No snow but visibility superb in the beautiful Glen Doll National Nature Reserve. (Munros Completed : Mayar (77), Driesh (78).
For the first two days the wind strength had meant these two Munros weren’t attainable but Glen Doll is such a beautiful area it’s not a hardship to sit it out and enjoy the scenery and follow some of the wonderful woodland trails. On the third day, it was slightly spotty with rain but nothing more and thankfully the wind had decreased a lot and was now just a stiff breeze. It was also overcast but the cloud cover was very high with the munro tops clear. I wasn’t sure whether it would lift or deteriorate but as it happens the weather continued to improve throughout the day so was glad I had made the decision to go ahead.
I took it easy at the start and the path up to Corrie Fee was fine, just an easy plod along. Near the top of Corrie Fee by the waterfall, the path seems to become faint often difficult to distinguish from some of the burns. I met a couple above me who were descending who had become slightly lost from the path having taken a line that meant they ended up beneath the crags and could go no further. The temptation is to try to gain the height to soon rather than traverse further round to the East as the warden had told me.
Once out of the corrie, the steep part was now well behind me which relatively easy due to the well built path all the way so it was now just a slight walk up hill to Mayar. Reached the top at 11:30 am and the slightly spotty rain that had been with me since the start had now long stopped. The views were superb with visibility for miles around as the tops were all cloud free. Very fortunate as the forecast was only for a 30% chance of cloud-free Munros.
I didn’t stay long, just a quick drink then bear off slightly for about 100m to avoid the steep section on the other side of Mayer and then it’s a walk across the wide expanse to Driesh which could be easily seen in the distance. The path is also quite obvious. On the top here I also saw two snow white hares but they bounded off before I got to take any pictures! They must have felt quite exposed as they was very little snow now, confined to only a few patches, mainly due to the unseasonal mild weather which had been present the past week or so.
The walk across to Driesh is easy on well defined flattish path, which descends to a col at first (from where branch left for the home descent) following a line of old fence posts which then ascends mildly to a minor top then another mild ascent to Driesh which has a trig point and a large cairn shelter built around it. It was only on this final ascent that the wind blew up for the first time.
At first it looked like a thin bank of cloud had started to come in over the top part of Driesh but as I approached it soon cleared. Had a quick cup of tea at the summit before returning to the col for the path down. It was here that I now saw quite a few people coming up. Very unusual for me to be the first on and off the hill! The path down is well defined and not too rocky and leads into the forest. The last half hour I was starting to feel it a little so was glad of the easy last 15min walk back along the river. Made it back to the Glen Doll car park in plenty of time before dark at 2:45pm .