Walking in Gleann Eanaich

With an afternoon flight back home to get to, we looked in our OS maps for somewhere easily accessible where we could walk for the morning. Our last day in the Cairngorms turned out to be the best weather by far - no winds and glorious sun.

The maps indicated a path leading in to the valley of Gleann Eanaich from Whitewell - we figured we would walk as far as time allowed before turning back.

A photo taken from behind as Chris walks ahead. The sun is directly ahead causing Chris to be mostly silhouette with brightly lit edges of his body. The surrounding countryside is fresh with evergreen trees and a snowy mountain in the background.

Our initial target was Loch Mhic Ghille-chaoil - but we soon realised that was far too ambitious for a morning stroll. Still - the weather was glorious, and we loved just wandering about in the valley.

A sunny valley early in the morning. There’s a bit of mist in the background and several layers of mountains visible.

A wide photo in morning sunlight. In the background there’s a hump of a snowy hillside. In the foreground there’s brownish grass with tall trees littered about.

The first part of the walk was through light woodland - before emerging in to a stunning valley. The snowy hills were very tempting, but we weren’t equipped for winter walking any more, and didn’t have the time - tempting for another trip though!

A small stream in a sunny valley landscape. There’s patches of snow on the right bank.

A wide panorama of the Gleann Eanaich valley. There’s snow on the upper parts of the mountains and in the valley it’s mostly brown. — Sgòr Gaoith rising sharply on the right - where we'd visit in March.

Chris stands on a high path taking a photo of the Gleann Eanaich valley in bright sunlight.

All-in-all a very successful morning and end of our first winter trip. The first of many to come.