KYQ4: Amulree Grahams

Sunday, 9 June 2024

Amulree Grahams

Meall nan Caorach and Meall Reamhar

Sunday, 9 June 2024

Ascent: 525 metres
Distance: 10 kilometres
Time: 2 hours 50 minutes

Meall nan Caorach 623m. 1hr 12mins
Meall Reamhar. 620m. 1hr 48mins

After leaving Dunkeld following a Sunday brunch with Emily and Gregor the day after their wedding, I drove to Amulree, crossing the A9 was like stepping into a skipping rope going like pepper. I had planned to climb two Graham Hills that faced each other at the head of the Girron Burn, I figured that they would be manageable after a couple of days of indulging in wedding celebrations. There is parking space for a couple of cars at the start of the track to Girron, an empty farm building, and then a tricky path that leads to a track that continues for 3 kilometres to the bealach between the two Grahams and is named Grouse Butts on the OS map. I met a walker coming down, he was from a walking club in Lancashire and had opted out of climbing Meall nan Caorach, the second hill, leaving it for his younger colleagues. He was eighty but looked in fine fettle and had managed 210 Munros but had declared from finishing a Munro round.

Shortly afterwards, I left the track and made a rising traverse to the summit of Meall nan Caorach. It was steep but mainly over grassy and heather-covered ground. The visibility was good but it was quite cool for June. I dug out my wind top at the summit and admired the 360° views. I was staggered at the number of hill tracks festooning the hillsides, presumably built to give access to grouse shooting. It was a steep drop of 160 metres to Grouse Butts and a similar steep climb to Meall Reamhar. I was making reasonable time and after a break for a drink and some photos, I decided to descend down the ridge to the northwest rather than dropping down to the track. Three Land Rovers were making their way down one of the tracks to the west of the summit. The descent was less straightforward than I had expected with several boggy sections but the compensation was the prolific bird life with dozens of meadow pipits and lots of grouse in the heather.

Some large erratic boulders provided a picturesque foreground for the Griffin wind farm about 10 kilometres away. A large and healthy-looking rowan tree was growing out of another large boulder and opening its fissures in the process. I made a beeline for the car but came across Girron burn that was slow-moving and about 2 feet deep. It took an extra 10 minutes or so to double back and cross it upstream where it was running faster and shallower, but I still ended with wet feet. The walk had been the perfect way to recuperate from the food and drink of yesterday. I was home by 6pm for a bath to remove any ticks as I had been wearing shorts whilst walking through long grass, bracken and heather in deer country.