Munro Bagging in Glen Clova

We had originally planned to do Aonach Eagach ridge yesterday but after looking at the weather forecast we decided to head east to the southern cairngorms for some gentle hill walking.. It was much brighter and slightly less windy on the east, and since I have a really sore knee at the moment we thought an easier day was in order.

As we didnt decide what we were doing until around 0030 on wednesday morning we ended up not having as much sleep as we would have liked, but anyway, we left ratho around 7.30am and headed up to Glen Clova.

Shortly after leaving the car park Keith decided he was going to test my map reading skills asking me what hill was what. I told him and as usual there were arguments as he thought I was wrong. Taking bearings and physically showing him on the map eventually led to him realising I was right which he couldn't admit until over an hour later! Poor Debbie had to put up with a proper domestic...don't ever go walking with a couple... or climbing... or do anything with them for that matter. I must say the boy is lucky he didnt have his eye taken out with my walking pole! (it was quite literally a close call....oopsies)

Me and Debs plodding up the easy start

After the inital hour of disagreements though the day was fairly pleasant. We decided to veer off the path and take a direct approach up the side of the Scorrie and then wandered on up to the summit of Driesh (947m) - the first munro of the day. We saw heaps of mountain hares and a couple of ptarmigans, but sadly could not get close enough for any good quality photos!

Me on the way up the Scorrie

 Since me and Keithy have turned into Munro baggers for the year we each have our own 'summit pose'. It makes the day much more amusing. Debbie also has a new summit pose, but sadly hers is a little inappropriate for our blog and will be reserved for facebook!

Keith with the 'Keith Scott' pose on the Trig point at the summit of Driesh

 We continued along the ridge on a well trodden path for around 3km over to the second munro we had planned - Mayar (928m). We bumped into several of your typical munro baggers en route, as well as a collie and dalmation. Its a shame our wee westie pal doesnt have long enough legs, as im sure she would love to be out in the hills with us!

We got to the summit of Mayar at 2.30pm; it was pretty windy but the views were awesome.

My summit pose, which seems to describe my love for hill walking rather accurately

We then walked down Kilbo path back to the car. The descent was pretty sore on my knee, so I had to take my time which probably held everyone up by a good 45minutes. Shame I can't just do the uphill twice :(

Me and Debs on the descent

views with the smoke from a fire in the background

A rather unattractive photo of the 3 of us

The day was finished off by a quick shower just to get the sweat off, then straight down to the pub in time for the pub quiz, red vino which it seems I cannot go a day without at the moment, and chips with cheese for dinner. yum! And to top it all off we won the quiz, so now have a grand total in the team kitty of 84pounds. bring on more winnings to fund our summer BBQ :)

It certainly seems summer is almost here! Time for me and Keith to get training to send some hard trad projects this year instead of being our usual bumbly selves.

Oh and I have failed to mention my new boots - La Sportiva trangos. They are amazing, foot gloves, and were broken in properly yesterday. So if anybody wants to buy some scarpa mantas which I am now selling in order to help cover the cost of the new ones let me know :) They're a uk 6.

Janey