Meall a' Bhuachaille

Meall a' Bhuachaille is the Hill of the Herdsman. Its rock is not the rounded grey granite of the true Cairngorms but a streaky, slabby schist that breaks down to a more fertile soil. So Meall a' Bhuachille, with its grand outlook to the bare Cairngorms across Glen More, has better grazing for the former black cattle and wild flowers for the walker.

West coast main line

According to legend, a poem celebrating Ryvoan and the Cairngorms was found in the bothy during World War II. It was written by Ms A M Lawrence, brought up at nearby Nethy Bridge but living in England. A copy of the full poem, 'I shall leave tonight from Euston', is kept in the bothy; two lines are also carved into the bench at the viewpont over Lochan Uaine.

And again in the dusk of evening

I shall find once more alone

The dark water of the Green Loch,

And the pass beyond Ryvoan.

From Glenmore Visitor Centre, a tarmac track runs just above the road towards the ski slopes. Keep ahead, just below the Reindeer Centre, on a tarmac lane signed for Glenmore Lodge (Mountain Centre). Soon you can move onto a bike track alongside the lane. The bike/walk path rejoins the gravel track just beyond Glenmore Lodge.

Follow the track ahead, though the steep-sided gap of Pass of Ryvoan, and past Lochan Uaine to open heathery moorland. The track forks; turn left, signed ‘Nethy Bridge’. Soon you arrive at Ryvoan Bothy.

Here a path turns off to the left, to climb Meall a’ Bhuachaille. It has been newly rebuilt, and is smooth with some stepped sections. At the foot of the steeper slope it slants up left, giving views down to Lochan Uaine. After some zig-zags it bends up right, to the top of the steep slope above the bothy. In Strath Nethy below, pines from the north and the south are about to rejoin. Soon squirrels will hop, branch to branch, from Grantown to Glen Feshie. The path bends left, and heads up the rounded, heathery crest with Meall a' Bhuachaille summit about 550yds (503m) beyond. Here you will find a large cairn, with a circular shelter of low stones. Note that you arrive from the direction of the opening in this shelter.

To leave the summit, pass to the right of the big cairn and head down for 35yds (30m) to where the built path restarts. (The first sign of it is a stone drainage runnel.) It bends left, to run straight down the rounded spur towards a col below. Above this col, the slope eases a little and the path divides.

Ignore the path ahead, which becomes peaty as it heads for the col just below. Instead take the main path down to the left as it slants around Coire Chondlaich. Soon the well-built path heads directly downhill, to join a stream. A red-top waymarker is at the top of clear-felled plantations.

The path runs down to the left of the stream, with a strip of standing pine left to shelter it. It widens to a rough track among the pines. At a fork and signboard, a smaller path on the right has a red waymarker, and soon runs down to Glenmore Visitor Centre.