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Climbing Geal Charn, a Munro in the Monadhliath mountains (Scotland)

February 21, 2019 by Maria Fernandez

Climbing Geal Charn: map & data

© OpenStreetMap contributors
Total distance: 8.18 mi
Total climbing: 707 m
Total time: 07:03:34
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8.2 mile walk in 7h from 08.45 to 15.45 – average 1.2 mph

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This was our third excursion on our Laggan holiday.

After checking the maps and the weather forecast, Simon suggested that we climb another Munro.

By Garva Bridge

We got up before dawn and were in the car by 7.45 am. It was a most pleasant morning with no wind.

After a short ride, we parked the car next to the romantic-looking Garva Bridge. This beautiful two-arched bridge was constructed by General Wade and completed in 1732.

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Hillwalking in the Cairngorms - Munro - www.simonking.bike

8.18 – Garva Bridge over the River Spey

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Click to see the photo gallery
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We faffed about for a short while by the bridge, and then headed for Geal Charn, our Munro.

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Hillwalking in the Cairngorms - Munro - www.simonking.bike

8.53 – A luxury path, but not for long

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We walked up following the beautiful Feith Talagain stream.

The ascent to Geal Charn is a gentle climb that doesn’t get too steep at any stage. Also, at least according to our guidebook, it’s a boggy mess. But we didn’t find it so.

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Hillwalking in the Cairngorms - Munro - www.simonking.bike

9.44 – Geal Charn behind thick cloud

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As we ascended, we got closer and closer to the cloud base. It looked as if Nature was bringing down the curtain.

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Hillwalking in the Cairngorms - Munro - www.simonking.bike

10.19 – Looking back towards Garva Bridge

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A little mystery

When you’re out and about on the Scottish hills, you often see those white pellets. I’ve always wondered what they are, and today I’ve finally found the answer.

It’s grit. You see, grouse feed on tough heather, and grit helps them grind up and release the heather nutrients.

That’s one mystery solved.

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Hillwalking in the Cairngorms - Munro - www.simonking.bike

10.31 – Grouse grit

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Here and there, we saw plenty of grouse flying off and making their usual call, which reminds me of a bark.

We also spotted a couple of big fat frogs. Or rather, Simon did. The first one escaped my camera, but here’s the second one, trying to go unnoticed.

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Hillwalking in the Cairngorms - Munro - www.simonking.bike

10.34 – A jumpy frog having a rest

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We had to ford the Feith Talagain stream at some point, and here was the perfect place.

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Hillwalking in the Cairngorms - Munro - www.simonking.bike

10.43 – Simon fording the Feith Talagain

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When rivers are in spate I reckon it must be tricky to ford Feith Talagain. But with not too much current and a pair of poles it’s easy-peasy.

Specially if you just go for it, instead of hesitating and picturing your glorious bum in the water, like I used to do.

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Hillwalking in the Cairngorms - Munro - www.simonking.bike

11.06 – Thick cloud descending

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The cloud kept descending and soon we were engulfed in quite a thick fog. I wasn’t as thick as we’ve had it other times, but the visibility was pretty low.

Finding our way up the hill

As we all know by now, with a map and compass Simon can find just about any path that exists. So up we went.

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Hillwalking in the Cairngorms - Munro - www.simonking.bike

11.45 – Getting steeper & foggier

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I say “that exists” because on our previous climb we’d had a surreal experience with an elusive path.

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Hillwalking in the Cairngorms - Munro - www.simonking.bike

11.56 – Maria disappearing in the fog *

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There was no snow on Geal Charn. Two days before we’d got snow near the top of Carn Liath, but today the snow was mostly gone. The temperature had gone up the day before, plus there had been some rain in the meantime.

This teeny-weeny white spot was all the snow we encountered.

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Hillwalking in the Cairngorms - Munro - www.simonking.bike

12.17 – Snow!!!

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The top of Geal Charn is somewhat evasive. Geal Charn is one of those Munros with a flat top and a cairn somewhere on it. Somewhere.

On a clear day it’d be straightforward to locate the cairn, but today we had to keep guessing.

Finding the cairn

The first plateau you reach is a false alarm. Then comes another stretch of climbing, a rocky area, and eventually you get to the plateau with the cairn.

But the search is well worth it, because the cairn is impressive. One of the biggest I’ve ever seen. Here it is.

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Hillwalking in the Cairngorms - Munro - www.simonking.bike

12.29 – Maria & the huge Geal Charn cairn *

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It hadn’t been too windy until now, but it was gusty at the summit.

Going down we were facing the wind, but it wasn’t nearly as cold as it’d been on Tuesday, when we had to use hand warmers.

In fact, when we got back to the cottage, we heard on the news that it’d been the warmest February day in Scotland on record. 18.3º in Aberdeenshire.

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Hillwalking in the Cairngorms - Munro - www.simonking.bike

13.12 – Simon surveying the way back

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For the way down, Simon chose a different route.

Like the day before when we went up Carn Liath, the descent was easier than I’d expected. At times it was boggy, but nothing tragic.

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Hillwalking in the Cairngorms - Munro - www.simonking.bike

13.47 – Back at the Feith Talagain

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The elegant Feith Talagain

I loved walking down along the stream. The sun was now coming out, the little wind we’d had was gone, and the winter light was gorgeous.

That terrific sound water makes is magical, and this stream is particularly noisy because of all the miniature waterfalls along the way.

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Hillwalking in the Cairngorms - Munro - www.simonking.bike

14.21 – Our lunch spot

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We never saw other walkers all day until we had been descending for an hour.

According to the guidebook, Geal Charn isn’t a popular Munro because it’s an isolated hill. That’s also one of the reasons why we chose it.

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Hillwalking in the Cairngorms - Munro - www.simonking.bike

15.01 – The wonderfully noisy Allt Coire Iain Oig

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Unlike the day before when we didn’t spot any wildlife, this time we saw a mountain hare in its winter coat. There was no snow on the ground, so we could see the white hare in all its splendour against the dark ground.

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Hillwalking in the Cairngorms - Munro - www.simonking.bike

15.20 – Back at the start

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We were staring at the white hare and it was staring at us. Then it ran away and suddenly stopped to look around, as if surveying its land.

It seemed to be unaware of its camouflage failure.

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Hillwalking in the Cairngorms - Munro - www.simonking.bike

15.32 – The beautiful emblem of the Cairngorms National Park

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It was another great day out. I loved the noisy waterfalls, the hare, the gigantic cairn and, above all, I loved the fog.

As Simon once said: when we’re surrounded by fog on a hill, we’re in our tiny secret world, with no one else in it. We’re in paradise.

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See our next excursion on this trip
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Our week in Laggan (Scottish Highlands)

Here are the links to all the other posts for this trip:

Overview: our cottage, surroundings, Newtonmore & a bit more.

Monday: hillwalking in the Cairngorms – Creag Ruadh (Graham) & Dun da Lamh fort.

Tuesday: climbing Carn Liath (Creag Meagaidh), a Munro near Loch Laggan.

Friday: attempting Meall Chuaich in high winds – a Munro in the Cairngorms.

2018 in Bridge of Orchy: our trip 12 months earlier.

2017 in Bridge of Orchy: our first winter week in Argyll and Bute.

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I took all the photos with the Panasonic.

* Simon took this photo.

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Filed Under: Blog, Munro, Scotland Tagged With: Car, Walking

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