0:16:50 > 0:16:57.
0:17:15 > 0:17:17I've just come through the Pass of Ryvoan
0:17:17 > 0:17:21between Glenmore and Abernethy in the Cairngorms.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24It's a path that once resounded to the sound of stolen cattle.
0:17:26 > 0:17:30The route was known as the Rathad nam Meirleach, the Caterans' Road,
0:17:30 > 0:17:32and it was used by freebooters from Lochaber
0:17:32 > 0:17:34who made their way through here
0:17:34 > 0:17:37to raid and plunder the rich pasture lands of Moray.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42Now, I'm not going as far as Moray today.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45At this point here I'm going to leave the Caterans' Road,
0:17:45 > 0:17:48head off to the right, up into the Cairngorms,
0:17:48 > 0:17:50to climb a hill I've become very familiar with over the years.
0:17:50 > 0:17:52It's called Bynack Mor.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01Over the years, Bynack Mor has become my, sort of,
0:18:01 > 0:18:03bad weather alternative hill.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06It lies in the rain shadow of the higher Cairngorms,
0:18:06 > 0:18:09so when the southwesterlies are lashing rain
0:18:09 > 0:18:12across the Cairngorm plateau, Bynack More is quite often nicely sheltered.
0:18:14 > 0:18:19On windy days it pays to be a wee bit more circumspect, though.
0:18:19 > 0:18:22You'd think the sort of elephantine bulk of Cairngorm would
0:18:22 > 0:18:25protect Bynack Mor from the worst of the winds,
0:18:25 > 0:18:28but that's not always the case, and we might discover that today.
0:18:40 > 0:18:42Once you come through the Pass of Ryvoan
0:18:42 > 0:18:45you get this wonderful sense of spaciousness.
0:18:45 > 0:18:50On one side, the slopes rise up to the high tops of the Cairngorms,
0:18:50 > 0:18:53but on the other side it's total contrast.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56You get the vastness of the Abernethy Forest rolling on
0:18:56 > 0:18:58and rolling on to infinity.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01It's a great and wonderful nature reserve
0:19:01 > 0:19:05owned and managed by the RSPB, and I just love it.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08I love the wee lochans cradled in the hollows.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11I love the, sort of, grumbling cackle of the red grouse.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14I love the scattering of Caledonian pines.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19Oh, I feel really at home here, you know. It's just great.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30There you go, that's our first glimpse of Bynack Mor itself.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34Just lifting her head up there, its white snow-covered slopes
0:19:34 > 0:19:38in stark contrast with the heather-covered slopes
0:19:38 > 0:19:41of the foreground hills, and it looks cold too.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59I've been climbing the hill following the route of the Lairig an Laoigh,
0:19:59 > 0:20:02one of the old mouth routes of the Cairngorms.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04Up until the middle of the 19th century,
0:20:04 > 0:20:06it's a route that would have been well used
0:20:06 > 0:20:10by cattle drovers or shepherds with their great flocks of sheep
0:20:10 > 0:20:15heading south to the big markets, places like Crieff or Falkirk.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18Today, it's very popular amongst hill walkers
0:20:18 > 0:20:21as one of the through-routes of the Cairngorms
0:20:21 > 0:20:25along with the possibly more popular, certainly higher and more rugged,
0:20:25 > 0:20:28Lairig Ghru, which lies to the west.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31But at this point here I'm going to leave the Lairig an Laoigh and
0:20:31 > 0:20:35I'm going to head up the final summit slopes of Bynack Mor behind me.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37They look pretty snow-covered.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40They look quite icy. It's getting windier and windier.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43So it might be just a bit interesting and maybe even a bit challenging.
0:20:53 > 0:20:57Bynack Mor actually has two summits separated by a long shallow col.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01The westernmost summit is called Bynack Beag,
0:21:01 > 0:21:03or the "small bynack".
0:21:03 > 0:21:07Until, probably the early last century the hill was known
0:21:07 > 0:21:11as Ben Bynack, but a prominent Gaelic scholar from nearby Nethy Bridge,
0:21:11 > 0:21:13the Reverend William Forsyth,
0:21:13 > 0:21:16reckoned that was a bad use of the Gaelic.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19He believed the name of the mountain was Beinn Eigg.
0:21:19 > 0:21:21That comes from the cleft in the rocks,
0:21:21 > 0:21:24the summit rocks that can you see from Nethy Bridge.
0:21:26 > 0:21:30Other scholars believed that the mountain is actually called
0:21:30 > 0:21:34Beinn Beag, or the "small mountain", and that seems a wee bit strange
0:21:34 > 0:21:37given that this hill is 1,090 meters high.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42But I suppose, in comparison with its much bigger Cairngorm neighbours,
0:21:42 > 0:21:45you could be excused for referring to it as the "small mountain".
0:21:52 > 0:21:56'Small it may be, but this wind stopped us completely in our tracks.'
0:22:07 > 0:22:12Ah, dear. We're kind of in the lee of the wind here.
0:22:13 > 0:22:18You go up there and this, sort of, fabulous neve, you think it's great.
0:22:18 > 0:22:20Then you get to the summit ridge
0:22:20 > 0:22:23and the wind's blowing like a demented banshee.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25As soon as I put my head over,
0:22:25 > 0:22:27it's like a heavyweight boxer just giving me a punch.
0:22:29 > 0:22:33You can't stand on the ridge. The wind is so strong.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36I think the wind has been building up during the course of the day.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39It's just hard to believe that down in Ryvoan it was
0:22:39 > 0:22:43actually quite balmy and we were looking up here saying it looks interesting.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47But I think to try and go on along the ridge just would have been stupid.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49There's no shame in turning back.
0:22:49 > 0:22:53It's been a great day and I think I'm just going to head down now.
0:23:03 > 0:23:05The summit will still be there next month.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08It'll still be there next year. Still be there in ten years.
0:23:08 > 0:23:10I just hope I am!