Carn an Tuirc trail head by road A93.
| Carn an Tuirc from Glen
Clunie Carn an Tuirc |
| Estimated net time | 2½-3 hours | ||
| Difficulty | No difficulties. | ||
| Drinking water | Several sources of running water through the valley. | ||
| GSM coverage | Coverage throughout the route (September 2012). | ||
| Parking | Room for many cars at the trail head car park. | ||
| Start height | 487 metres | ||
| Vertical metres | 545 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 7.3 km | ||
| GPS-file | X | ||
| Map |
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| Route photo |
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From the village Braemar, on road A93, drive 11.7 km south on A93. Turn right onto a signed car park immediately after crossing the river on a small bridge, and park here. This is approximately 2.7 km north of Glenshee ski-centre.
Start your walk by heading back across the bridge and turn right onto a wide path running parallel to the road towards the Glenshee ski-centre. After 740 metres you get to a path junction, where you should turn left and follow the path into the valley. You will see Carn an Tuirc straight ahead after you've turned left, and should follow the path directly towards the summit. When the terrain gets steeper there are multiple paths but it doesn't matter which one you follow as long as the general direction is towards the summit. When you get to approximately 960 metres the path fades away as you enter some boulder. Continue directly east (straight up) to a stone shelter, and then another few tens of metres to the pile of stones at the summit.
Descend by reversing your ascent route.
This was the first day of the annual autumn holiday for Elisabeth and me, and after flying from Norway to Aberdeen we had driven to Glenshee with the purpose of hiking Carn an Tuirc and Cairn of Claise. Definitely two of the easier and duller Munros, but something achievable in an afternoon.
The easy walk to the foot of Carn an Tuirc was just the thing we needed after ten hours of travel, and also a perfect warm-up before the terrain got steeper. There was light rain at periods, but nothing that really made any impact. And some spice was added to the hike when we met an old man, impeccably dressed in his tweed, and with a fine white horse by his side. We chatted a little with him, and told him our hiking plans. He told us about the deer stalking going on in the area, but we didn't quite figure out whether this was a warning to be careful for our own sake or a warning not to disturb the hunters. But we took this as an advice, and made sure to consider both aspects.
When we got approximately half-way up the west slopes of Carn an Tuirc we suddenly heard a shot, and when looking across to the other side of the valley we saw a large herd of deer, many tens of animals, running at full speed up towards the north shoulder of Glas Maol. Next we saw four hunters approaching where we first had seen the herd, but we weren't able to see if an animal had been shot or not.
As we approached Carn an Tuirc's summit thick fog came drifting in, and when the route towards Cairn of Claise was totally covered in fog we decided not to proceed across to this summit, and instead headed back down. After the hike we drove to Blairgowrie, where we spent the night at the same hotel as I had stayed in during the first night of the spring visit to Scotland.