Monadh Mor via Geldie Burn
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For the second of my walks from Braemar in June 2018 I planned a very long walk from Linn of Dee to the summit of Monadh Mor using a route described in the Scotsman newspaper via the Geldie Burn and then following the Allt Dhaidh Mor stream to the bealach between Beinn Bhrotain (which I've already climbed) and Monadh Mor. Most people would probably use a bike to shorten the day and avoid the two hour walk to the start of the climb but I don't have that option.
Two things were, I suspected, necessary for success. The first was to feel really energetic and the second was a good weather forecast. Unfortunately, neither of those were available on the day I chose.
I'd climbed Beinn lutharn Mor the day before and had also slept quite poorly so I wasn't at my best. On the weather front Storm Hector was forecast to be arriving in the evening with increasing wind and heavy rain forecast. However, I thought I'd give the walk a shot and, initially, it looked as though I would succeed, but in the end the decision was made for me and I turned back. Read on....
I left Linn of Dee at 8.00 am and headed up the now familiar path through the woods...
...along the estate road by the River Dee.
After just 50 minutes I was at the White Bridge...
...and after crossing it headed up the track by the Geldie Burn.
The track passes the forest at Ruigh nan Clach...
...before reaching the ford where the Bynack Burn flows into the Geldie Burn. The way I wanted went off to the right towards...
...this derelict old farmhouse building
Walking up by the burn it's obvious just how low the river is as I suspect these slabs wouldn't normally be visible.
The sheer emptiness of this area is quite dramatic in its own way.
At the first of the streams that flow into the burn the track goes over a ford but there's a footbridge just upstream.
The track goes on and on and there is a first view of the Munro Carn an Fhidhleir over to the left.
....followed later by An Sgarsoch over to the left.
Over to the right Beinn Bhrotain appears.
Finally, I reach the ford over Allt Dhaidh Mor two and a quarter hours after leaving Linn of Dee. I'm actually a bit early on my predicted timings.
It's now a case of following the stream to the bealach which can be seen as the low point in the photo. It's four miles away.
Initially, all goes well. There's no proper path, as I suspected, but there are traces of one in places...
...but it soon becomes clear that I'm going to have to spend a lot of time clambering up and down heather bluffs...
...especially where the stream has cut into the banks.
Eventually, after just over an hour of walking it becomes obvious that progress is going to be much slower than expected with a twenty minute early timing at the ford being converted into a fifteen minute late time at this point. There seems little point in trying to go on further so I sit in the heather, have something to eat and relax and enjoy the silence. I'm in the Highlands and I'll be back at Linn of Dee before the bad weather arrives.
The map shows the route I had intended to walk with the blue circles showing the section I walked and the red circles the onward walk. Click on the map to see a larger image and then click on this to enlarge to full size.
And as for climbing Monadh Mor next time i'll try to climb it from Glen Feshie.