M79 | 1051 m. | 3448 ft.
Translation: From glas-thulchan, green hills
Pronuncation: glas tooleechan

We had seen these two hills when we had visited An Socach, Beinn Iutharn Mhor and Carn Bhac years before starting that long tour from Inverey. This time on a beautiful morning in May we approached these rather remote hills from the Spittal of Glenshee. We left our car at Dalmunzie Hotel of course not without having paid our parking fee at the reception. From the Hotel Frank and I and three English hill walkers and their dog walked up Glen Lochsie using the Land Rover track which first runs along left bank and then the right bank of the burn. A hundred metres before the ruins of Glenlochsie Lodge we had to wade the Glen Lochsie Burn since it carried enough water for us not being able to jump from stepping stone to stepping stone. One of the Englishmen was brave enough for the risky jump, though, and made it alright!

At the ruins the Land Rover track becomes quite steep for a while as it climbs the broad south ridge of Glas Tulaichean. Once the 800 metre contour is reached the way to the summit becomes quite obvious as the ridge levels off and the view opens up. The sun had given way to high clouds and a strong wind greeted us on the upper parts of the hill. Getting to the summit is absolutely easy since the Land Rover track runs up to the 1000m contour and the cairn is only few dozen metres higher. The summit was covered in clouds on and off.

We rested a few minutes at the cairn and then continued down the north ridge of the hill. At a height of about 900m we turned left off the ridge, crossed some boggy terrain in Gleann Mhor and the burn and picked up the path which runs along the southern flank of Mam nan Cairn. There’s a lower and an upper variant of the path, which are both quite boggy all the way to the point where they unite a few hundred metres before the beallach between Mam nan Cairn and Carn an Righ.

The climb up this second Munro was a straightforward job, first due west on a very obvious scar in the grassy hillside and then in a more northerly direction trough rocks and boulders all the way to the summit cairn. This is quite an isolated hill and the feeling of remoteness is very real. The views were better on this hill than on Glas Tulaichean since the cloud base had lifted considerably. Apart from the neighbouring Munros already mentioned before Beinn a’Ghlo eight or ten kilometres off to the west was the hill of most interest.

What was left was the loooooong way back to Dalmunzie Hotel. So on the descent from Carn an Righ we retraced our steps down its slopes, along the boggy path in Gleann Mhor which becomes boggier and boggier the closer you get to Loch nan Eun. This small loch is situated very nicely between the Munros close by and their lower neighbours. We skirted the northern slopes of point 858m and crossed the outflow of Loch nan Eun to pick up the path which runs very steeply beside the waterfalls of the Allt Easgaidh. After 250 or 300m of altitude are lost the glen opens up a bit and a Land Rover track is reached. This track runs down the long picturesque Glen Taitneach following the left bank of the Allt Ghlinn Taitneach for about six kilometres until a bridge over the Allt comes into view.

Once over the bridge a tombstone marking the graves of former residents of the glen greets the unsuspecting hill walker. A very nice spot for one’s final resting place, indeed. From there it’s another mile to Dalmunzie Hotel on grassy tracks. Before we reached the hotel we passed through one final gate before the single track road. There we met two very small weasel- or marten-like creatures who were not at all happy to see us and were hissing at us with their “fangs” bared. Sweet! Frank took nice photos of one of the fellows.

Warm late afternoon sunshine greeted us at the hotel parking. We dropped our gear into the boot of our car, slipped into more comfortable shoes and headed for Spittal of Glenshee and the 20km drive back to Braemar. It was very agreeable to visit these two Munros and to come back to the remote country they “inhabit”. A long day quiet day in the hills.

 


Description Glas Tulaichean and Carn an Righ are in the remote area between the head of Glen Tilt and Glen Shee, and are most easily reached from the A93 road at Spittal of Glenshee, from where they are about 10 kilometres distant to the north-west. Glas Tulaichean is a sprawling mountain with five ridges radiating south and west from its summit and two fine corries on its east face. Three kilometres to its north-west, Carn an Righ is a very isolated mountain in the heart of the wild land midway between Blair Atholl and Braemar.The approach from Spittal of Glenshee goes past Dalmunzie Hotel and up Glen Lochsie to the ruins of Glenlochsie Lodge. Then go north up a broad ridge which leads directly to the summit of Glas Tulaichean. Go down the north ridge for 1 kilometre and descend north-west to reach the path below Mam nan Carn. Follow this west for 1 kilometre to a col and finally climb heather and grass mixed with patches of stones to the summit of Carn an Righ. Return along the path to the col at the foot of the north ridge of Glas Tulaichean, cross it and descend Glas Choire Bheag into the head of Gleann Taitneach. Continue back to Spittal of Glenshee along the track in this glen.