Ben Vuirich GM/CS-049
Alex - I’m off Thursday. Want to go up Ben Vuirich?
Fraser - Not if you’re going from Blair Athol.
Alex - No, there’s a good estate road that goes from the east and round the back. We can cycle.
Fraser - ………Ok then. You can pick me up.
Alex - Your house isn’t on the way to Ben Vuirich!
Fraser - [Sends Alex a google maps screengrab]. It’s 2 miles shorter and you’ll make up the extra 15 minutes on the Glenshee road.
Alex - Silence.
Alex - Ok. 0950.
And that’s pretty much how the conversation goes everytime @GM5ALX and I go on a hike.
Thursday 30th October 2025
Alex did indeed pick me up, and thanks to some ambitious driving, we did indeed make the time up, arriving at a layby on the Kirkmichael to Pitlochry road 1hr 15min later. It was 6C but lovely in the morning sun.
Alex then proceeded to pull a road bike off the roof carrier.
Fraser - A road bike?
Alex - Well this track has just been freshly tarred (paved 
).
Fraser (who had brought a mountain bike) 
Alex 1 - 0 Fraser
I pulled on my gaiters.
Alex - Oh, I didn’t bring mine.
Fraser - Well this is going to be a wet heather bash, I think.
Alex 1 - 1 Fraser
So off we go up the freshly tarred road. It continued for 6.5km up the river valley of Glen Fearnach. When we came across some estate workers, we pulled over for a chat. There was a shooting party on that side of the glen. If we continued up the track until adjacent to the summit, we’d easily cross the river and get up the hill, we were told.
morning smiles
The road ahead was now a rocky track, steep in places. You already know who is 1 point ahead now. Further on, it was quite wet. Alex splashed through flooded sections and deep puddles, thanks to the mudguards on his commuter special. We’re even.
When the track steepened and headed away from the river, we ditched the bikes and dropped down the slope to the river bank, looking for an easy crossing.
Which there wasn’t.
Alex contemplating the crossing. Ben Vuirich rising behind
We ended up going upstream for 100m and just leapfrogging, sloshing and slipping across. I think we ended up with one damp foot each.
The next couple of km was a heather bash. Gently sloping at first, then almost flat, but then rearing up to a steep and rough finish. Views behind (north) opened up, with the Glenshee hills bare, but the central highlands snow capped. Several small herds of red deer hinds ran across the slopes above, each with a proud stag. Alex looked nervously to the ridge line. “I don’t really want to get shot today”. No shooters on the ridge, but a lone rutting stag, bellowing.
how far is it?
As well as viewing the rut, we were concentrating on climbing the rough ground and didn’t really notice the weather starting to turn. Just as we approached the top, the terrain changed to mossy, rocky grass and the cloud dropped. An icy wind blew in from the east. On with the down jackets.
The summit Trig and shelter loomed ahead. I offered it to Alex, knowing it would suit his 41’ random. Me? I’d brought a W3EDP and was planning a rare foray down to (up to?) 60m. It was 1300 and it had taken 2 hours to get up.
still smiling
Alex dropped his pole in the Trig and I wandered off to find some rocks to hold mine. The banana plug on the end of my W3EDP fell off, so Alex was on the air first, while I faffed around with increasingly cold fingers, trying to fix it.
MM0EFI praying for better weather
GM5ALX, in there somewhere
60m started Ok, with three in the log. Then silence. Alex was still on 40m (I hadn’t seen another spot) so I jumped up to 20m to finish the job. When I looked up, Alex was packing up, so I did the same. We re-grouped around the leeward side of the shelter and inhaled our lunch.
Alex - My hands are freezing.
Fraser - Yeah, we’ve been spoiled this summer. Forgotten what doing this in the cold feels like.
Alex - Let’s get out of here.
And we did. We fell out of the cloud and down the steep heathery slopes, eventually sighting the kink in the river which would lead us to our bikes.
At the river, we were less cautious about the crossing! Thanks to my gaiters, I sloshed across boot high water and still kept mainly dry. Alex did the same, sans gaiters. He didn’t own up to having wet feet, but we both knew I was 1 point ahead again.
Alex trying to walk on water
Back at the bikes. Rough track, puddles, Alex out in front on the tarred section. Let’s call it a draw. The headwind was ever present and it was fierce. We were descending the river valley, yet our legs were telling us they were riding uphill. Eventually the gradient overcame the wind resistance, allowing us some respite and a semi-cruise down to the main road and the car. The time - 1500. Four hours, 24km, 1053m ascent.
the road back
With the bikes stowed, I sat down in the car seat, and said to Alex, “this feels like the first time I’ve stopped today”.
He nodded.
) and up towards Cairn Toul etc. But it might not be for a while!
