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Distance: 17km (170m), total of 292km
Time on trail: 5 hrs
Planned route: map

We had a nice restful night in our riverside camp. Graeme and Marion showed up later and we chatted with them and Stuart. We woke early around 6am and had oatmeal and coffee before breaking camp. We left camp at a record early start of 7:50am joining Graeme and Marion for the walk to our planned finish of Stonehaven.

The weather was nice with no wind and gray skies (no danger of flying sheep today). The Fetteresso is a working Forrest and we soon passed several work crews and logging trucks. Graeme had a cunning plan which would cut down on road walking so we all walked together for the day. The planned route involved following the powerline to reach a LRT which lead out to a road only 2 miles from Stonehaven.

Alas the path didn’t really exist so we hunkered down low and crawled/walked up the hill following a moss encrusted stream bed. Lynn was in the lead and made some sort of victory whipping noise as she found a clearing. Unfortunately the victory was short-lived as the clearing soon gave way to more trees! :(. Graeme moved into pole position and applied an innovative (if somewhat unusual) technique of walking backwards trough the trees. After another 50 feet the forrest ‘birthed Graeme’ shortly followed by me, Lynn and Marion.

The paths from that point were easy to follow an soon after passing the ‘Harlie Bog’ we bumped into Stuart we’d followed the road from our camp. From there the five of us walked the final miles to a lunch spot in Stonehaven where we refueled before stomping out the final mile to the beach. We dipped our feet, gave congrats all round and headed to the pub (after photos) for our congratulatory post TGO pint.

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Distance: 17km, total of 275km
Time on trail: 5 1/2 hrs
Planned route: map

We had a nice night at the Potarch Hotel. Despite the power being out the restaurant was hopping with people and the booze was flowing well. Since the kitchen was without power, the staff was cooking out back on a BBQ so we had a choice of steak, chicken, salmon, lamb chop or sausages. We both opted for the steak with a glass of wine. It went down well and was finished off with creme brûlée and chocolate mousse! Super yummy 🙂

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Distance: 29km (680m), total of 249km
Planned route: map

Last night we had a lively dinner with Marion, Graham and Mary in the local Italian restaurant. The food was fantastic and the company superb. We finally rolled into bed at 10:30pm for a record breaking late night. Over night the predicted winds didn’t come and it was blissfully quiet until 5am when all hell let loose with full on winds and rain. Read more…

Distance: 27km (400m), total of 221km
Time in trail: 7 hrs
Planned route: map

Today went by quickly but was not one of our favorites. We had a great breakfast at our BnB ‘Callater Lodge’. The porridge came with lots of honey which was lovely. I had a nice cooked breakfast and Lynn opted for the continental – it was great to have a choice. We’d stayed here in 2009 and Andy and Liz have continued to do a wonderful job. Read more…

Distance: 8km (200m), total of 192km
Time on the trail: 2 hrs
Planned route: map

Yesterday started with a wonderfully long shower at Mar Lodge. We had a nice breakfast with the other challengers before saying our good byes and starting the epic 8km yomp into Braemar. We left by walking around to the front of Mar Lodge before crossing Victoria Bridge taking a road walk into Braemar. Read more…

Distance: 30km (400m), total of 187km
Time on the trail: 9hrs
Planned route: map

I am writing this post while sitting in an ancient leather armchair, stuffed deer at my side (why not?), in the main entrance of the amazing Mar Lodge. But wait you all ask, aren’t you supposed to be camping tonight? Well dear readers, hold in to your mouse as we step back in time to last night…. Read more…

Distance: 15km (300m), total of 157km
Time on the trail: 5 hrs
Planned route: map

Today marked a new standard in super easy days. We had a nice breakfast in the hotel before heading to the highstreet to restock on essential supplies. We left town around 10:30am passing the Ruthven Barracks and on to Trombie Bridge. From there we left road walking behind and joined a LRT through the forrest and into Glen Feshie. We stopped by Stonetrooper (a cute little house) for our picnic lunch and enjoyed another hour of glorious sunshine. Yes folks the sun has actually been seen today!

The glen was lovely in the sunshine and the river Feshie seemed a little low compared to all the other rivers we’ve crossed. After passing over a very sturdy bridge we headed up a single track path along the glen. When the trail forked we elected to stay left following the high ground into the woods. Our minor climb was rewarded with wonderful views back down the glen. We arrived at the bothy around 3:30 and joined the growing campsite of challenger tents. It’s lovely here and we are currently chilling out by our tent. Overall a nice, easy and enjoyable day.

Distance: 20km (500m), total of 142km
Time on the trail: 5 hrs
Planned route: map

We woke around 6:30am to the sound of pelting rain on the tent. After the morning rituals we packed up camp leaving the grounds of the Mondalaith Hotel at 8:30am. Our planned route to Kingussie followed our 2009 TGO route – last time it wad rains, blisters, tears and 11 hours on the trail. Today couldn’t have been more different with healthy feet, sunshine (ok a little wind and rain too) and a nice 20km to bang out! Read more…

Distance: 25km (320m), total 110km
Time on the trail: 9 hrs
Planned route: map

We had a lovely restful sleep in our little riverside nest. Lynn even made me breakfast in bed by cooking in the tent opening! The weather was much nicer today with sustained sunshine and no bog hopping! We left camp around 9:30 and spent the day puttering along the shores of several lochs and passing through several forests above Kinloch. The terrain and views were spectacular (amazing what a little sunshine can do). There were several amazing beach camping spots on Loch Nearabagh (need to check the spelling). Once we passed through Kinloch Laggan we had a little road walking before joining General Wade’s road towards Laggan. We passed Laggan Wolftrax foregoing a visit to their great cafe in favor of push on hard past our planned campsite to have dinner at the Mondalaith Hotel in Laggan. Read more…

Distance: 24km (600m), total of 85km
Time on the trail: 10 hrs
Planned route: map

Today we left our lovely B&B loaded up with ‘the full Scottish’ (breakfast) around 10:30 so we had a fairly late start. We followed our planned route along minor roads before climbing to join the Puggle Line, a dismantled railway. The track was a mix of lush grass, hard packed rock and swamp bog. The views traversing around all the valleys would have been nice if the sunshine persisted for more than 10 minutes at a time :(. Around 1pm we stopped for lunch and brewed up some soup. While we were sitting we saw two other hikers joining our trail from across the river. We soon caught up with them meeting Marion and Graham, two Scots on their fifth challenge. Like most other people we’ve met, they have great tales of good weather 🙂

We walked with them on and off through the small hamlet of Fersit and on through the woods. Our plan was to camp in the woods but we pushed on through to make our next two days into Kingussie more reasonable. We eventually made camp by the side of the river after ‘negotiating’ the deer fence :). What a lovely spot it was too – right by the river, under the shelter of trees and hidden from any other hikers :). Read more…