass, toilet paper,
scouring pads and uncooked bacon all mingled in the remnants of the
fire. All four of us spent the next hour bagging the rubbish and tidying
the mess they left and taking away even more rubbish that others had
deposited around Derry Lodge, all in all half a bin bag full!
Back to the car, get cleaned up, dump the rubbish in a bin in Braemar
then a slap up full breakfast in the cafe. Another great trip with
superb weather.
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