A Visit To Brew Dog's "Lost Forest" - not much change!

A brief break in the rain

I didn’t see what I was expecting to see and this was good. For once. What wasn’t there was any tree planting or sign of tree planting on Brew Dog’s Kinrara estate which straddles the border of the Cairngorms National Park and includes Geal-charn Mor, a Corbett.

When I went there last summer I found long lines of fencing being constructed across the hillsides (see here). By this February the fencing was complete (see here) but nothing else had changed as far as I could see, though the land was snow-covered so I thought I might have missed something.

Trees returning

Late July and I did expect to see some signs of forestry activity but no, it looked much the same as last summer. Looking closely regenerating trees – pine, birch, rowan – were coming along nicely and a bit bigger than last year. Brew Dog’s “Lost Forest” is returning without any need for planting.

I walked up to the top of the estate track known as the Burma Road that runs from Strathspey to the River Dulnain. The top of Geal-charn Mor lies some 130 metres higher and a little over a kilometre away, an easy walk over mostly boggy heather moorland. The rain was beating down and cloud covered the top so on this occasion I didn’t go the top though. Instead I wandered a little way down towards the Dulnain to see if there was any sign of planting here. There wasn’t. Maybe there is lower down.

Purple time

Despite the rain and the lack of the forecast evening clearance (instead the rain got heavier) this was an enjoyable walk. Seeing young trees poking through the heather is always heartening. And the heather itself was turning purple and shining in the sombre light. There were other flowers too with bright blue Scottish bluebells standing out.

Scottish bluebells

Occasionally there were hazy views of the hills. Once or twice the sun broke through briefly, lighting up the land before the clouds closed in again. Lower down the birches, rich in their summer finery, looked glorious.

There are hills in the cloud

Will planting start soon? I hope not but probably. It’s unnecessary. The forest is coming back and should be left to do so. 

It rained

 

Mist & snow on Geal-charn Mor

Woods & hills fading into the mist

Storm Otto brought damaging winds resulting in thousands of power cuts (our electricity was out for five hours). The weather station on Cairn Gorm recorded a gust of 120mph. Otto was short though, over in less than 24 hours, and behind it came cold weather and a night of snow, the first at low level for several weeks. The next day I woke to a calm white world.

The forecast for the hills was simple – fog all day. Light winds though, a gift in this windy winter, before storms returned the next day. I went to Geal Charn Mor, a Corbett (Scottish mountain over 2,500 feet/762 metres and 3,000 feet/914.4 metres), in the Monadh Liath hills on the Kinrara estate where Brew Dog is creating its “Lost Forest”. I wrote about that ill-thought out project after my visit last August.

The sun not quite breaking through

My aim this time was partly to see if there had been any further developments since then though mostly to enjoy a hill walk in the fresh snow. As it was, not much had changed though the fencing I’d seen was now complete. There was a scattering of heavy machinery along the estate track known as the Burma Road I took into the hills, but that was it.

The unfriendly sign

I wasn’t impressed by the sign on the gate at the end of the public road though. Who are these "visitors"? Not hillwalkers I presume. I guess it means those going to the Brew Dog plantation in some official capacity. It could easily put off walkers and cyclists though and maybe that’s the intention.

Birch in the mist

Shaking off my dislike of the sign I headed up the Burma Road in soft slushy snow. Two sets of boot prints went ahead of me. The clouds were low, brushing the tops of trees high on the hillside. Distant views quickly faded into nothing. Two walkers passed me, heading done. Soon the edge of the mist envloped me and the views became even hazier.

Blue sky over the Dulnain glen, briefly

Above the trees the snow hardened and walking was less slippery. At the top of the Burma Road I peered down into the glen of the River Dulnain where I could see the old pinewoods that could regenerate and spread if Brew Dog wasn’t so keen on planting an instant forest. There was blue sky in that direction and the clearest views of the day. Two walkers were descending. I saw no-one else.

Not really sunny but the glare ....

Leaving the Burma Road I headed up the gentle slops to Geal-charn Mor. A faint sun was just visible in the mist. The glare still was enough for me to don dark glasses. The wind, gentle lower down, was stronger and colder so a jacket went on as well.

Once I left the Burma Road there was nothing definite in the world. Tips of grasses and heather and the tops of rocks gave me something to focus on, along with the occasional line of mountain hare tracks. It wasn’t quite a white-out but it wasn’t far off. Somehow walking in this enclosed insubstantial world was relaxing and calming. Just myself, the mist, the snow, and the wind.

The snow was deep enough to level out the boggy ground but not firm enough to support me, making walking quite hard work. Higher up I trod on hidden stones at awkward angles, lurching from side to side. Above were tantalising hints of a clearance that never developed.

Summit without a view

On the summit I stopped for a snack, a hot drink, and in the hope the mist might clear a little.  It didn’t. 

There's something in that cloud

However on the way back down hazy mountains, or at least crags dark enough to show through the mist, appeared across Strathspey, fading in and out but never sharp enough to be really clear. Phantom mountains hanging in the white air.

That's better!

Lower down as the first trees appeared the views cleared just slightly as bands of mist rose and fell. The snow was thawing fast now and the walking less slippery. I hadn’t seen much in the sense of grand views and vast panoramas but that didn’t mean I hadn’t seen or felt anything. The mist, the snow, the sense of remoteness, the ethereal distant cliffs, all part of the mountain experience.

The Burma Road winds down into the forest

Magical Light on the First Hill of the Year

Heading for the summit

In a week of storms the sixth day of the new year looked to be the most likely to give reasonable weather, especially in the Monadh Liath hills to the north of the Cairngorms. So for my first hill of the year I went up the big rolling moorland dome of Geal-charn Mor to the west of Aviemore with three others.

View down An Gleannan to Strathspey

 

The Northern Cairngorms were shrouded in cloud as we began the climb up through the lovely birch and pine forest of An Gleannan. These higher hills were to remain that way all day but scene wasn’t of a dull grey blanket as the clouds swirled and twisted around their lower slopes with flashes of sunshine breaking through at times to give wonderful, constantly changing, magical light. Above us a dark cloud hung but it stayed above the summit and to either side the sky was much brighter.

On the descent

 

Once we left the trees a cold wind began to bite and soon we were walking on frozen ground and a thin covering of snow. Frost feathers decorated the dead grass. On the summit the wind was strong and bitter so after a hasty snack and a compass bearing we set off down featureless slopes before picking up a path that led to the warmer, greener land below. The brightness had left the sky and the first rain was falling just as we reached the car. A fine first hill day of the year was over.

Snowshoes on Geal-charn Mor

View across Strathspey to the Cairngorms

Geal-charn Mor, the big white hill, has been living up to its name in recent days, but then, so have all the other hills in the Highlands as there is snow from the glens to the summits and temperatures have stayed below freezing.  This is a good hill for a half-day trip if, as I was, you’re in Aviemore with an afternoon free. Not setting off until two hours before sunset I knew I’d be descending in the dark but with a good track to follow this would be easy.

Near the top of the woods.

 

Geal-charn Mor lies at the south-eastern end of the Monadh Liath in the region known as the Kinveachy Forest. At 824 metres high it’s a Corbett – a Scottish hill between 762 and 914.4 metres (the unusual range stemming from the old measurements when the list was compiled – hills between 2,500 and 3,000 feet). It’s not a very distinctive hill itself but the views across Strathspey to the Cairngorms and west over the Monadh Liath are superb. I think it’s at its best under snow when it has an arctic tundra-like feel.

 

Light & Shade

An off-road vehicle track known as the Burma Road cuts across the eastern shoulder of the hill and this was my route for the day. It was completely snow-covered but a tracked vehicle had been along it, leaving packed ruts that made walking fairly easy. The woods were silent and dark but above the sky was blue and as they thinned out the views opened up with the Cairngorms shining in the cold sunlight. 

I was carrying snowshoes but didn’t initially put them on. A couple coming down told me the snow was deep in places and they didn’t think they’d have got far without the vehicle tracks. For me those tracks were actually making the ascent more difficult, as I discovered when I eventually stopped and put my snowshoes on and found that even in the ruts they made progress much easier. I kept them on for the rest of the ascent and all the way back to the car.

 

The Monadh Liath are mostly gentle, rounded hills without the mountainous terrain of the Cairngorms. Even so care is needed when they are snow-covered. Across the Allt Dubh glen I could see a cornice along the steep north face of shadowed Creag Ghleannain with many little snow slides below it. A ski track cut right across the slope.

Creag Ghleannain

 

Higher up the snow was wind-blown, filling hollows and creating deep drifts. At the high point of the track I left it for the slopes leading to the summit. Here the wind had scoured the snow, leaving the crest of the broad ridge almost snow-free and with many stones and grasses visible. I kept to the south side, where the snow had drifted, but still had to cross many bare areas. The snowshoes had an advantage here as I didn’t need to remove them. I’d have been carrying skis.

Hints of Colour

I’d hoped for a colourful sunset and there were hints of one long before I reached the summit cairn. However there was thick cloud in the west that I couldn’t see and the sun soon vanished into this. I reached the top with a stark cold colourless landscape stretching out all around and a chill wind sweeping over it. I didn’t linger and was soon following my tracks back to the Burma Road and the shelter of the woods.

  

The summit of Geal-charn Mor