As promised, it was time to revisit the Glen Tilt car park and head off up Beinn Dearg, GM/CS-023, and the least activated hill in the Cairngorms, Beinn Bhreac, GM/CS-045.
The forecast was dry, with sunny spells, and good visibility but a cold northerly wind and so wind chill on the summits being predicted to be -11°C. 
There are few variations on the route options, and I picked what I figured was the shortest in overall duration. This involves cycling up Glen Tilt, over the rifle range, and following the Allt Slanaidh burn all the way to the top of track before the steep descent into Allt Sheicheachan valley at the start of the climb to Beinn Dearg. It’s a pretty constant uphill cycle, so not one I’d be rushing back for! Visibility was excellent, and I could see some of the big mountains around Glen Etive /Glen Coe.
A long track travelled
Bike resting place
West towards the Glens
Summit ahead!
Sprinkling of snow on the final ascent to Dearg.
Pleased to be off the bike, I headed up the straightforward path to the summit. Fresh snow was on the ground, only a sprinkling but with the biting wind, it was easy to forget that it’s mid-May! There’s a nice shelter and trig point at the top of Beinn Dearg. I thought about setting up elsewhere, in case another walker came by, but it was so windy and cold I decided they could join me.
At the top!
Beinn Mheadhonach - the previous middle hill
Where I just walked in from
Beinn Dearg HF Station
Continuing the balanced diet
I setup on HF and started on 40m. After a few weeks of seemingly poor 40m conditions, today was absolutely stonking! A huge pile up! No doubt the infrequently activated summit and rare WAB square brought out some extra chasers. I did try 2m briefly, but after a chat with Jack I decided that was enough, I was feeling cold and it was time to head off. It was certainly cold as the water in my bladder tube had frozen!
Now off to the hill no-one does. There’s a bit of a path off the top of Beinn Dearg but it soon disappears and you get to choose your own adventure.
Once over Tarf Water, there’s a nice stream to follow up the side of Bhreac. Lovely crystal clear water weaving in, around and under the grass, before a climb up the heather to the top.
A lovely stream heading up Bhreac
Beinn Bhreac summit
Carn Liath peaking over the ridge
Dearg from Bhreac
A few stones in the cairn at the top does offer enough support for a mast, but not much shelter from the wind. I also had no phone signal so spotting was a bit of a slow affair via Inreach. I could hear a few stations on 2m but no-one could hear me, so moved on to HF. A quick go on 60m for Fraser’s complete and then onto 40m for another big pile up.
Time to admire some nice views all around, and then get off the summit and out of the wind.
It was then the long walk back to the bike. Fraser and I had been discussing the route back. On OS maps there’s a path on the west of Beinn Dearg, but I had planned for the east side - being shorter in length and slightly less elevation to climb. There was more snow on the west side, so I stuck to my plan for the east. I mostly “followed the contours” around the side. I did see a quad bike track in the distance as I climbed but never found it, although did find a path about 500m before rejoining the main route. The bike ride back was fast, but a bone shaker. Back in the car park I saw a couple of people in their camper having tea. After 38km they were only people I’d seen all day.
I guess part 3 should continue with the slightly more popular Leathad an Taobhain, GM/CS-046, and hopefully one of its friends nearby.
and as a once FMF said:
… a great AR !
I was looking at Alex’s photos and pondering the sheer vastness of emptiness up there. It’s vast for a country the size of the UK!
Fellow programming types gladly ate the “scotch” for him.
