A Great Divide

Gayle Ritchie attempts to hike the Lairig Ghru, one of Scotland's most punishing yet rewarding routes

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THE Lairig Ghru is a haunting corridor carved through a wilderness of shattered boulders, jagged peaks, towering cliffs and wind-scoured plateaus. It’s a place that feels almost untouched by time, where the dramatic scale of the landscape can humble even the most experienced walker.

The pass once served as a drove road between Deeside and Strathspey. Today, its rugged route is mostly trodden by walkers and hardcore runners or mountain bikers undeterred by its challenges. The path rises to 835m and, while relatively easy to follow, there are stretches that are stony and laborious. Then there's the notorious boulder field, which slows progress considerably.

I'd dreamed of hiking the iconic mountain pass for decades, but the logistics put me off. The Lairig Ghru is a 19-mile linear walk and requires either camping overnight or arranging transport.

When I heard that Aberdeenshire’s Ellon Hillwalking Club had the Lairig hike in their diary, I contacted them to see if I could join them and was overjoyed when they agreed.

They'd hired a minibus, leaving Ellon on a Sunday morning and dropping walkers at the Linn of Dee car park near Braemar. We would be picked up after our hike at Loch an Eilein.

We set off from Linn of Dee at 8am, sunlight filtering through the trees, dappling the forest floor in a warm, golden haze. The cold air bit hard, but we warmed up as we marched towards Black Bridge and on into Glen Lui.

It was an easy walk along a track with scented pinewoods to Derry Lodge, an old Victorian shooting lodge. A clearing beside a footbridge over the Lui Water was a cracking picnic spot, but we pressed on, eager to cover more miles.