Unfinished business in the Cairngorms

I'm still lacking a little motivation after the Norway trip, partly due to the poor weather in Scotland, and who knows what else! But with a reasonable forecast I was determined to get out. I decided to head back to the Southern Cairngorms for 2 reasons, firstly to get up Ben Avon (Leabaidh an Daimh Bhuidhe), and secondly to try and fine the local secret hidden Howff (or bothy).

old ruined croft

I planned to get up early, but snoozed alarms.. so I arrived at Braemar at about 10am, not particularly early, but Sunday is the day of rest and besides the winds and weather generally were meant to improve through the day.

looking up at the sneck/col between the 2 mountains 

The bike in seemed shorter than the last visit with Shaw and Judith, but in search of the Howff I took a slight detour away from the quicker upper track to head through a beautiful valley. The valley was great, with lots of stunted tree's, flowers, plants, bird life and a ruined old croft. It's amazing how a sheltered corridor such as this can promote and support so much more wild life than the more open mountain side. Shame I didn't get the camera out earlier here.

looking back towards Squareface (behind the rock face you can see)

The day was nice and warm with light winds at this level but I did notice the clouds moving very quickly over the tops! There were quite a few bikes left by the track at certain points and I left mine at the stream junction the same as last time.

Up at the sneck between the 2 hills it was still sunny but you could tell the wind was near... There were plenty of walkers about and I caught a couple up just as I got onto the plateau. This provided some photo interest!

on the summit!

Boy was it windy, walking was only just possible and the actual top is up on a rock Tor, which we all had to actually crawl up given the high winds.

another fool heading into the high winds

the track out - dreamy..

I didn't hang around and shot back, again it was warm at the sneck, and hot back at the bike. The bike out was brilliant. I think this mountain ride is my favourite trail that I can think of. I guess it's a combination of the scenery, the actual flowing (easy) trail and the gradient, which is gentle, so going up is easy, but coming down is as fast as you dare.

the secret howff/shelter

On the way out I spent an hour looking for the Howff..... and it took a while to find and wasn't where I thought it was... but I followed some clues I had and then bingo I found it! It's clearly well known as the path to it is well trodden, but it is well hidden and you have to be a few meters from it to see it.

It's actually more complete and in better condition than I expected and I will definitely try and come and stay here sometime.

88 years old - never to old to ride!

On the final ride out, quite near the van I (slowly) passed a couple of walkers and the 88 year old woman told me off for not having a bell. Well after a short chat, and after hearing that she hadn't ridden a bike for 30+ years I thought she should have a spin on mine, and she did, very much enjoying it! A nice end to the day.