Category Archives: Topography

Covid dreams 20: The breathtaking places

Posted on May 22, 2020 by cairngormwanderer

There are some places that are simply breathtaking. Loch Avon, in its deep, rocky-sided trench, is one of them. From most approaches it appears suddenly: a jewel in a perfect setting. There are so many viewpoints around the cirque of … Continue reading →

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Covid dreams 19: The carefree days

Posted on May 19, 2020 by cairngormwanderer

‘Lithgae’ Jim Wright is caught mid-leap. A hill from the daft days. A hill started by walking away and sneaking round the back. A hill climbed by hiding from the views until the last. If you want to climb Beinn … Continue reading →

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Covid Dreams 18: Traverse of the Gods

Posted on May 17, 2020 by cairngormwanderer

It’s one of the most magnificent panoramas and one of the finest walks in Scotland, from Cairn Toul round to Braeriach.  Six kilometres of almost continuous cliff runs between the two summits, broken by only a handful of routes where … Continue reading →

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Covid Dreams 17: Where sky and mountains meet

Posted on May 12, 2020 by cairngormwanderer

What jumps out first is the cloud-dappled sky… until you realise there’s land where there could be none and there’s a momentary sense of dislocation until you realise it’s not sky, nor even the reflection of clouds, but a frozen … Continue reading →

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Covid Dreams 15: Glory and madness

Posted on May 9, 2020 by cairngormwanderer

It’s hardly seasonal but what the heck. This must be close on 30 years ago but I remember still how blown away we were by the sheer, in your face glory of it all. I don’t recall why we weren’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Misadventures, Stravaiging, Topography | Tagged | 6 Comments

Covid Dreams 14: Light in Glen Derry

Posted on May 6, 2020 by cairngormwanderer

I love the light in this photograph: the clarity of the air, the glow of the sunlit pines; in the distance, the cloud thinning and lifting to reveal a first dusting of snow on the tops, the sun catching the … Continue reading →

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Covid Dreams 13: Tree on a treeless hill

Posted on May 5, 2020 by cairngormwanderer

This ‘tree’ caught me by surprise one day as I was climbing from Meall Tionaill to Geal Charn, in the hills between the Bynack Burn and Glen Ey. The hillsides and corries may be shorn of trees by the deer, … Continue reading →

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Covid Dreams 10: A sense of scale

Posted on May 1, 2020 by cairngormwanderer

As ever, in the Cairngorms, where the glens splitting the great plateaux can become almost invisible, it’s the sense of space and of scale that overwhelms. This was the day I did the five four-thousand feet mountains of the Cairngorms. … Continue reading →

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Covid Dreams 9: The gap in the curtain

Posted on April 29, 2020 by cairngormwanderer

Looking at this I can still feel the snell wind that blew that day, and would wish myself back there, looking up Glen Dee from the illusory shelter of the hilltop outcrops on Carn Fiaclach. It wasn’t a promising day. … Continue reading →

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Covid dreams 7: Coming home

Posted on April 27, 2020 by cairngormwanderer

For me this has to be one of the most evocative of images. You’ve parked at the Linn o’ Dee and walked up the track to the Black Bridge. You turn the corner and there the wide, flat meadowland opens … Continue reading →

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