Glas Maol-Creag Leacach

Peaks: Glas Maol (1068m), Creag Leacach (987m)
Area: Glenshee
After lunch above Pitlochry in warm sunshine, I had a decision to make. I was a little tired after the two previous outings, but with very little open it wasn't as if I could sit in a pub all afternoon. So there was only one real option (apart from spending the day sitting in the car) - more mountains! As a concession to tiredness, and the prevailing weather, I headed up towards Glenshee via the road from Pitlochry. I have been along this once before, with the family the day after breaking 3 hours for the first time at the Edinburgh marathon in 2008. That day I did the three accessible munros above the Cairnwell, the easiest and worst in Scotland: I remember being very tired! This was similar circumstances, albeit not quite as extreme - so I drove right up to the top of the Cairnwell Pass and headed up Meall Odhar. This has ski paraphenalia low down but this is fairly easy to avoid and the springy turf gave a comfortable ascent all the way up Glas Maol. I was tired but still made the summit in 40 minutes or so. Views over Glen Brighty to the east, and excellent views up to the main Cairngorms as well as Lochnagar (which remains a gap for me). The weather had cleared beautifully and the rest of the day was wonderful. Glas Maol is a huge plateau without too many redeeming features, but the next hill - Creag Leacach - is more shapely and a rocky ridge connects the two. Superb fast running led down to this, and I really enjoyed the route up Creag Leacach, which I had to myself in the sunshine. Big skies and big views. I then contoured round to the Meall Gorm spur which led to a shallow col where I had a rest and a drink from the stream. Then it was steeply down to the valley and tiringly back up to the top of the Cairnwell via the Devils's Elbow. I then drove a short way down from the Cairnwell Pass to a superb bivvy site looking down Glen Shee and up to Creag Leacach. It was wonderful - and I dined on mackerel and quinoa before turning in for 9.5 hours restorative sleep.