The best of Scots landscape and wildlife in a single walk
Glorious Glen Feshie showcases all that the country has to offer hillwalkers
If you had just one day to spend exploring the Cairngorms, you could do no better than take a walk along Glen Feshie, taking in Sgor Gaoith and its neighbouring Munro, Mullach Clach a’ Bhlair.
In a single day out, this route encapsulates the incredible variety of landscape, climate, animal and plant life that makes this part of Scotland so special. The usual start and finish point for walks here is at Achlean – just a halfhour drive on mostly single-track roads from Aviemore. It feels much more remote though – far from the bustle of the tourist industry centred around the Highland town and the nearby Cairn Gorm mountain.
Your journey takes you up one of the most beautiful glens in the country, on excellent tracks on the valley floor beside the cool waters of the River Feshie. Later, you climb among mighty Scots pines – some easily 300 years old – as the path twists among sections of native woodland. Underfoot, either side of the track, are thick carpets of blueberry, heather and wildflowers.
The area teems with life – butterflies and bees flit between flowers, and the woodlands are a stronghold of the red squirrel, a creature under so much pressure elsewhere. Later, as you climb into the mountains, you reach the Moine Mhor – or Great Moss
– an enormous shallow bowl 1,000m (3,281ft) above the valley and home to the two Munros.
It’s lower than the vast plateau of the Cairngorm hills, which sits just to the east over Glen Einich, and I think it’s also more attractive.
In high summer it’s a verdant, almost lush place – at least as far as high mountains are concerned. Mullach Clach a’ Bhlair is just a slight rise on this vast plain – unless they’re Munro-baggers most probably don’t bother walking to it. But it makes a great start point for a fantastic high-level moorland walk of more than 6km (3.7 miles) to Sgor Gaoith.
West lie the wonderfully bleak lands of the Monadh Liath, but it’s the east that draws the eye. It’s from the small summit of Sgor Gaoith that you get the best view – the ground drops in a vertical plunge to the gorgeous waters of Loch Einich. The huge bulk of Braeriach across the glen looks close enough to touch, its corries, great gouges in its western flanks. It’s a rare view of one of the highest mountains in the country – indeed, it must rank as one of the best views in Scotland.
With winter snows, this land is transformed into an Arctic wilderness. Storms can rise with a sudden ferocity, reducing visibility to zero, winds so severe that standing, never mind walking, is almost impossible.
And yet, on good days, the enormous snowy bowl makes a fantastic winter playground. Skitouring or – as I tend to do – snowshoeing between the peaks makes for a memorable expedition.