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I’m writing this from the warmth and comfort of Mars Lodge, a historic shooting lodge near Braemar. The estate is 770,000 acres of amazing terrain. It’s owned by the Scottish National Trust and is open all year around for accomodation, hunting and fishing. The lodge ballroom is bizaire with 2500 deer antlers mounted on the ceiling (apologies for the blurry photo).

We left Kingussie two days ago and passed by the beautiful Ruthven Barracks. They were built in 1715 by the English to quel the Jacobite uprisings. After the battle if Culloden the Scots captured then burned them down. The site is still very well preserved.

Lynn’s feet were giving her lots of trouble today so we unleaded our full arsenal if blister remedies. There has been a lot of road the past few days which plays hell with her feet.

After leaving Ruthven we passed through thick forrest into Glen Freshie. The landscape here was amazing, some of most picturesque yet. We followed Glen Freshie upwards into the hills and passed through a cute bothy with an outside flush toilet. We stepped in for a brew then pushed on to a great campsite we named ‘The Amplitheatre’. Well named for it’s location in a small ravine with running water (stream) and great protection from the winds. At this point we were almost 8km ahead if schedule.

The sun was still shining hard but the next morning the weather turned and the rain, winds and cold returned. We decided to push through and make the trek out of the hills and try to get a bed at Mar Lodge. We broke camp at 8 and sloffed it across the watershed wrapped in all our foul weather gear.

Along the way we got quite wet and ducked into an abandoned building for a warm meal. From there it was only 11km to Mar Lodge. This section went fast until we once again hit road at Linn of Dee. From here it’s 4km to the lodge but it felt like a million miles.

The lodge is amazing and they put on a venison dinner for the 26 challengers staying here. Wine and whisky flowed and any food not nailed down was consumed as if a hoarde if lucusts swarmed through. From here it’s 6km to Braemar and our next B&B stop. We plan to resupply our blister kit and find some trainers for Lynn’s road walking. This one will be somewhat if a rest day for us.

By my reckoning we’re about 120 miles into our 180 mile crossing. We have one more day of real mountains before leaving the Cairngorns and entering the NE lowlands. From there it’s ‘easy’ road walking to the coast.