NORTH-WESTERN MONADH RUADH, Highland, Scotland (Section 8A)
Saturday 9th June 2018

Saturday 9th June 2018. A short morning hike over two foothills in the Monadh Ruadh (Cairngorms), from Glen Feshie. The hills were Creag Ghiuthsachan 603m/100m and Creag Leathan 564m/57m.

7.3km, with 440m of ascent. 2hrs 40mins.

Friday was the day of the annual Relative Hills Society AGM and Dinner, which was the main reason I was in the Aviemore area again. The event was in the Cairngorms Hotel in the town. I normally restrict myself to a short morning walk on the day of the event, to give myself time to freshen up and relax before the social whirl begins. There was also another good reason for a short morning walk that day. The forecast showed a very strong likelihood of a heavy thunderstorm around lunchtime, so it would be wise to be safely off the hill before being caught in the downpour.

I headed off to Glen Feshie again for a hike over two of the lower hills on the eastern (Cairngorms) side of this glen. It was hot and sultry in the parking area for the Inshnich Nature Reserve and the midges were rising, so I made greater haste in getting ready than is my wont. The track I took east through the pine forest was the same used in our descent on the previous day. At a junction I forked right onto another track that crossed the Allt Ruadh by a wide wooden bridge. After a few hundred metres I turned east again on an overgrown path heading up the southern flank of the Allt Ruadh glen. At a grove of pines I left the path to climb steadily north through the open woodland, and then steeply up onto the summit of Creag Ghiuthsachan. It was a fine viewpoint, being on the edge of the plateau. The thunder-clouds were gathered ominously over the Monadhliath to the west, but they were very slow-moving and a storm did not look imminent. I resolved to continue to my next hill.

I worked my way south on a faint path to a bealach of peat hags and rough grass, continuing upwards through open woodland to the summit of Creag Leathan. As I passed between the dwarf pines, I disturbed a female red deer. She leapt off in haste and was soon gone. I did not linger long on the summit, as the skies to the north were now also getting darker.

I descended to the bealach again, picking up a track around the eastern flank of Creag Ghiuthsachan that brought me back to the bridge and my outward route through the forest. The sun was now shining strongly, which kept the midges down. However, there was a heaviness to the air that implied a storm was pending.

I drove to the café in the Loch Insh Watersports Centre near Kincraig for lunch. As I sat there drinking my coffee, the first drops of rain hit the window. Within minutes a colossal downpour began, with close lightning flashes. I had timed things well. The way back to Aviemore was more like a river than a road.