Living in Aberdeen Part 6

After going back home last weekend, I was back in Aberdeen this week to see what else it had to offer. I hadn't done much exploring beyond the city, so this weekend's adventures involved a trip to the Cairngorms, Britain's largest National Park.

The Cairngorms are the most extensive range of mountains in the UK, with some truly spectacular scenery. They are encircled by the valleys of the River Spey and the River Dee, the latter of which makes it's way all the way down to Aberdeen. There's a plethora of walks and hikes that you could do to last a lifetime, and we decided on hiking to the summit of Lochnagar.

Lochnagar is a mountain located about 5 miles south of the River Dee, near Balmoral. It has an elevation of 1,155m (3,789ft in old money), and was a 18.96km round trip. There were 4 of us in total who went, and it was an hour and a half drive from central Aberdeen. We only decided that morning we were going to do Lochnagar (the original plan was to do Loch Muick, a flat lakeside walk), so by the time we started it was already 10:45am. Thankfully the long summer days in Scotland meant there was plenty of daylight during this 6 and a half hour adventure!

There's a large car park at Glen Muick, which is where we parked. Note that there is a charge for the carpark, and there's also access to public toilets and a visitor centre to purchase snacks, maps and get some advice. This is where the walk starts, and it takes you along the flat terrain of Glen Muick, crossing a bridge over the River Muick.

We then followed Loch Muick around until we hit the lush forests, which signalled the start of the ascent to the top. Amidst the trees you can spot a stream, which is what you need to follow upstream for quite some distance.

Following the water upstream, we reached Glas Allt Falls, a waterfall. The water was ice cold, but so clean and refreshing after a couple of hours into our journey! We took the first of many snack breaks here, enjoying the sound of the rushing water into the forests below. What followed after Glas Allt Falls was a flat section of land 650m up, which again took you through some stunning scenery. The majority of the time there was no sign of anyone around us, just these vast landscapes which kind of put life into perspective, a humbling experience!

The path then began to wind upwards, and the wind started getting stronger.  It was pretty much an uphill trek from now on until we reached the summit, and the path beneath us became more rocky. Vegetation changed from the green fields to moss and lichen. My legs were certainly beginning to feel fatigued, it was like doing the stair master in the gym on a loop (but with way better scenery of course!). The land started to flatten out eventually, and we could see the summit in our sights! The last section to reach the top was a lot of scrambling (climbing over large rocks as there was no real path), but in the early afternoon we got to the top of Lochnagar! The wind was crazy up there, even taking out your phone to snap some pictures was risky, but the large boulders at the top provided some sort of shelter which gave a excellent spot for lunch :) The photos below are from the top, but honestly they don't do it justice!

After thoroughly admiring the views, we then began our descent back to the start. We had planned out a circular route, meaning we got to take a different route through the mountains. The path took us around the cliff edge, giving way to some more spectacular scenery.

What surprised us all was our encounter with a stag, 1,000m from sea level! There were a few stags chilling near the top, and we nearly ended up not spotting them despite being only about 20m away. That was really interesting, as for the whole hike I hadn't spotted any animals until then. We caught a glimpse of them just before starting some more downhill scrambling, this time across a boulder field that was probably 30m long. Many opportunities to break your ankles here so we had to take care!

After that, we rejoined a path taken more commonly by walkers which led us through the landscape into a more gradual decent towards Loch Muick. By now our feet and legs were feeling pretty sore, but moral was high. We passed through the same forest, following the path out and back to the car park, which concluded our day of hiking.

We took 6 hours and 25 minutes to make the full round trip. But that doesn't matter to me as much as the scenery I saw, testing my body's endurance and appreciating nature in it's full glory with great company.

Lochnagar? Completed it mate!

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