An Socach, Glen Ey

After an enjoyable enough workshop in Aberdeen, I returned via the butcher's at Braemar, the chippy (yummy) and parked up at Baddoch road end on the A93. I had planned to ascend via Sgor Mor and then round to An Socach - the path was excellent but not before I had time to get very close to some white ponies, which were asleep. Lovely looking creatures. It was a fairly uneventful outing though I did manage to scare the crap out of a ptarmigan and her young. Cue one angry male ptarmigan who cajoled and ushered me away from the helpless chicks. Rather unsettling. The ground between the false top and the actual summit was hard-going, very bouldery and made for some awkward walking. At the summit, I chilled out, phoned Pumpy then came down the 'normal' route, which was fun as I more or less ran down to the land rover track. A nice walk back along the Baddoch track and I was back to the car in under 4 hours. An uncomplicated tick and an enjoyable stretch.