From http://bvhill-walkers.blogspot.com/
We set off in pleasant conditions and Gordon, with his dogs safely in the back of his truck, picked everyone up en route. First question - "anyone know how to get there?" - blank looks all round. Gordon had been there once before about 10 years ago, but wasn't sure - "is it near Aboyne?" - "no, that's Glentanar". Eventually, we all agreed it was Ballater we had to go to so we took the South Deeside all the way.
The car park is 6 miles off the main road up a single track with passing spaces - and they charge £3 per vehicle as well. They do provide toilets at the start and there's a shop/coffee bar as well, however.
The route at the start is mostly flat, land rover track. We had initially intended to start off on the north side of the loch and would make a late decision as to whether to also take the optional route up to Dubh loch, which would add 4 miles to our walking distance, a bit of climbing and probably a couple of hours. However, for some reason, we turned left and did the south side of the loch first of all. CK later took some of the blame for this when he said he preferred walking clockwise!
It started raining not long after we left the car park, so it was on with the jackets - some even put on waterproof trousers, but Ian and I only had our shorts on. Here's the gleesome threesome fairly early on:
Further along, we noticed the track ahead of us seemed to head up a very steep hill - this wasn't on the agenda. Fortunately, when we got closer, we spotted the sign for the Loch Muick way heading downwards right - whew! At this point, the track narrowed and got pretty rocky - but we spotted some wildlife:
The rain had got a bit heavier and the shorts soon got soaked, but it didn't last long and soon we began to strip off a bit. This photo looks like I've had a bit of an accident, but honestly, it was the rain what did it!:
At the head of the loch, we decided to stop for lunch/brunch. The ground was pretty swampy - not helped by Dave raising the water table a little further:
Gordon came well prepared with his sandwich box, most of which he seemed to give to the dogs:
The team photo took a bit of setting up and the end result wasn't very good, but here it is anyway:
On the beach at the head of the loch there was a dead grouse:
We never saw the track taking us up to Dubh loch, but the general opinion seemed to be that we wouldn't have bothered anyway. The track on the north side is an easy walk along a wide, mostly gravelled path, at the end of which there is a boathouse where we stopped for a minute whilst Gordon baptised his reluctant dogs:
Dave watched from the wings whilst CK re-appeared from behind the boathouse:
Ian bore the brunt of the dogs' attempts to shake themselves dry after their dip:
Eight miles covered with an elapsed time of 3 hours, including stops. Now for the treats - Ballater, Aboyne or Potarch? We plumped for the Boat and sat outside with the dogs, taking in the rays:
The next "training" walk is scheduled for Midsummer weekend - 19th/20th June. Lochnagar has been mooted - it's 13 miles - we had thought that 10 miles would be ideal for the next one, so this is a bit longer and involves a bit more elevation. It's a bit of a tradition to go to the top of Lochnagar at midnight on the Summer Solstice weekend - but I'm not sure if I fancy doing this or not - way past my bedtime!
Another possibility might be Glen Muick to Balmoral (10 miles) - this would mean leaving one car at either end. For further discussion.
