Cairngorm
National Park

19 June 2025 – 2 July 2025

With ongoing struggles dealing with life in the Netherlands, I requested time fully remote from the office to try to regain some sanity. I had several long weekends away this spring and an exciting trip to Greenland planned, but the combination of the Dutch and my housing problems had me spiraling out of control. Returning to the stability of Edinburgh, would at a bare minimum, provide some temporary relief. Flights were alarmingly expensive, but after playing with the dates and extending the trip longer than intended I was able to reach a reasonable price.

I had two full weekends to play with, and it was looking like my two friends would each be free for one of them. As long as the weather cooperated, I would have good opportunities for excursions! I always have a long list of local outings I can do myself, but I never actually end up doing any of them – largely the curse of being in a ‘home city’. Whether that would change this time remained to be seen.

Just before departure, I realised that a likely reason for the steep return-leg prices was the NATO summit that would be taking place in DH the week I was away. I almost regretted asking for time fully remote. Due to the NATO-related transit disruption, everyone was given license to work fully remote for the week. Still, better to do things properly – I want them to continue to be willing to allow me time remote….

Saturday, 21 June

For the first weekend, I was due to meet up with a running friend I hadn’t seen for some years. As always, there were plenty of options to choose from for mountain routes. We were looking for something relatively nearby (less than two hours away). Neither of us had ever done the Ring of Steall, so that seemed a good day out. This Glencoe classic takes in four munros: An Gearanach, Stob Coire a’ Chàirn, Am Bodach, and Sgùrr a’Mhaim.

The day started with a very early morning train to Dunblane. I had an entire carriage to myself so had to stifle a laugh when the (new AI – how much water did that cost?) announcer thanked me for choosing the “environmentally friendly way to travel”. But not only did the train operate, but it ran on time, and even made it to its final destination! The Dutch should be taking notes – they have much to learn. My friend picked me up from the station for the drive to Fort William. We had moved the timeline slightly up due to parking fears and as we passed the Ben Nevis carpark, those fears heightened. Already at 8:00, it was overflowing. Fortunately, there was plenty of space at our preferred starting point, with most people choosing to park in the area closest to Steall Falls.

To close the ring, several kilometres on dirt road are required. This can be done at either the start or finish, but we thought it best to start with it. It would have been quite frustrating to get off the hills and still have that long slog back to the car. Additionally, it meant that we could get a good soak in the river afterwards!

It was a hot and sticky day out there. We could see traces of showers moving along the horizon, but none ever reached us. The circuit is a good non-technical test of fitness and views were pleasant, but unremarkable (I am spoiled).

I really struggled physically – something was very wrong. Particularly worrying, my breathing was all wrong. This isn’t my first time around, and I know that both energy levels and overall fitness ebb and flow but this was clearly something more than that. I was labouring at even a pedestrian pace and just felt horrendous.

Saturday, 28 June – Sunday, 29 June

The second weekend, my other friend was free after taking time off to do an outdoor leadership course. He had a few ideas in the Cairngorms and Garbh Bheinn in Ardgour has long been a target for me. Weather was looking much better in the east though, so Cairngorms it was.

The plan was to head out via Derry Cairngorm before bivvying on Beinn Mheadhoin where there are some cool rock formations. The next day we had a few options to consider around Loch Avon. There were a few options for a simple hiking back, but there were also several Diff climbing routes that were potentially doable as a scramble.

Unusually, we broke from convention to leave Edinburgh at noon rather than the typical early morning start. Everyone was out and about in the Breamer/Balmoral/Ballater region.

The long walk in

A long walk in on easy trail took us to a boarded-up lodge and the start of our ascent up the first munro: Derry Cairngorm. My energy levels and breathing were greatly improved over the previous weekend but still not normal.

Supposedly, wind on the tops was expected to be in the 20 mps range (Gale/Strong Gale) – definitely felt it, and maybe more. The rounded shape of the Cairngorms means that there is seldom a moment of reprieve. Descending to Loch Etchachan, we spotted a tent in the open, being absolutely battered. Neither of us thought it would last the night. I had hoped that the massive rock structures on Beinn Mheadhoin might do a decent job as a windbreak, but even they were of little help. We managed to find a spot that was tolerable behind the largest of the formations and made camp.

Derry Cairngorm from Beinn Mheadhoin

After dinner, ominous cloud started moving in from the west. MWIS was still predicting 90% chance of cloud free munros in the Cairngorms, but I had my doubts. More concerningly, a bivvy does not make for a pleasant shelter in the rain.

I tried, largely unsuccessfully, to sleep as the wind continuously rattled my bivvy. At about 2:00, I poked my head out and was greeted by fog and drizzle – that positive forecast was looking less and less realistic. Eventually I drifted off to something resembling real sleep. Much to my surprise, I was woken at about 5:00 to intense sunlight – the wind remained, though slightly weakened, but the mist had cleared!

Morning light from my bivvybag on Beinn Mheadhoin

It was decision time for the route. It was still far too windy to seriously consider climbing, particularly if unprotected. Our two remaining options were to backtrack to Loch Etchachan and either head to Loch Avon and ascend Cairn Lochan before returning via Ben Macdui and Càrn a’ Mhàim or take the shoulder to Macdui. Taking the Loch Avon option would have added quite a considerable amount of distance and elevation. so we opted for the simpler option.

After a breakfast of pot noodles, we bouldered the monolithic rock formations before departing. As we passed Loch Etchachan, the tent we had spotted the previous night was in very bad shape – it still stood, but had taken a serious battering. It must have been abandoned, but how is it that a seemingly perfectly good and well rigged tent gets abandoned like that?

Ben Macdui was once thought to be Britain’s highest mountain. It may have lost that title, but it remains quite an infamous hill – notorious for being a navigational nightmare in poor weather. In 1971 it was responsible for the Feith Buidhe Disaster, which remains Britain’s worst mountaineering accident and resulted in formalized leadership requirements and the highly controversial removal of several primitive shelters. It is also said to be haunted by Am Fear Liath Mòr – the Big Grey Man. Seldom seen but often felt, the specter has had some very prominent encounters:

“I was returning from the cairn on the summit in a mist when I began to think I heard something else than merely the noise of my own footsteps. Every few steps I took I heard a crunch, and then another crunch, as if someone was walking after me but taking steps three or four times the length of my own. I said to myself, this is all nonsense. I listened and heard it again but could see nothing in the mist. As I walked on and the eerie crunch, crunch sounded behind me, I was seized with terror and took to my heels, staggering blindly among the boulders for four or five miles nearly down to Rothiemurchus Forest. Whatever you make of it, I do not know, but there is something very queer about the top of Ben Macdui and I will not go back there again.”

J. Norman Collie

The Devil’s Point and Ben Macdui from Càrn a’ Mhàim

It was a loooong slog under the sun back to the car from Càrn a’ Mhàim. A very good thing we did not opt for the longer day to Cairn Lochan before looping back. That would have been a very long day.

As always, I did not accomplish all that much in Scotland. I did a better job of getting out and about than normal though. The primary goal was to get me out of an unhealthy environment, and it succeeded in that, if only very temporarily.

• There is definitely a reason that I upgraded from the bivvybag to the tent. That being said, the bivvybag does retain some advantages – allowing sleeping on any surface.
• The Cairngorms still isn’t my favourite region, but there are some nice routes when the weather suggests heading east.
• The energy level problem is worrisome, but the respiratory concerns are far more so. I will definitely need to monitor it and look into solutions if it persists for any length of time at all.
• Returns to North Berwick/Tantellon Castle and St Andews will have to wait. As always, I just never managed to commit myself to the (short) train in time to justify the trip.
• I really need to move away from the Netherlands. At this point, it is clear that living in NL is causing me actual health problems.