Glen Derry Pine

This is what Mr Webb called a "stereotypical view of the Cairngorms".

After yesterday's lengthy walk, we decided to have an easier day today. After 9+ hours sleep, we were up at 7. The worst part of the day for me was pulling on wet socks and soggy walking boots. One day I will own a pair of boots that is both waterproof and comfortable. This pair have leaked like a sieve from the first day of wearing, but they do have the virtue of being comfortable.

We spent the morning ambling through the pinewoods of Glen Derry hoping for a sighting of capercaillie and black grouse. The jury is still out on one large female grouse that was perched in a pine tree, we need to spend some time going through the photographs and field guides to establish whether it was female capper or a grey hen (female black grouse).

After that though we had excellent sightings of blackcock (male black grouse) flying through the pinewoods. In the afternoon, we started up the ridge on the east side of Glen Derry (from where this photo was taken looking north). This is one of a few isolated pine trees above the main pinewoods in the glen. We reached the top of Meall an Lundain on the ridge with views down into Glen Quoich. The plan hadn't been to do another mountain today, but when we had got that far, it was only another mile and 700 feet of ascent to the top of Beinn Bhreac (the speckled hill), at 931 metres a Munro. So up we went, picking up our first record of golden plover on the way, a bird now returned to its breeding territory (and number 109 on my 2011 year list).

We descended quickly via a very long and steep snow slope. Having left ice axes and crampons behind after yesterday's experience, it seemed best to suspend all thought of the consequences of a slip and dig our heels in and tentatively descend. We were back in Glen Derry within an hour of leaving the top. Another huge meal and then at last I could get my wet boots and socks off for a dry night in the sleeping bag.