Walks | North-East
Glen Muick, Munro Circuit
Start: Glen Muick Car Park
Description: Take in 4 munros all around Glen Muick
OS Map: #44, Ballater & Glen Clova
Multimap: Online Map
This lengthy walk covers 4 Munros, but could easily take in 5 if it hadn't been almost mid-winter and obviously short on daylight hours. Starting from the Spittal of Glen Muick car park (pay & display), follow the broad well maintained path past the visitor centre / toilet block and towards the loch's southern shore, passing the path leading up to the Capel Mounth.
By the time you pass the copse of evergreens on your left you can already see some of your targets - Broad Cairn is the hill with rounded slopes leading to a fairly blunt peak that from this viewpoint sits well above the Allt an Dubh Loch at the far end of Loch Muick. The copse of trees across the loch is where we intend to return to on the homeward leg of the walk.
The path follows the loch shore til about half way along, where you can decide to either make the steep climb up the zig-zag landrover path above the Black Burn, or continue along the loch and take the rather narrow path that follows a diagonal line up the hill-side (Corrie Chash). This area is ripe ground for harems of deer, so watch out, or in my case, smell them! Either way, you come out on the plateau that is the Capel Mounth, near the Pony Shed, with views down into Glen Clova to the south.
From here take the obvious path up Broad Cairn, keeping an eye out for Mountain Hare and Ptarmigan on the slopes above you, darting into the rocky summit. The path meanders it's way around the summit to avoid the worst of the rocks, but it's a easy scramble for those who want to strike straight out for the top. A good spot for lunch, with the best views to the south-east into Glen Muick, to Mount Keen, and north towards Lochnagar - not to mention a good sheltered spot from the prevailing north-westerly winds!
From here, it's a case of following the fairly worn path across the summit of this great plateau area towards the next Munro of Cairn Bannoch. Again, the path can be avoided if you wish as it loops around to the south, and more direct approach can save time on those short winter days. A fairly innocuous climb onto an unremarkable summit, then onwards again across a shallow saddle to Carn an t-Sagairt Mor. From here views go down into the Glenshee ski centre, to Tom Buidhe / Tolmount (2 munros that can be gained from the start of this walkwith the aid of a mountain bike across the plateau) and down towards Balmoral and Braemar. The Cairngorms of course provide a striking backdrop to the North-West, with Ben Avon dominating from this viewpoint.
It's worth spending a view minutes extra heading towards the fence on the Western edge of the summit and following it down the Northern Slopes to the Airplane wreck. Most of the body is fairly near the top, with more wreckage strewn out across the lower slope. Follow a twisty path down from here by the fence to the bottom of the valley between Carn an t-Sagairt Mor and the White Mounth.
If you're lucky to have very dry or frosty underfoot conditions, head straight across the rather marshy land at the bottom of the valley and pick up a fairly obvious animal path that curves around the hill side towards the burn well above Eagles Rock. From here a decent path heads up towards the Stuic, but when you guage yourself to be far enough up to cope with the slopes, strike straight uphill to the summit of the White Mounth. Not anything to write home about, but they all count!
From the top of this wide summit, aim to join the path that leads from Lochnagar down to the waterfall Glas-allt-Shiel. The join of the paths is a pretty obvious white stain on the landscape ahead. Again frosty or dry weather is good here - it's very boggy and in wet conditions it will probably be easier to skirt north towards the Stuic rather than battle through a myriad of streams and pools.
Should time allow it, then a quick trip up onto the summit of Lochnagar shouldn't be too much extra to ask, and would only add on about 30 minutes at the most, before following the good path down by the stream to the waterfall. Another good spot to top up the fule tanks, before tackling the steep rocky path down past the falls to the Lodge by the Loch-side.
From here, cut through the trees onto the wide landrover track, and plain sailing from here back to the loch end, across to the outward path, and back to the car park. A good pace should see this done in around 6 hours, just short enough for a winters day with startling clear views all around. A way to shorten the route is to bike into the Lodge, walk around the sandy end of the loch, climb up Coire Chash, and then on return you can bike out the landrover track - saves around 40-60 minutes for a strong cyclist.