Over The Hill

Glen Clova - Day 2. Sunday morning dawned with clear blue skies and ice covering the car windscreens! Thankfully, the ice disappeared very quickly as the sun rose, and the clear blue skies settled in for the day, what a weekend we were having. Just 3 of us today, Michael, David and myself setting of for Glen Shee while some remained in Glen Clova and others headed for Mount Keen.

It is possible to start the climb up this Munro at the ridiculously high altitude of 665 metres if you drive to the car parks serving The Cairnwell and Glenshee Ski Centre at the top of the pass - so we decided on the not so ridiculous height of 500 metres as we parked some 2 kilometres before the high point of the A93.

A short step across the burn on yet another nonexistent footbridge and it was a short pull up the heathery hillside to a fine track along the Leacann Dubh, a broad, grassy ridge lower than, but paralleling the higher ridge between Glas Maol and Creag Leacach, which leads directly to the boundary fence along the ski slopes and onto the 922m Meall Odhar. The weather was truly fantastic, blue skies, no wind, and unrestricted visibility, the skyline all around a mass of tops as we looked westwards across the extent of the Cairngorms National Park.

The domed plateau of Glas Maol lay directly ahead, across the flat bealach beyond Meall Odhar and a steep climb on a rocky path reminded us that no matter how high you may start a climb, there will always be a point where the going gets a little tough. However, above the steep hillside everything changes as this broad, flat plateau stretches ahead and into the distance, it is easy to see how, in winter conditions these hills need to be treated with a great deal of respect. Today, however, it was an easy stroll across the top until the shelter came into view and we joined a fairly busy summit, with walkers approaching from various points of the compass and converging on the 1068m high Trig Point.

Creag Leacach was an option, but we decided that a steady return was our preferred option for today, and so we retraced our steps to Meall Odhar, where I parted company with Michael and David, as they returned via the ski slopes to The Cairnwell car park, where we had left Michael's car earlier, and I returned down Leacann Dubh to our original start point and my own car.

With weather like today - just brilliant - Thanks Michael and David for your company.