The walk Celebrating the solstice

Location: Rothiemurchus and the Lairig Ghru, Highland

Grade: Moderate lower-level walk Distance: 10 miles/16km Time: 5-6 hours

INTO another winter and soon we’ll be preparing for Christmas. Inevitably the cycle of the seasons goes on and before long we’ll pass the winter solstice again, a date generally unmarked on calendars but of infinitely more relevance than our much-loved Hogmanay.

I’ve always marked the winter solstice in my diary. It heralds the shortest day of the year, a turning point, a demarcation line which signals a steady lengthening of the days and all the natural response that brings with it. It’s small wonder our pagan ancestors celebrated this event with such gusto and no coincidence that our Christian fathers chose this midwinter date to celebrate the birth of Christ.

According to many historians, Jesus was more likely to have been born in March, a compelling date in itself as a time of renewal, fresh start and a new birth in the natural world, but the opportunity to break up the dour winter months, and replace the pagan winter solstice festival, was obviously too much of a temptation, and I for one am delighted that Christmas does come in the middle of the darkest period of the year, bringing with it a ray of light and cheer.

Last year I marked the winter solstice with some satisfaction. It was a grey and sullen day when darkness crept across the sky in the early afternoon as though winter was stamping its mid-term authority on the land; but the very next afternoon the lengthening of the day, although imperceptible in terms of time, was apparent in terms of weather, a sign of hope like the brightest of rainbows after a storm.

The great trough of the Lairig Ghru, the gloomy pass, cuts through the bulky massif of the Cairngorms, a cleft caused by glaciation with the swelling upthrusts of Beinn Macdui on one side and Braeriach on the other – Britain’s second and third highest hills respectively. The through walk from Coylumbridge near Aviemore to Braemar is nearly 30 miles in length and rises to a height of more than 2,500 feet, a bit long for a winter’s day so instead I wandered through the ancient forest of Rothiemurchus to a high point from where you can virtually gaze into the jaws of the Lairig itself.

Rothiemurchus is the name of the parish that lies between the River Spey and the summits of the high Cairngorms. Because of the rich variety of the landforms contained in the estate the landscape passes from low-lying agricultural fields, through open heather moorland to the magnificent remnants of the ancient Forest of Caledonia. The route of the Lairig Ghru was used in times gone by as a drove road, one of the highest in the country, and today is one of the classic high-level passes in Scotland.

I left Coylumbridge in dazzling sunshine made even more spectacular by a hoar frost that had turned the trees white. I followed the path to the old Cairngorm Club footbridge over the Allt Druidh. The path crosses a large clearing in the woods with the V-shape of the Lairig away ahead, and continues beyond the river to a path junction known locally as Piccadilly!