Not so slippery Carn na h-Easgainn

Woke up in Aviemore to fast moving clouds and some blue sky. The forecast said no rain. With the good lady in tow it had to be a fairly straight forward one and right out of the box was Carn na h-Easgainn (Hill of the eel!! Eels up here?) which is a Graham top (618m) but it has to be one of the easiest to walk. The hill overlooks Strathdearn and is on the opposite side of the A9 from another Graham, Carn na Tri-triggerman. This is easy as it has a track all the way to the summit.

The start

Our trip was a short 10 mile drive from Aviemore before turning south off the A9 onto a road signposted to Lynebeg. The short tarmac stretch ends opposite the houses where there is a parking area, just before the cattle grid. The SMC book says that it might be possible to drive to Lynemore and possibly a little further but for all the distance that is involved don‘t bother, unless you are in a real hurry, this is a short enough walk as it is. Once on the track the twisting route can be clearly seen on your left.

Follow that track

The route follows an obvious estate/stalkers track all the way to the trig point. According to the SMC book the high point is then some 50m to the south east.
The clouds were gathering ahead, surely no rain today. You cannot get lost on this track even in bad weather. After 15 minutes walking we could see shapes on the path far ahead, coos? On we went but after cresting a rise we spotted them and they were sheep, nice Herdwick’s I think.

Herdwick sheep

Bit further on we came to a deer fence where saw our only other people on our walk, a couple of estate workers. The surrounding terrain is open moorland, peat bogs etc and the view is what you make of it. To some it might be boring but for me there is rarely a bad walk. This is a shooting estate and there were plenty of red grouse being sprung by us as we walk past but no shooting today.

Trig in sight

After only an hour we were at the trig, even at the good lady’s pace, where the wind was up quite a few notches and the clouds remained stormy and threatening.

She made it

We had a short wander around the boggy top taking in the views where thankfully the 40 wind turbines of the Farr wind farm on the other side were in and out of the cloud. 

Red moss

Some nice reddish moss on the ground to add some colour. Looking around we can just make out Loch Ness also Inverness is obvious in the distance. 

Plateau looking to Carn Moraig

There are estate tracks on either side if you want to extend your walk but with Mrs it was back down the way we came. The plateau is fairly flat. The SMC book has a circular route via Carn Moraig which I would have taken if on my own.

Turbines in the cloud

On day of better visibility I am sure the views would be more than worth the short effort.

Looking back down to Loch Moy

But, no doubt the best views today are on the descent looking over Strathdearn with Loch Moy prominent and sadly more wind turbines only half hidden behind.
 

Red Admiral

Little wildlife, a few meadow pipits and lots of black caterpillars, not sure if they turn into this Red Admiral. I have seen more of these in the last few weeks than I have for years, hopefully they are doing well.
A short but enjoyable walk, not burned enough calories for cake today, maybe tomorrow!!
Time: 2 hours 05.
Distance: 3.99 miles (6.42k)
Ascent: 987 ft (301m)