Keeping up with the Brown's

A late summer heatwave came to the Highlands and it coincided with an English bank holiday which I think is what got Shaw and Judith over the border to the Highlands. To be honest I think they are trying to make the most of the free visitation currently available before the shutters come down post Brexit!

Loz at Morlich on Saturday..

Saturday was spent at Loch Morlich where Loz and Shaw gave a master class in how to windsurf.. well to all watching, but given how chilly it was I stayed well away from the water.

Driving down to the Cairngorms

A plan was hatched for Sunday to head deep into the Cairngorms to climb some classic rock. At the early allotted time we headed round to Braemar and unloaded the 3 bikes for the longgg cycle in.

wait for me..

But what's this, 2 x E-bikes, and an old pedal bike (mine).. I had played on Judith's beast the day before and it's pretty staggering how fast and fun they are, but I did somewhat feel slightly outgunned on the approach.

chilling on the plateau 

Shaw's Brexit/border negotiations go well....

I guess they were kind to me on the 2-3 hr cycle in, but I still seemed to nearly vomit with my exertion compared with their lackadaisical chatty relaxed (battery powered) assist mode. I think they assured me that they had kept the bikes in eco mode as though that helped me!

team 1

The ride in was great with fantastic tracks up Glen an t-Slugain and views to savour. The cycling continued way beyond where the guide suggests that you should leave a bike at an old ruin.

Squareface the whole route

We passed numerous bikes at the side of the trail at various points and we guessed from walkers and climbers alike. Eventually at a stream within a mile or 2 of Beinn a' Bhuird we left the bikes and continued on foot up a long valley to a sunny but windy sneck.

The landscape in this Southern bit of the Cairngorms is so extensive, I thought I knew the Cairngorms well, but clearly not (yet)...

Team 1 again

On we trotted looking for Squareface the climb we were seeking out. Shaw who had photographed the climbing guide seemed to have missed the approach information and 3rd pitch description! Not to worry he said, I have pitch 1 and 2.... Luckily I had also taken a picture so we did have some approach information after all!

We found the top of the climb on the plateau and there was a team in front of us just getting ready to drop down and start the climb so we had a siesta, well I think Shaw and Judith wanted a rest after the exhausting E-bike excursion (only joking).. We enjoyed the sun and had lunch.

Judith on top pitch

Thinking there was no rush I 'jogged' off looking for the munro top of Beinn a' Bhuird.. It's a big old flat topped hill typical of the Cairngorms, but didn't take long to find it's top. On my hasty return (I'm sure I was only 30 - 40 mins) Shaw informed me that another climbing party had come in from below, so now there were 2 teams ahead of us - oh dear!!!

But everything was chilled and we started the descent of death off the plateau to the base of the route (the climb tops out on the plateau). The loose steep descent wasn't much fun, but thank goodness it was dry at least.

While we waited and Shaw tried to negotiate with a Scot that when the split comes they take Northern England (his concern was Cumbria) with Scotland I took some pictures of team number 1! Surprisingly The Scot said that he thought that they should also include down to and including Derbyshire.. This is a canny move on his part to include the gritstone, but left me happy as its my original homeland so why not! I'm in with this plan!

The brilliant bike out

So eventually we got on Squareface, a fantastic 3 pitch climb in the heart of the Cairngorms and it was worth the effort to get to it. The climbing was great, and perfect that we all got a pitch to lead. Shaw lead the top pitch and got distracted by a slightly harder off width alternative finish... You can take the man out of Cumbria....

A great climb... After finishing we snacked and enjoyed the views and I noticed it was 4.30pm. I thought it would be a very late finish, but once we got back to the bikes the ride out (all down hill) was really quick. The trail out was so much fun, I think we were all grinning like cheshire cats by the end. Just need to get back up there for Mitre Ridge now...