I'm up there in a few weeks. I'd like to do a walk with the family (kids are 5 and 6) that is short and sweet. Preferably below the snowline and with a view.
We're already planning a jaunt in the furnicular up Cairn Gorm (I'll walk up with the dog and meet them there)
I will have crampons and ice axe but no one else will.
We did Loughrigg Fell in the Lakes last year and it was perfect, anything similar to that would be great. Maybe a few hundred metres of ascent?
Meall a Bhuachaille. Start at the Glenmore visitors centre, do the loop clockwise descending to Ryvoan bothy and An Lochan Uaine. Give the best view of the Northern Corries.
Even shorter - Craigellachie, overlooking Aviemore. Start and end at the Hostel.
I was going to recommend something around Meall a Bhuachaille - if the hill is too much there is a lovely 'blue loop' with waymarkers that doesn't go as high up. Did it just the other day.
Theres a nice walk round Uath Lochan down in inschriach forest with cracking views up the valley, very doable for 5/6 yr olds
MaB looking good right now, thanks. What's the snow like up there? is it OK for normal walking booted family members?
In a few weeks - most likely. It'd be unusual to have much snow lying at that height in May (though not completely unheard of).
PM me nearer the time and I'll give you a sitrep.
Excellent, thank you! I'm trying to plan various things to do and I'm struggling to fit it all in (although if it's raining the whole time many of these activities won't look so appealing!)
Funhouse at Coylumbridge.
Leisure pool at Macdonalds(Or Inverness)
Landmark at Carrbridge
Folk Museum at Newtonmore
Steam Railway
Highland Wildlife Park (the baby polar bear should be out by then)
Beaches at Findhorn etc.
Thanks, we had a couple of those on the list already.
My wife is looking after the kids while I do a 2 day winter skills course so having funhouse as a backup option is a good idea. We have our dog with us so most things will be outdoorsy in nature (either for his, my or our benefit!)
The MaB walk really looks perfect, especially being able to stop in the bothy just in case (where we can have a warm drink and a bite to eat)
The Old Bridge Inn and Mambos are both dog friendly btw.
Bookmarking
MaB earlier today..
Just closing the loop on this one, we had a great trip to Aviemore and managed to do loads
As Scotroutes suggested (thanks Colin), we did Meall a Bhuachaille clockwise from the Glenmore visitors centre, definitely a better way to do it than the normally suggested anti clockwise route (which most people seemed to be doing)
The kids did great, and at 5 and 6 were the youngest ones up there by quite some way (based on the others I saw doing it). It was snowing gently on the way up but a full wind blown blizzard at the top and pretty interesting, I was the only one enjoying it at that point. Slightly slippery but not unsafe, and it rapidly improved once we got off the top. I could see the snow had mostly melted in the couple of days running up to when we did it (I was around the Northern Corries) but I was surprised by how much had been put down in only a few hours, if it had continued like that the afternoon trips would have been much more slippery. Bothy stop was well timed for lunch too, the wind was pretty ferocious and we dodged a fairly heft snow shower.
That sounds like a proper adventure - one the kids will remember.
Yeah it was great, although after last year's jaunt up Loughrigg Fell (lower, nicer weather, and a view as it was clear) this was a bit of a shock to the system and I might have scared them off a bit! I've said we'll be doing at least 1 'mountain' a year though. I was proud of them for making it up to the top, they were proud of themselves too. They even had little Quechua rucksacks on with a drink and snacks in
Couple of extra bonuses in that we saw a red squirrel in the forest on the way and did some geocaching on the way back
