Morrone

We promised ourselves at the start of the year that we would try and complete at least one "training walk" per month this year and on the first day of the 9th month, we completed our 9th walk of 2017.

The August walk, when I was away, went unreported, but Messrs Sharp, Williamson and Kilgour did the Balmoral Cairns walk on Friday 11th August. No official stats available, but the https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk web site says it is a 9.75 kms walk with 348 m of elevation. No photos either, but Ian did supply this selfie:

It was a glorious day in Upper Deeside again on Friday for Walk No. 9 and there was some added frisson with the fact that it was the eve of the Braemar Highland Games and the place was buzzing.

Walking up Chapel Brae at the start of the walk, we spotted the Royal Navy tug of war teams practising:

We passed by a little pond as we strolled further up Chapel Brae towards the official start of the walk:

The first decision point came soon after:

No need to fear - the directions we had from the web site were again very clear and it waasn't a complicated route. The path was fairly wide and well made at the start:

The climb was fairly steep - at least until we arrived at a bit of a false summit, where there were 4 large cairns. Dave hydrated and then we took a team photo:

The climb was less steep after this point, and eventually, we got to the real summit:

From the top, there were terrific 360 degree views of Deeside and beyond - a paragilder soared above us and we could clearly pick out Mar Lodge below:

The descent was on a long and winding road south that eventually would lead us through Braemar Golf Club and back to the village:

We walked along the road that ran beside the river Cluny, with Andy snapping away:

To get to our chosen drinking destination - the Moorfield House Hotel - we had to loop back up Chapel Brae again, but soon we were supping in the sun on the decking overlooking the park where the Gathering was to be held on the Saturday:

Unfortunately, the hotel had no food on that day, so we soaked up our 4 pint session with numerous packets of crisps before heading for the bus back to Banchory. There was an appropriate sign at the bus stop:

Morrone was my first Corbett - unfortunately, the battery ran out on my phone near the end of our walk as you can see from the stats:

So, 9 walks so far, the longest of which was the first one up Hill of Fare in February - over 15 kms. The shortest was Balmoral Cairns - just under 10 kms. The average walk has been about 13 kms.

In terms of altitude/climbing, Morrone's 650 m up to the summit at 859 m was by the far the most we've done this year (so far), and the one with the least amount of climbing was obviously the coastal walk from Newburgh to Blackdog back in March.

Eight of us - plus Dave's friends Matt & Harry - have been on at least one of the walks. Our leader, Ken, has only managed one so far and Jeb has been tied up at work so hasn't been able to join us yet - and nor have Gordon and Stewart, although I hear that they have been training together regularly recently on Brimmond Hill and Hill of Fare. I've been on 8 of the 9 walks and Colin and Dave both 7, whilst John McW has been on 6 and Ian Sh and Nigel both 4. Andy, who won't make it along to the Dales this year, has been on 2 of the walks.