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.

We then took the express bus from Stonehaven which meandered along the coast road into Montrose. After a quick stop for a new toothbrush at Boots we headed to the Park Hotel to
sign out and officially complete our 2011 TGO challenge. Tonight we’ll be visiting our favorite curry spot for a post walk dinner

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

Our hope for a morning shower were dashed with the power still off this morning. We had a breakfast of cereal and cheese. Since there was no hot water we retired to our room and brewed up some Starbucks coffee on the camping stove

The winds yesterday were a record for Scotland with gust recorded at 114 mph. Unfortunately two people were killed when their cars were hit by falling tree – see here for the full story.

We left the hotel and found two huge stones with rings for lifting them. Lynn had read a book last night which told the legend of Donald Dinnie who was a local Scots strongman. Legend states that Donald’s father carried both stones 100 yards across the bridge. I tried lifting one with both hands and couldn’t even budge it! I’ve included a rather amusing picture of Donald with his extraordinary(!) sporran below.

After leaving the hotel we lucked out and joined a new footpath which paralleled the road from Potarch out to the woods of Shooting Green. The walking was lovely meandering over the hills while paralleling the road. The high winds if yesterday were obvious with lots (I counted over 20) of trees downed by the winds.

Sadly our new trail came to an end and we picked up the short road walk into Waulkmill for a pint and lunch at the Feughside Inn. Fortunately they had power and lunch was being served :).

After a leisurely 2 hr lunch we trotted off down the road to Stratchen where we crossed the river before following minor roads to enter the Fetteresso Forrest by Burns of Curren. The climb up towards the forrest gave rewarding views across the valley towards Banchory. We then followed a combination of minor trails and tracks to reach our planned camp alongside a stream leading into Burn of Sheeoch. The camp here is in a lovely flat spot in a depression with a large clearing of trees. Pretty rare find in the woods we’ve been through. We soon found Stuart who’d been pitched here since 2pm and then Graham and Marion appeared each group with their own interesting stories on how they braved the wind storms.

It’s Mac and Cheese for dinner and Apple Chrisp for desert. Given this is our last night we’ll likely finish off the scotch too

The weather today was much better with lots of sun and blue skies. The winds are still fairly strong around 35 mph but a major relief from yesterday.

Tomorrow we have ~18km to reach Stonehaven with a nasty 8km road walk at the end. Still one more day and we’ll be done

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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. We finally left camp at 8:30 and meandered through town to pickup the Deeside way hiking/biking path. We soon banged out 11km to reach our coffee and cake stop (recommended by Graham) at the hamlet of Dinnet. There’s nothing quite like a warn baked scone and clotted cream – it was lovely. We were soon joined by cowboy Mike, Graham, Marion, Stuart? and six other challengers. I was up for another scone but the boss insisted we press on.

Today’s weather was looking bad with wicked gale force winds predicted for later in the day. Most challengers had started to muse over the idea of taking the Deeside way into Aberdeen. With approximately 50 km to go it would be an easy (but very boring walk). Our planned route took us south over some exposed hills so we elected to continue on the Deeside way until we reached Aboyne were we’d have lunch and decide on plan A or B.

We walked to Aboyne chatting to Stuart and the miles flew by. Stuart continued south on his planned route and Lynn and I headed into Aboyne with Mike to find a lunch spot. We found a great little ‘tea room’ (translation for our American readers == cafe) and had a nice lunch.

After pondering the maps we decided the Deeside way to Aberdeen would be too boring so we elected to link up with our planned route to the Fetteresso Forrest.

While we were sitting in the cafe the scene outside was incredible with all kinds of things flying by in the gales. We headed out and walked through the buffeting winds crossing the river south to pickup a minor road. The skies were a mixture of blue, clouds and rainbows. For the trip so far our working theory was that you can have any two of rain, wind or sun. This was soon disproven with all three making a simultaneous appearance throughout the afternoon.

After about an hour on the trail we decided to head for a pub/inn marked on the map in the hope they would have a room available. We pushed on and arrived at the Potarch Hotel. I’d tried calling them earlier in the day to check on a room and had no luck. Once we entered the hotel we found candles and learned they had a powercut, no doubt caused by a
flying tree. This is where the day’s genius shone through as the hotel had real ale – no power needed! We are currently supping our second pint of something (don’t know what but it’s doing the trick) while seated in a pair of lovely leather armchairs. Jackpot!

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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.

We left Braemar heading out over the Lions Face path – so called as it passes by a rock face that resembles a lion. I can’t see it but Lynn assures me its there! We soon hit the main road for a short 2 miles yomp before veering off at Invercauld Bridge into the Balmoral estate. After passing Connaucht cottage we saw a herd of deer grazing in the meadow. I guessed they knew it wasn’t hunting season so they watched us while we snapped lots of pictures. Soon after we met up with Mary, a fellow TGO challenger. We then followed packed dirt roads through to Easter Balmoral. We had hoped to pass by Balmoral itself but the gate was locked with a nastygram informing people they need to pay to get in. Being the law abiding types we followed the trail around to Easter Balmoral. After stopping for a quick lunch we hit the B road for the long 10 miles or so into Ballater. It we there that we ran into Kim who’d hopped the gate into Balmoral and enjoyed tea and cakes at the cafe

For me, the next three hours was long, boring and a real foot pounding 10 miles. Lynn however was having a great chin wag with Mary and seemed
none the worse for ware. The weather was good though with lots of sun and heavy winds. Although we were on roads the scenery was nice with lots of lambs, cows and scenic vistas.

After exiting the woods near Ballater we had to walk another mile before crossing the bridge. We found a well situated pub just over the bridge with four real ales on tap so it was pints all around. Lynn, Mary and I chatted in then pub for an hour before being joined by Graham and Marion who we’d met back on day 3 while walking the Puggle Line. We had another round of beers before heading out to pitch our tent.

We now have three days to go and some 71 km before reaching the eastern seaboard. Tonight we are camped at the Ballater campsite and have winds in excess of 50 mph coming our way. It’ll be a great test of our little Scarp-II :). Oh and we are pitched close to the ladies lavs to Lynn is quite chuffed.

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.

The trip seemed shirt as we walked with TGOers Pete and Tony so the miles went quickly as we chatted. We were soon in Braemar and headed for the gear shop to find a midweight thermal top for Lynn.

Little seemed to have changed since we were here in ’09. After stopping for gas and a shirt for Lynn we headed across the road to the Hungry Highlander for a huge fish and chip lunch before heading to our BnB. Later in the afternoon we headed up to the Moorfield Hotel for some real ale before having a nice dinner with our trail buddy Colin.

Sunday’s weather looks to be good but high winds and rain are coming on Monday :(. We have a 26km walk to Ballater on Sunday to our planned campspot.

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….

We had a great time at the bothy night with quite a good social group. Lots of very amusing stories from the challenge. After pitching our tent we headed into the bothy to enjoy the company and warmth of the wood burning stove. From 6 until 9pm each passing hour brought more folks down from the hills into the bothy. I think the final tally was around 15 with the lawn outside the bothy looking like a multi colored patch work of color.

We turned in around 8:30pm and slept through until 7. The night had brought lots of rain and colder temperatures and we woke to freezing sleet on the tent. The rains continued and it was looking grin for our trek up the glen.

While I was packing up the tent, Lynn was playing the role of ‘first aid trail
angel’ in the bothy. After taping one knee and a foot we set off up the glen. We had taken this path in ’09 but it felt very different this time. Since ’09 a new double track path had been added making the trek up the glen easier than our last visit.

The weather had changed by now and it seemed we had any two of rain, sun or wind at the same time. Sun and a strong wind finally won out to make our trek up the glen very enjoyable.

The trek across the top of the watershed was wet but an easy walk compared to our earlier days. We soon made our planned lunchspot of an abandoned building just before whitebridge. We’d sheltered in it in ’09 and did the same again to have a nice hot pasta lunch.

Our original plan was to camp at Whitebridge but we were on fire today so we kicked it in into gear and pushed on the additional 10km to Mar Lodge. I’d originally tried to book into Mar Lodge and was told it was full. When we got there they’d decided to open up the luxury apartments in the main building so we were soon showed into our ~800 sq ft bedroom! The shower over the ancient claw-foot tub was outstanding and soon had us somewhat presentable.

The staff put on a great dinner for the 33 TGO folks staying here tonight which was soon consumed given the sound appetite everyone had.

Time for bed – tomorrow will be an easy 8km walk into Braemar for our visit to the Hungry Highlander (fish n chips), Fife Arms, and an evening with the Bingo Wings at the TGO gathering :). I’ll post pics of Mars Lodge too.

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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.

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!

The trail was pretty uneventful, we’d made general wades road by 11:30 and were walking with clear skies, sun and a wicked tail wind. The views were amazing and we soon entered Kingussie at 1:30 to find our landing spot at the Silverfjord Hotel. Lunch went down well with a pint of the local ale

This feels like a good rest day for us. Send thoughts of good sunshine as we head back to the hills and into Glen Feshie tomorrow.

Bonus point to viewers who can explain the clan motto ‘touch not the cat but a glove’ (pic below)

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. We arrived there around 6pm joint a growing bunch of challengers including our trail buddies Graham a d Marion. After learning the hotel allowed camping in the grounds it was mere seconds before my next pint

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 :). After a quick and fairly disgusting dinner of spicy mince with beef we hit the hay.