Time on Feet

Route details

Starting in the centre of Braemar, a beautiful village nestled in the heart of the cairngorm national park, head towards the Highland Games centre and have a look at the historic and world-famous location before you begin the hard work. From here there are several routes to the hill, I have mapped out following a track/road around the back of the Highland Games stadium past the duck pond and bearing left towards the main path you can see scarring the hillside.

Once you begin climbing you will not leave this path until past the summit, so strap in for a steep climb up grassy slopes, and hope there hasn’t been too much rain as it gets slippy in places. On your way up, treat yourself to a pause at the 5 cairns and enjoy wonderful views out over Braemar and towards some of the remote Cairngorm giants. Continue the climb until you reach a communication radio station for mountain rescue and large cairn at the summit. Tap the cairn and bask in the sense of accomplishment of bagging a Corbett, whether that was your intention or not.

From here you pick up a wide dirt road that initially rolls along the plateau before taking the left option to descend down to the military road. At this point you have a great view up glen Callater. The descent is fast and fun, with mostly good footing, sweeping bends and a gradient that allows you to stretch out without ever losing control or smashing the quads too much.

Once down at the military road follow it all the way back to Braemar. This flat, smooth road cuts through the highest 18 hole gold course in Britain and if you are there in October the colours are phenomenal. It is a nice easy finish to a good hill run.