An autumn walk and camp in Glen Feshie

Glen Feshie in the Cairngorms is one of my favourite places, as regular readers of this blog will know. I go there several times every year. At least one of those visits is always in the autumn when there is a brilliant show of colour from the deciduous trees, especially the birches.

This year I set off down the glen in a rain storm and a strong wind. But, as forecast, the rain soon cleared and there were occasional patches of blue in the sky. The wind, however, blew on. Under the shade of the grey clouds the wet trees glistened, the autumn colours glowing.

Through the forest the river wound, fast and rushing here, slow and swirling there. The Feshie is a very mobile river, constantly changing its course, leaving banks of shingle, and dried out old water courses. Often it’s braided, with many channels. In places it cuts into the steep banks of soil and pebbles, bringing down trees and sometimes the path itself.  Every visit something has changed. Here you can see a dynamic landscape in action.

At a point where the path had collapsed into the river a temporary way had been made steeply up and then steeply down a wooded slope. I’d followed this many times. On this occasion though the river had receded enough to allow passage along its edge below the trees. This was aided by some new material fallen from above. When I returned along the glen I took the steep path up into the woods to find that the descent had eroded away, providing the surface I’d walked on below. Constant change.

On another section the edge of the river was flowing over a shingle bank at right angles to the main flow into a lower channel. I walked out along this shingle bank with the river roaring past next to me and the overflow just below me.

As I searched for a camp site reasonably sheltered from the wind that roared down the glen a female capercaillie rose out of the long grass and flapped away into the trees. I pitched near a beautiful big old pine and a screen of young pines and birch saplings. From the tent door I could watch the river flowing.

The evening was peaceful, the wind dying down. During the night it picked up again, roaring through the trees and buffeting the tent. The night was warm for late October, with a low of only 7°C.

I woke to low clouds covering the tops and the wind raging on. I had thought of heading up to Mullach Clach a’ Bhlair and the Moine Mhor if the weather improved but as it hadn’t a walk further up the glen was much more appealing. Leaving the tent to collect on the way back I followed the river below the crags of Creag na Gaibhre and Creag na Caillich where the glen narrows and the forest rises steeply on the rocky slopes. The path rises and falls, sometimes beside the water, sometimes traversing high above it, a superb walk in the grandest part of the glen.

A soft but loud ‘kek’ call came down from high in a stand of old pines. It was hard to see the source but eventually I spotted a cock capercaillie way up in the branches plucking pine needles as it called. Seeing two of this rare and threatened bird was wonderful. I passed by quietly.

The subdued light and overcast sky made the autumn colours even more striking. The mix of trees, rocks, and river was glorious. This is a landscape to inspire and hearten. It always raises my spirits, especially now the forest is returning under the stewardship of Wildland. “A landscape of hope” says the sign near the start of the walk. It truly is.

Mullach Clach a' Bhlair the long way

Across the Moine Mhor to cloud-capped Sgor Gaoith

Looking at maps is always a pleasure. I can do this for hours. There is so much to see, so many ideas for walks generated, so many places to explore. Even in familiar areas I can find spots or routes that I’ve never visited before.  

Thinking of an overnight trip a week ago I browsed my Cairngorm maps and noticed a track running up the spur between Coire Bhlair and Coire Eindart from Glen Feshie to reach the vast Moine Mhor plateau a kilometre or so east of Mullach Clach a’ Bhlair. On current OS maps this is shown as a track, on Harvey maps as an intermittent path. Nothing is shown on my well-used 2004 OS Explorer map so perhaps a track has been bulldozed since then and perhaps that’s why I’d never noticed it before. I decided to go and have a look.

The cloud-capped crags of Coire Garbhlach

My trip started with the always enjoyable walk down Glen Feshie, which gave me a chance to look at the landslip I’d come across in the upper glen last October, hoping it would now be easier to cross. It was, as I described in my last post.

The day was cloudy with occasional light rain showers. High above I could see snow on the tops and above them fast moving clouds. The wind was meant to drop during the night and not pick up again until the next afternoon. After a run of very windy days I hoped this would be so.

Passing through the dramatic, crag-lined narrowing of the glen between Creag na Gaibhre and Creag na Caillich I came out into more open terrain as the glen turns east and the forest thins and fades away.

A splendid camp

I camped by the Allt Coire Bhlair just above its confluence with the River Feshie. This is a spectacular spot with both streams running through deep gorges and crashing down in waterfalls, though these are hard to see due to the trees.

Waterfall on the Allt Coire Bhlair

The wind dropped to a light breeze overnight, stars appeared, and the temperature dropped, with a low of - 3.3°C. The clouds were still rushing overhead but there were bursts of sunshine and patches of blue sky.

A welcome sight on a frosty morning

Just across the Allt Coire Bhlair an old path left the track in the glen and angled up the slope above, soon joining a vehicle track that continued all the way to the Moine Mhor. The OS maps were correct. It wasn’t a bulldozed track though but one that looked created simply by repeated use, though not regularly. In places there were sections of a path cutting corners on the track. I wondered if there had been an old path up here. Back home I checked my Cairngorms and Munros books. There was no mention of this route at all. The track isn’t as ugly or prominent as some but it would still be good if it was allowed to fade back into the landscape.

The River Feshie running towards a cloudy Carn an Fhidleir

This is an empty and spacious part of the Cairngorms. Boggy moorland stretches out in every direction, with great sweeping views south over the Feshie to the remote Munros of An Sgarsoch and  Carn an Fhidleir.

View to Meall Chuaich

Gradually the open moor becomes a more defined spur as the track climbs. I reached the first snow patches and then almost complete cover. In places the snow was light and unconsolidated, filling the spaces between clumps of vegetation and hollows in the track. Although the snow wasn’t deep this didn’t make for easy walking as I kept breaking through and lurching from side to side. In other places the snow had drifted. Here it was deep and I was plunging in, sometimes to my knees. The ascent isn’t steep though and the sense of wild space was tremendous.

Reaching the snow

A long line of paw prints showed that a fox, or maybe two, had been following the track too. High up there were mountain hare tracks too. I saw neither creature, just red grouse lower down and ravens circling the tops. There were no boot prints and I saw no-one until near the summit of Mullach Clach a’ Bhlair.

The wind was becoming wild too and my dark glasses, donned against the glare of sunshine off the snow, were kept on when the sky clouded over to protect my eyes from the increasing blasts of spindrift.

The summit

Reaching the Moine Mhor the track joined another, bulldozed one, and I followed this to just below Mullach Clach a’ Bhlair and then made a last short arduous ascent in soft snow to the summit. Here the ground was scoured of snow and icy. The wind was increasing in strength and there’s no shelter, just a tiny cairn, so I didn’t linger.

Across the Moine Mhor to Braeriach, Sgor and Lochain Uaine, & Cairn Toul

The views across the snowy Moint Mhor were tremendous. Summits came and went in the streaming clouds. This is a vast landscape.

Sgor Gaoith

Given the wind, the spindrift, and the difficult walking I abandoned my plan of crossing the Moine Mhor to the path down from Carn Ban Mor and instead descended the track down Choire Chaoil, as I had done with Tony Hobbs in late January when coming from the opposite direction (see this post). There was far more snow now than there had been then. 

The effects of sun and wind

Lower down, though, some areas had been stripped of it by the sun and the wind on south and west facing slopes. This was particularly noticeable on Meall nan Sleac, which rises just above the path.

As close to a cornice as I dared go

Clouds of spindrift were blowing down the corrie in great waves. Most passed me by but one enveloped me and for a few seconds I could see nothing but whirling whiteness. Cornices were building on the edge of Coire Garbhlach.

Cornices building above Coire Garbhlach

Down in the glen I wandered through the pines back to the car satisfied with my excursion. I doubt many people take this long way to Mullach Clach a’ Bhlair but it is worthwhile. I plan on returning in the summer to see what it’s like then.

Glen Feshie landslips & stream crossings update

Tony Hobbs crossing the Allt Garbhlach at the site of the washed out path in January this year

The streams running down the steep slopes of Glen Feshie are prone to flashfloods and landslips. This is a mobile landscape that changes frequently. Whilst this makes for a dramatic and interesting enevironment over the years it has caused difficulties in places for walkers. 

Last October I came across a new landslip deep into the glen which looked so difficult and risky to cross that I turned back (story here). A few days ago I returned there and was pleased to see that it's now easily crossed with care. It looks as though further landslips and erosion has altered the deep ravine considerably and that someone has done some work to make it safer. The landslip is at GR NN 85050 91330.

Looking SE across the landslip, October 2023

Looking SE across the landslip, March 2024

Looking NW up the landslip, October 2023

Looking NW up the landslip, March 2024

A much bigger flashflood nearly a decade ago took out the path across the Allt Garbhlach just above its confluence with the River Feshie, leaving a steep descent down loose slopes on one side and a climb up a similar slope on the other. A few steep and somewhat precarious ways up and down soon developed as this is a popular route. 

Then the estate put up a sign on the approach to the Allt Garbhlach saying the original path was closed and to use a narrow side path leading to a ford higher up. Both paths are marked on current OS maps. Last August I took this path, which goes through dense heather and small regenerating pines, to a log bridge over the river. Not as dramtic as the original crossing but much easier and safer.

Log bridge over the Allt Garbhlach, August 2023

On my recent trip I saw the sign had gone. I took the path anyway and found that the bridge was still there but had moved and now looked precarious. As I said, this is a mobile landscape.

The log bridge over the Allt Garbhlach, March 2024

Others obviously felt the same as there was no path leading to the bridge but instead one further upstream, not far from where the bridge used to be. This has been used so much that it's become a muddy morass on one side.

Path by the Allt Garbhlach ford, March 2024

Whilst this crossing is easier than the original one I think the latter is far preferable as the situation really is spectacular. When the Allt Garbhlach is in spate neither ford would be easy and maybe not even possible safely.

The original crossing point just above the confluence of the Allt Garbhlach with the River Feshie

Nortent Vern 1 in Glen Feshie video

 

Here's a little video I shot in Glen Feshie during the trip described in my last post. In it I say I'm planning on going up Mullach Clach a' Bhlair as it was made before I decided to stay in the glen.

Glen Feshie: A Camp & A Landslip & Beautiful Trees

Soon the autumn colour in the trees will blow away in a gale or simply fade as the leaves fall and turn grey and brown. The brilliant magic never lasts long. Before this happens I wanted to see Glen Feshie again, for a proper walk this time with enjoying nature and the landscape as the aim not photographing gear as described in my last post.

In a stormy last week of October just the final two days looked like they might be dry, though still windy. The first began with mist and drizzle but in the afternoon the skies began to clear. I set off up the glen watching white clouds racing overhead and admiring the dazzling yellow birches.

After all the recent rain the ground was wet and the streams coming down from the mountains were fast and full. I just managed to keep my feet dry crossing the first one, the Allt Fhearnagan, but failed on the second, the bigger Allt Garbhlach. After that I just splashed through everything. My sodden boots were not going to dry. Keeping moving and a good pair of wool socks kept my feet warm. For camp I had dry socks.

My plan was to camp far up the glen, near the last trees, ready to climb Mullach Clach a’ Bhlair via the east flank of Coire Bhlair. It was not to be. Steep slopes line the east side of the glen, in places reaching right down to the river. Landslips occur at times, but none had ever stopped me. This time one did.

The narrow path was running across steep slopes high above the river when it stopped abruptly on the edge of a short drop into a deep ravine of stones and earth. Across this fresh gash I could see the path continuing at the top of a near-vertical wall of earth. I clambered down into the new gully. Below the earth wall a slick steep slope ran down into a tangle of stone and tree roots below which was the river. I didn’t fancy slipping down that. Climbing the earth wall looked difficult. An ice axe would have been handy. Or a spade. It was dusk now and the light was fading fast. Going on seemed unwise. I turned back.

Off the steep slopes and in a wide area of magnificent old granny pines and thickets of saplings I found a good spot for the tent under a grand gnarled tree. Finding good camp sites in the glen is harder than it used to be due to the reduction in grazing by deer and the resulting growth of young trees and thick undergrowth. The large areas of deer-cropped grass have gone. The glen is wilder now. This is good but it does make camping a little harder, as it should be.

Moonlight filtered through the trees as the last clouds cleared. The temperature fell, dropping to -2°C by dawn. There was ice in my water bottles. The laces of my boots had frozen and my wet socks were crisp and crunchy. But there was blue sky above and soon it was sunlight rather than moonlight filtering through the branches. Overhead the few clouds were still racing fast.

The glen was beautiful. Rather than climb to the windy heights I decided to spend the day here. I wandered down to the river then back to the landslip. I ventured in again and looked at the climb out. I had been right to turn back. It looked precarious and uninviting. There was no sign anyone had been up it.

The landslip had started at the path, above it was a wide gully full of loose rocks. There might be a way out of that higher up and then down through the trees to continuation of the path. Maybe. The rocks were loose and I couldn’t see an easy way off to the side. An alternative would be to wade through the river below the landslip. But there’d need to be far less water in it than there was today before I’d try that.

I returned to camp where I sat outside for lunch in the cold sunshine. Not many weeks earlier I’d have been eaten by midges if I’d done that. It might be chilly but I’d rather sit outside in an insulated jacket than a head net.

A lazy lunch over I packed up and ambled back down the glen, wandering about to look at the trees, the river, the hills. There was no need to hurry. There was no better place to be. 

 If anyone is going that way the landslip is at Grid Reference GR NN 85050 91330.