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| Camp in the forest |
Sometimes season slide in gently, gradually, almost unnoticeable,
until one day you realise it’s not winter or spring anymore. Not this year. This
year the change from summer to autumn has felt sudden, abrupt. Sunny and dry to
cool and wet just like that.
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| Sunshine & cool winds - autumn! |
Having felt puzzlingly chilly at home, the thin shirts of
summer suddenly inadequate, I pulled out a long-sleeved base layer, a garment I
hadn’t worn for many months, for a mid-September overnight trip. A warmer top
over it too. Summer had gone. Just like that.
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| View over Rothiemurchus Forest to Creag an Leth-choin and the Lairig Ghru |
The forecast was for showery weather with strong winds high
up, so I didn’t plan on a mountain camp. I didn’t plan on spending much time on
the tops either. A forest camp sounded a good idea, especially as the first
autumn colours were starting to appear, so one afternoon I ambled through the Rothiemurchus woods past Loch an Eilein and into the Inshriach Nature Reserve. Here I found a
pleasant camp site in a small grassy meadow surrounded big by juniper bushes.
Not far away bright red leaves shone startlingly amidst dark green pines. Wild
and remote. Well, it was the first, and felt the second.
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| Autumn colour in the forest |
Gusts of wind swept the meadow, interspersed with stillness
that brought out the midges. Not that far into autumn yet! Dawn came with
sunshine and a dew-soaked tent. Any hope it would dry before I packed up was
ended with a shower just as I was stuffing my sleeping bag away.
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| Sunshine in the trees |
The sun soon returned and shone for most of the steep climb up
through the magnificent forest onto the open hillside on a rough, narrow path
that for some reason doesn’t appear on some maps. Blasts of wind prevented it being
hot though. Above the trees I could see dark clouds massing to the south. I didn’t
think the sunshine would last long.
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| The Argyll Stone |
It didn’t. By the time I reached the rock tor known as the
Argyll Stone (Clach Mhic Cailein) the sky was grey and the wind distinctly
chilly. This contorted, eroded block of granite is said to be named for an Earl
of Argyll who paused here in 1594 while fleeing after defeat at the Battle of
Glenlivet. I paused here too, sheltering from the now fierce wind while I had a
snack.
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| Cairn Lochan in the clouds |
My high point of the day, 848-metre Creag Dhubh, was only a
short stroll away. This is the northernmost summit on the wonderful long ridge
that runs south-north from Carn Ban Mor above Gleann Einich. Creag Dhubh is an undistinguished
flat-topped hill without even a cairn. In fact it’s hard to work out which is
the actual highest point, not that it matters.
The views, however, are extensive and superb,
especially to Braeriac, Cairn Lochan and Cairn Gorm, though today they were shrouded in
swirling clouds. Rain was coming. I could see squalls all around.
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| Loch an Eilein |
None reached me though as I continued on down the broad
north ridge of the hill, the wind behind me. Far below Loch an Eilein was blue
in the green forest, it’s unusual shape clear from up here. In the other
direction I could just see the silver foot of Loch Einich below dramatic dark
clouds.
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| Loch Einich |
Dropping down rough slopes I reached the Gleann Einich track
and followed it into Rothiemurchus Forest. A large bird lumbered through the
trees to perch on a high branch, a capercaillie. Always wonderful to see one. I
passed a shockingly shrunken Lochan Deo. I’d never seen the water so low
before. The hot dry summer may be over but it’ll take time and much rain before
its effects vanish. (The rain is here though, I’m writing this at the end of
the wettest day for many months, a relief for us as our water supply is only just
holding out).
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| Lochan Deo |
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