Ben Macdui is the second highest mountain in the UK and the highest peak in the Cairngorms national park. It’s a must when holidaying as close as we were in Nevy bridge. (A massive shout out for the lazy duck campsite in nevy bridge. A perfect campsite to explore the Cairngorms).
It had been 5 days since our adventures in North wales, my body was is a good place to take on another walk. My pain was only moderate so I was ready for another challenge.
Lying on the Southern edge of the Cairn Gorm plateau Ben Macdui is often talked about as a much wilder place than Ben Nevis. Any route up was going to give us a long day in the mountains.
We decided that we would approach the mountain from Aviemore ski area. This would lay out a clear route up to the summit of Ben Macdui and then over and up Cairn Gorm. Two Munro in one walk. Our reasoning for taking the clear path up was that if we had a clear route I would be able to walk further without a flare.
From the car park we wound our way up a clear footpath, criss crossing a couple of beautiful waterfalls. Our daughter decided she would walk with us, but she wanted to stay and relax by the waterfalls, reading and drawing and to wait for us to return from the summit. This she did, just before hitting the plateau, not a bit concerned by how close she was to reaching the summit. This to her was unimportant. She had been struck by the beauty of the landscape and wanted to absorb and encapsulate the beauty the landscape laid before her. If you could put it in a jar that’s exactly what she would have done. It didn’t bother her that she stopped at 1050m of a 1309m summit.
We left our daughter to gradually make her way back down the mountainside and we were soon rewarded for the climb by reaching the vast plateau of the Cairngorms.
As the path left the plateau, it steepened, and a boulder field was laid before us, this thickened until it completely obliterated any distinct path. A row of Cairns led us up through the boulders and we soon picked our way through. keeping our eyes on the trail and the boulders beneath our feet. walking across haphazardly stacked stones was a little intimidating – sometimes they’d wobble, sometimes they didn’t and occasionally we needed to place a hand or two down to help steady ourselves. An Intimidating ascent, but a fun way to climb and reach the summit– you really did feel like you’re on an adventure.
A final push brought us out onto the broad expanse of the summit of Ben Macdui, dotted with semi-circular dry stone walls.
You would probably expect the weather-blasted, rock-strewn summit to be devoid of life, but you on the contrary, we were soon joined by a couple of snow buntings. Jumping and flying in and around the rocks by our feet. The 360-degree wilderness views were stunning, making the slog up the mountainside all worthwhile. We took a moment or two to absorb such incredible landscape before heading back down to the plateau.
We weren’t done for the day. Off the side of the mountaintop we could just about see our path running down across the plateau and up onto the summit of Cairn Gorm. At this point I was delighted to catch a glimpse of a group of Raindeer. They stood majestically on the horizon. A product of the recent attempt to reintroduce these to the Caun Gorm national park and Wow! Just wow! As we walked closer and closer to them the sight truly took my breath aware.
The summit of Cairn Gorm looked a long way off, but it was a beautiful summers day and we soon found ourselves Mirandering across a clear footpath and skipping over the slabs of granite, looking down into the lochs and across to fabulous mountain ranges.
Before we knew it we were stood at the top of Cairn Gorm the second Munro of today’s walk. We could look back at the summit of Ben Macdui and the route we had just walked. We took a moment or two to reflect on the stunning scenery that laid itself before us before heading back.
Our daughter had just reached the ski centre where we had parked and she was sat out of the sun enjoying an ice cream. We had two routes laid out in front of us. One route took us up across to a clear footpath, the other scrambling directly off the side to meet the footpath further down, cutting a good mile off the walk. I decided to go directly off the side and we very quickly found ourselves on a scree slope, slipping and sliding across the gravelly slope. Unable to grip or get hold of anything secure all we could do was laugh it off and slide. A Challenging route, but it still proved to take less time then the alternative, more boring route.
The final trudge back to the car on concrete road was a very dull end to a stunningly beautiful day.
Ben Macdui was a little busy and sections of our route did feel like we were on a tourist train, but despite its size it offered me a gentle walk up two Munros. Despite the easy accessibility of such a high peak we did often find ourselves totally alone, enjoying large sections of the path in complete peace and not seeing a single person for large sections of the walk. It left me tired, of course, but I had just walked 18.4km and it was totally expected. Today’s walk promised me several more stunning walks in the Cairn Gorms during our stay.
Walking to health; the challenge 