Cairngorms beckon: a rare day of sunshine drives highland escape

The Highlands rarely surrender their brooding skies, but yesterday offered a fleeting reprieve – a wall of sunshine so intense it practically demanded abandonment of desk and embrace of the wild. A friend, a dog, and I seized the moment, heading for the heights of Sgòr Gaoith, a peak overlooking the River Feshie in the Cairngorms.

A landscape awakening

The ascent began in a Scots Pine forest, the air thick with the scent of resin and the gentle murmur of Allt Ruadh, the Red Burn. It’s a familiar, comforting scene, but what struck me was the resurgence of life – saplings pushing through the undergrowth across what was once a barren landscape, a palpable sense of renewal. The winter’s grip is loosening, and the hills are responding.

We carried crampons and ice axes, relics of a recent, harsher climate, but the sun poured down, transforming the brown slopes into a shimmering spectacle. The old dog, utterly liberated, bounded ahead, fording a surprisingly strong current with the exuberance of youth. A brief pause for coffee and an apple turnover at a windswept boulder provided a moment of quiet contemplation; a chance to soak in the scene.

The peak of the wind, and a lost hat

The terrain shifted as we neared the summit, a mosaic of ice and water clinging to the bleached moss. The pools mirrored the vivid blue of the sky, creating an illusion of boundless space. Sgòr Gaoith, as the Gaelic name suggests, lives up to its reputation. A sudden gust, icy and sharp, snatched the hat from under my arm, depositing it firmly in a snow cornice. Retrieving it proved impossible without risking a more serious predicament, a testament to the mountain's capricious nature.

But the summit views… they justify the near-loss of headwear. From the blocky boulders, the panorama unfolds in breathtaking fashion. The Great Moss stretches out below, followed by the dramatic chasm of Glen Einich, punctuated by the dark waters of its loch and the imposing bulk of Braeriach. To the north, the forests of Rothiemurchus and Glenmore recede into the distance, a tapestry of green and brown under the vast sky. It’s a vista that etches itself onto memory, a reminder of the raw, untamed beauty of the Scottish Highlands.

We descended bathed in sunlight, buffeted by the wind, and infused with the feeling of having witnessed something rare and precious – a moment of Highland generosity, a day when the clouds parted and the light poured through. The Cairngorms, for a brief time, revealed their soul.