Windy Lochnagar

This was a little different to our normal walks, instead of just being the two of us, this was a walk we organised as part of the annual Wellbeing day at work. A few people pulled out due to work commitments, so we ended up with eight.

We all met up at the Spittal of Glen Muick car park and decided that due to the forecast for high wind, we would try for the Lochnagar summit, but worst case try at least for the col.

The first leg up the main track was brisk, perhaps a little quick for Ailidh who had been at kick boxing the night before, as she started to struggle a little before the turn off. A short break was all she needed, and we all made it up to the col in good time. At this point it was a little windy, but not too bad.

A few of us dropped our packs and headed up Meikle Pap for some great views but we were hit by strong gusts. We headed down to our packs and had an early lunch.

Half the group started up the steep section on to the ridge while we were finishing lunch, but we caught up with them just before the last section before the summit. At this point though the winds were fierce. Half the group decided to head down the main path, two wanted to push to the top, and Ailidh and I decided to head over the remaining south tops before re-joining the main path. It was agreed that we would all meet up at the bottom or message online when we returned.

The second top, Cuidhe Crom only took a few minutes to reach off the main path. The descent from this top to the south though wasn't easy due to a large boulder field. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but the winds made this very tricky, so took us longer than expected.

Little Pap, the last top, was just a short walk once we cleared the boulder field, but quite rocky, but this time much large boulders, so the summit was only a quick 5 minutes each way.

We headed straight towards the main path, occasionally detouring some small boulder fields. At one point we saw the two returning from the summit of Lochnagar, but by the time we reached the path they were about a mile in front of us.

Once back on the main path, the going was easy, and for a while we were more sheltered, but did get caught in a few showers of driving rain, including a nasty one around the waterfall.

We were the last back to the car park, where we found one of our fellow walkers had waited to ensure we got back safely, many thanks for that.