Carn Ealar & An Sgarsoch

These two bleak windswept, and rather remote Munros, lie to the South of the main Cairngorm mountain range, and are accessed from the Linn of Dee car park beyond Braemar. Parking is now £3/day there, and it's worth havnig change as the card facility wasn't working very well today.Somehow, despite countless days of walking in the Cairngorms National Park I have never been up these two before - almost certainly because of a little anxiety on my part about wading the Geldie Burn. While my wife walked across it last Summer and said it was no more than a trickle, there are plenty of reports of it becoming an impassable torrent, and the remains of the the washed-away bridge seem to confirm it's reputation!

The mountain-bikeable track west from Linn of Dee leaves the roadside by the lovely old stone bridge above the falls. It's the track I last cycled when heading in to climb Beinn Bhrotain and Monadh Mhor, although this time instead of continuing west at the White Bridge, I followed the track southwards, and only turned west once the Geldie Burn was reached. Progress was wretchedly slow as a persistently strong headwind impeded progress, happily the morning rain which had been forecast didn't offer much more than the feintest of drizzle.

The Linn of Dee carpark was incredibly busy - but most people must have been taking the Lairig Ghru track northwards, as the more southern tracks were very quiet. There were quite a few mountain bikes at Geldie Lodge, including E-bikes, (cheating!!) which I hadn't seen in the hills before.

Once the river was successfully forded, I dumped the bike in the ruins of the lodge and followed the track westwards. It climbs gently before dropping down to a boggy river where it ends. I picked my way towards the summit through the peat hags and stumbled upon a path again about half way up. Carl Ealar's summit is flat, bald and was incredibly windy!

An obvious line of descent and a feitn track indicate a sensible line of attack on the long slog up An Sgarsoch's western flanks. Again, paths appear and vanish, and when the summit plateau is reached, it is crowned by a momumental cairn!

There are several ways off the hill. I went North, then west, skirting the minor top of Sgarsoch Beag, before instersecting the approach path and returning to the bike at Geldie Lodge. If the headwind in the mornign had been tough - it turned into a very helpful wind-assisted exit from the hills in the afternoon; back along the buldozed track to Linn of Dee via the White Bridge.

It was great to explore some new areas today - but they are not the most exciting hills. The best thing about them was not seeing anyone much past Geldie Lodge, and having two Munros all to myself, with a real feeling of  remoteness and isolation. Despite the 26miles of walking and cycling, I managed to get home by 5:30 - not a bad day out!