Braemar

The Walks
The available walks can be split into three different areas: there are the Glen Shee hills to the south, the hills around Lochnagar and Glen Muick to the South-East and the Cairngorm summits to the north. The Cairngorm summits provide the grandest scenery with deep corries and high desolate plateaux. They are also the most remote and demand huge walks.

Lochnagar, though still remote, is easier to get to. The highlights of this place are the northern corries of Lochnagar with their 300m high cliffs. Glen Muick also shows off some good cliffs, some of which provide the most difficult rock climbs in the Cairngorms. The area is characterized by vast high plateaux and provides good opportunities to practice compass work. Indeed all the hills around here provide a good test of your navigation skills. Part of Lochnagar is situated on the royal estate of Balmoral. As such, there is some fine woodland at lower levels.

The Glen Shee hills are characteristically heathery and more rounded, but they do have to advantage of ease of access and therefore provide easy day hikes. Their main fault lies in the extensive ski developments that spoil the scenery in the vicinity of Glen Shee. This area really is a mess but given whiteout conditions, it is possible to avoid seeing the man made intrusions! On the plus side, the Cairnwell is home to two mobile phone masts that can be summitted by enthusiastic walkers.

The Cairngorms are the highest but most remote of the lot. Two summits worth going for include Beinn a' Bhuird and Ben Avon. These provide grand corries to peer into and Ben Avon provides interesting summit tors. Between them, they provide the largest area of land above 3000ft in this country. To climb these summits would require a 30km walk. Access is greatly improved with the use of mountain bikes or skis for this area. There are other summits to the west well worth visiting but they often demand even longer walks and it's often more suitable to camp or bothy.

The lower hills in the vicinity of Braemar should not be neglected either. There are many fine frorested hills immediately around the town. They provide easy walks and good views of the valleys and higher summits. There are also extensive forests between Braemar and Ballater.

Trip Reports

 * New Year 200/1 Trip Report

Gallery Links

 * Easter trip 2007 - Paul's photos

Accommodation

 * Braemar Youth Hostel The youth hostel is comfortable with plenty of kitchen and dining space. The drying room is effective and the rest of the hostel was generally warm even in winter.
 * Rucksacks Braemar Tel:- 01339 741517

Eating and Drinking
Braemar has two public bars. The posher of the two has a ski-ing arcade machine providing much amusement.

Travel
Stagecoach (Bluebird) operate a once every two hour service to Braemar and hourly service to Ballater from Aberdeen. 