Back to the hills on a last glorious day of summer

Carn na Loine

The last day of meteorological summer and the first day with hot sunshine and a clear blue sky for quite a while was a good day for my first hillwalk in over six weeks following my hand operation in July. Being patient while the wound healed and I could start to use my hand again without setting recovery back has not been easy. The generally dismal August weather has helped! All the wet, windy, cloudy days didn’t make me feel I really wanted to be out there.

Now the wound has healed enough that I don’t need a bandage and my hand doesn’t hurt much if I use it -carefully! - I decided I could manage a pack and possibly trekking poles and go up a hill. In case this wasn’t a wise idea a short walk from home seemed best. No point driving any distance and then finding walking far was unwise. I’ve only been driving again for just over a week anyway. And my hand isn’t fully healed. I’m still seeing a physio every week and have a desensitisation and flexing programme to follow.

Split boulder & juniper

The highest nearby hill is 549 metre Carn na Loine, a rolling lump in the midst of a large area of heather moorland on the north-east border of the Cairngorms National Park. Most of the walking would be on estate tracks but the last section to the summit and the first part of the descent would be on pathless tussocky ground that would soon show how comfortable my hand felt with some lurching and stumbling.

Autumn colours starting in an old plantation now returning to a more natural forest

The day seemed unnaturally beautiful. There have been so few days like this in 2024’s summer. Everything shone and glowed. The blue of the sky was unreal. The heather is still purple. Birches and rowans are showing the first signs of autumn colour and the berries on the latter are astonishingly bright red.

Rowan rich with berries

The moors were used for grouse shooting but this hasn’t happened for several years nor has there been any recent muirburn. Little trees are starting to raise their head above the heather., Whether this will continue I don’t know. I hope so. In rocky places there are scatterings of bigger trees, mostly Scots pine but also larch, birch and rowan.  Clumps of willow and juniper are spreading too. It feels like a land that is slowly recovering.

Rowan and pines at the mouth of the ravine leading to Huntly's Cave

Leaving the track my pace slowed by at least three quarters. The terrain was more difficult than I remembered. It always is! I only come up here when I’ve forgotten what it’s like. The heather is bouncy and deep, hiding holes and spongy tussocks. Even with the poles walking was awkward and ungainly. I was pleased I could grip a pole without my hand hurting much.

View to the Cairngorms

The close-up views were sharp and clear but distant ones hazy and grey. The Cairngorms hung in the air, indistinct, far away.

The summit

The summit trig point made a good backrest for a stop for water and a snack. It had gained a triangular cap that looked as though it might have been a feeding tray of some sort. The descent down further pathless moorland was a bit easier than the ascent as gravity helped, sometimes too much! I gained a lower track with relief.

A lone pine