In the footsteps of the Big Grey Man

Since my first visit to the Cairngorm Mountains, 15 years ago, I have been frequently coming back to the area.

In 2021 I decided to venture to Loch Avon in the heart of the Cairngorm Plateau, not far from the second highest summit in Scotland, Ben Macdui. Conveniently, there is a shelter by the loch. It is a sort of cavity under a big boulder and very aptly called the Shelter Stone. So, I had a plan to go there and stay overnight in this natural shelter.

I hit the road one sunny and hot day in the summer of 2021, jumping on the bus to Aviemore. From this lovely resort town, I took a local bus to the Snowsport Centre, from where I started my trek in the early afternoon. When I reached the cairn, where the path branches out to the top of the Cairn Gorm, I could see at last Loch Avon, some 500 metres below, surrounded by tall rocky walls. After some three hours of trekking, I reached the banks of the loch.

There was a sandy beach at the end of the loch and a maze of boulders above, strewn all over the foothills. It was one big rocky mess. Under one of the boulders my accommodation awaited me. I had done some internet research beforehand and found an interesting story about the shelter. In the 1970s English climbers stayed at the shelter and in the middle of the night heard heavy, noisy steps outside. The next day they concluded it could have been the Big Grey Man, walking around the shelter, a mythical monster inhabiting this particular area according to folklore, a Scottish version of the Yeti.

It took me some time to find the shelter. At last, I discovered a small entrance at the bottom of the massive rock and moved in, squatting through a narrow corridor. There was a chamber at the end, maybe three meters by four. In the dim light I noticed two mattresses and a couple of candles. There was also a visitor book, which is standard in every bothy run by the Scottish Bothy Association.

I had a closer look around. The ceiling was low, so I couldn’t fully stand up. This cavity was apparently a result of a random accident. Once upon a time, the rocky cliff above cracked and as a result a large boulder had fallen off, tumbling down the slope, until settling on other fallen rocks. But to me, the chamber didn’t look like it was created by a force of nature. I was struck by the regular shapes of the interior. It looked like the bottom boulders (which created the walls) had been positioned deliberately by some anonymous builders, and the top boulder had been placed on them to make a roof. The bottom of the top boulder was perfectly flat, and the room had more or less a shape of a square. I couldn’t help but think I was sitting in a manmade structure.

I didn’t sleep well at night. The mattress was comfortable, but I felt a little bit claustrophobic lying under a massive rock. The night was warm, a nice surprise, and that kept me awake. When I woke up after getting some sleep, it was pitch black. I was absentmindedly staring into the darkness when I noticed a bright spot on the wall. It puzzled me at first and I suspected it was some fluorescing item. But then it got brighter, clearer. It must have been dawn already, I guessed, and the first light was coming through a tiny crevice. But no, it was something else. The bright spot took a different shape, and it was orange-yellow now. Next, it changed into a thin ray, extending across the floor of the interior. Finally, it was a wide, golden beam of light, cast on the wall of the shelter. I watched with fascination this rare phenomenon.

The wandering light seemed to be an element of a timeless ritual. It reminded me of my holiday on the Orkneys, where I had visited the Maeshowe Chambered Cairn, a neolithic tomb built around 5000 years ago. A tourist guide, who had taken our group to the monument, explained to us that at a certain time of the year sunrays travel along the corridor and illuminate the central chamber. Now it transpired to me that I had woken up at the right time to witness a similar spectacle, in the heart of the Cairngorm Mountains.

It was still dark inside, but I realised that a new day was approaching. The night was already over, so I decided to get out and photograph the sunrise. Outside, the whole area in front of me was already lit, it was dawn. The sun was about to rise, behind the further end of the loch. It was a windless morning, and the surface of Loch Avon was motionless. The silence captivated me entirely, I would sit and watch the scenery endlessly. When the sun ascended finally over a line of the rocky ridge, I returned to the shelter and started packing my things.

At 8 o’clock, I was ready to leave the shelter. I was planning to hike up to Loch Etchachan, which lies on the higher elevation, and then to climb up to the top of Ben Macdui. It was going to be an arduous trek, in the scorching sun. It was the country of the Big Grey Man, where the monster was most likely to be encountered. I wasn’t eager to cross the path of this creature, though. For me, the stay in the Shelter Stone was the best possible adventure.