Corgarff - Glen Gairn - Loch Builg - Glen Builg - Glen Avon - Strathdon

A couple of days piece and quiet in the eastern cairngorms was the plan, I awoke at home to rather un Scottish April weather. After asking about, the general concensus seemed to be that it was indeed the sun.... ach well I wasnt going to let a we bit of sun stop me, bergan packed, porridge consumed and we are off. It took about an hour and a half to drive up the length of the river Don to Historic Scotlands Corgarff Castle car park, a quick pit stop on route at an inverurie supermarket ensured I wouldn't starve to death.

The route preview on viewranger was 21.8, actual was 23.2

I parked up in a busy wee car park below the castle and headed off south over carn mor (606), carn meadhonach (630), Camock hill (694) and Tom a Chatha before descending down into Glen Gairn.

Came across this shelter on the south side of Camock hill

 It was an ideal spot for sitting in the sun with a peperami and doing a bit of mountain spotting

South to Lochnagar with my planned route along the river Gairn in the centre. 

 It was like an ice bath, to be expected from snow melt I suppose, but so refreshing, a spot of Gehwol and it was like having new feet (only lasted for about 5 miles though),  

 Nice shiny head,  it's April, who needs sun screen........... more to follow on that.

 You come over a rise quite confident your at least 20 plus miles as the craw flies from the nearest railway line and there's a railway bridge

 Yup, that looks like a railway bridge to me

 And just along the track another wee bridge

 And another,  think i clocked 8 or 9 throughout the wander

 The Scarp with a view, a lovely April evening at the head of Loch Builg,  fairly puffed out after quite a long day, 14 miles and a decent accent, seeen more grouse than you can shake a stick at,  a dozen or so white hares, a few rabbits, a few english eagles, two large herds of Red deer and two magnificent huge real eagles.

 But.....before bed its supper time, not bloody steak again!!!!  at least I remembered the colmans mustard this time (and the rolls weren't squashed flat either)

 Day two, view from the scarp door, seriously this is Scotland in April,  loch Builg looking stunning

 A bit random, but came across this sign at the other end of the loch, very informative tbh, funnily enough I had wondered about a small fenced off area I had seen just before it, I had talked myself into believing it was a paddock for stalking ponies, doh. Indeed I came across another sign a bit further on, it was all about stalking and it was again very informative, asking walkers to adhere to certain simple requests during the season.  Kudos really must go to glenavon estate for their outstanding can do attitude, hopefully walkers reciprocate. 

River crossing while trying to take a picture and carry a brew, not the wisest move of the day so far.  Excuse the daft hat, as mentioned earlier, daftie misjudged the sun the previous day and needed to keep covered up today, to hot for my beanie, so buff it was, no one sees you up here anyway............. 

The big hoose in glen Avon, Inchrory house, it was stunning,  the grounds were stunning, the setting was stunning and loads of regeneration and protection of the woodlands round about, pretty sure I saw a blackcock/capercaillie here, but it was away before I got a good look.

Pretending to be a stone

Final 20 minute boots off stop, couple of nice broonies under that bridge, mind you it is one of the finest trout rivers in the country

Looks to me like they were ripping down remnants of the great Caledonian forrest, I hope not, but on this estate I wouldn't be surprised,  its one of those "Kill, Destroy and Exclude everything estate".

Anyway from the big house in glen Avon it was a right turn (east) and a case of following the glen and fledgling river Don for 5 or 6 miles back to Corgarff Castle and the car. It had been a great walk in absolutely boiling conditions (ok at least 14 or 15, im Scottish,  thats like being in an oven).  My feet knew they had been for a walk, I even had a blister from a pair of boots that ive never had one before in.