Carn na Drochaide from Linn of Quoich

Bridge over Quoich Water by Linn of Quoich

From Braemar, drive west along its main street, then continue on an unclassified road for 9km to the bridge over the Linn of Dee.

Cross the bridge, turn sharp right and pass the large Forestry Commision Linn of Dee car-park on your left.

Continue along the narrow road for a further 5km to its end by Linn of Quoich where there is a car-park. There's a daily charge of £3 to park and cards aren't accepted (at time of writing, 2022).

On Carn na Criche looking to Carn na Drochaide

From the car-park, follow the track towards the Water of Quoich. Over a bridge, you'll meet up with a building - turn left away from the track on a faint path. The path becomes more obvious and meets up with an old house , just below which is a footbridge over the Water of Quoich by the 'Punch Bowl' - a weird hole in the rock by a narrow gorge in the river.

Behind the house and away from paths, strike directly uphill through some remnants of Caledonian Forest and you'll meet up with a track. Follow this track north-west for around 1km to come to some forestry. The track heads around the forestry and comes to a junction - take the right fork.

From the junction, the track now climbs uphill and after around 1km, crosses the Allt na h-Earba just above which there's a small cairn on the right side of the track. This cairn marks the start of a path cutting a route through heather aiming for Carn na Criche. Another larger cairn is met higher up around halfway up the hillside with an even larger and more untidy cairn on the summit of Carn na Criche .

Summit cairn on Carn na Drochaide

Once on Carn na Criche, the views really begin to open up, Beinn a'Bhuird looks impressive, though you don't get much idea of the crags surrounding Dubh Lochan and Ben Avon's summit is hidden behind Carn Eas.

The route to Carn na Drochaide is obvious - a straightforward hike over a wide stunted-heather clad crest, with a path clearly seen all the way. It's just under 2km between Carn na Criche and Carn na Drochaide, with a few small areas of boulderfield on the approach to the summit . There are a few cairns on Carn na Drochaide's bouldery summit , the largest of which denotes the highest point. Ben Avon's summit can be seen from here !

Looking down from Carn na Drochaide to Carn Dearg and the Glen Ey hills

The start of the route down isn't too obvious at first, but simply take a south-west bearing and gradually a path begins to form as you progress downhill. The path is faint at first and can easily be lost here and there.

On the way down there is one slight rise over the bump of Carn Dearg , beyond which there is a split in the path - keep to the left fork (east).

Never too steep, the path drops to woodland below where it gets a little vague and lost in deep grass before meeting a track by the buildings at Allanquoich . Follow this track back to the car-park at Linn of Quoich.