Guest blog by Ordnance Survey’s Gwyn Hughes-Jones

This walk starts at the car park near the phone masts at the Glenshee Ski Centre.  It is the highest public road in Scotland and very handy to start a day on the hills. Glenshee is the largest Ski Resort in Britain with over 40km of pisted runs. The resort also caters for mountain biking so, in the summer, you can use the Cairnwell chair lift to take your bike to the top before cycling/hurtling down 3.2km of descent. We used OS Explorer Map 387 – Glen Shee and Braemar.

To begin, follow the track up past the ski tows, towards Meall Odhar at 922m. This hill is not quite a munro, but it lies on the way to Glas Maol which is the first munro of the day (1068m). The track meanders up the side of the hill for 1.5km to the top of Meall Odhar. Once at the top, it is a case of following a path and making your own route up to the Glas Maol 1km away which is a gentle ascent heading South East to the trig point. There are fantastic views of Glenshee and the hills of Glen Clova.

From Glas Maol, head north for 1km following a path towards the top of Glas Choire. The path skirts around Garbh-choire for two kilometres to the second munro of the day: Cairn of Claise (1064m). Again, if the weather is fine, you will be rewarded with great views of the hills towards Lochnagar from the top.

From Cairn of Claise, head north towards the top of Coire Loch Kander. After 1km, take a bearing towards the cairn on the top of Carn an Tuirc 1km away and follow this until you reach the cairn at 1019m. It is worth stopping at this point to take in the views north towards Braemar. From the cairn, head down the northern side of the hill towards the remains of the Carn an Tuirc hut. There are quite a lot of loose stones in patches on this descent so it is best to take your time and make it a slow one!

From the remains of the hut, there is a small path that you can follow for 2.5km back towards the A93.  Unfortunately it is a bit of a slog on the way back to the car as you head up the A93 but if you make it back to the cafe at the Ski Centre before 5pm they do an excellent all day breakfast and welcome cup of tea!

All images Copyright Martin Free.