Day 8 Rhilean Burn to Forres.

16th May

Woke up to thick fog and a soggy. tent. The fog slowly cleared and by lunchtime the sun was shining again.

Misty morning 

Good walking on old tracks which occasionally vanished until I reached the road at Dulsie where I was reunited with the Findhorn.

Dulsie bridge

The fog lifted as I walked the very quiet little roads giving an occasional glimpse through the trees of the river in it's gorge below.

River Findhorn from Dulsie bridge 

At Daltulich bridge I was able to get off the road and walk the beautiful wooded path above the river to Logie Steading where I arrived just as the clock struck one. Time for lunch.

Logie Steading 

The walk continued along the riverside then the Altyre estate to Forres.

Glasgow School of Art at Altyre

I have retired here and got a bus home and will be heading south tomorrow to hopefully help with a family crisis.

20 miles walked 400 meters ascent 

Day 7 Dalmigavie to Rhilean Burn

 15th May

A beautiful sunny morning and it stayed that way all day.

Church by the River

Said goodbye to all the birds who serenaded me last night, especially the Lapwings, Curlews and Snipe.

The mole-catchers art

Track and road to Tomatin and the big community centre where unfortunately the cafe hasn't reopened but the shop sells tea, cakes and sandwiches. The showers are free and they had kept a food parcel for me, an excellent place!

Tomatin Railway viaduct 

I had to walk a section of the cycle path by the A9 out of Tomatin and came across a man taking photos of passing trucks, he has been doing it for the last thirty years and didn't have an anorak, but it was a warm day. Turned out that he knows one of my neighbours.

Tomatin Community centre 

A minor road that changed to a track goes to the river crossing at Shenachie, unfortunately the crossing 'bucket' had been hooked on the far side so I had to go back along the riverbank to the ford, the water was below knee level.

Ford

Ropeway (bucket bridge)

Followed the river on a track for a few miles before taking to the hills again on a detour over to the Rhilean Burn. There are a lot of new wind-farm tracks now with bridges to avoid the potentially difficult fords.

Lots of tracks

Plenty of good camping spots and a nice sunny evening.

No need to use the ford here

Nice sunny evening

20 miles walked 650 meters ascent

20 miles walked 650 meters ascent

Day 6 Glen Markie to Dalmigavie

14th May

A damp night but only some light drizzle during the day. There were three other TGO'ers coming up the glen as I set off and we walked together on and off until they turned off for Aviemore. 

View down the glen from some house ruins

Glen Markie is even better than I had been told, grassy walking, not steep and great scenery.

A bit boggy

It was a bit boggy at the top of the glen and there is an old bothy near the watershed that is usable in an emergency.

The bothy

I had just prepared a small hole in the ground, for the usual purpose, when a Golden Eagle appeared overhead, circled back to see what I was up to and then had the decency to continue his journey.

The Findhorn (near the source)

The River Findhorn starts near here, although it and my route went down from bog to rocky riverside path before becoming a grassy track. 

Track by the Findhorn

A good track from Dalbeg and then minor road to Dalmigavie where I turned onto another track and found a pitch in a rather sheepy area.

Bridge over the Findhorn at Dalmigavie 

 

18.5 miles walked 600 meters ascent

Day 5 Blackburn bothy to Glen Markie

13th May

A bit more rain overnight dut the day turned out dry.

Blackburn bothy in the morning 

A short walk along General Wade's road before descending to the River Tarff which I followed to nice little bothy below the Glen Doe Dam. I have added it to the 'places to stay' list.

A little used track

Steeply up to the dam and then the wind-farm motorway for a few miles. I would think this is the last of the big hydro dams that will be built.

Glen Doe Dam

Escape from the wind farm

I escaped from the wind-farm and followed the Allt Odhar before turning up Glen Markie.

Looking back to the start of Glen Markie

Found a good camp spot and it was warm enough for a proper wash in the river

13 miles walked 750 meters ascent 

Day 4 Laddie Wood to Blackburn bothy

 12th May

A bit more cloud cover this morning, it was warm all night and very humid unsurprisingly there are thunderstorms forecast for the afternoon.

A good walk through the forest to Invergarry but there was a confusing bit just before joining the minor road as the map showed a large bridge that is no longer there.

Invergarry was great for coffee and cake 🍰 before walking a bit of the Great Glen Way to the Bridge of Oich and the Café where I had a food parcel to collect.

Hairy Coos for the tourists

Invergarry Hotel 

There was quite a lot of storm damage in the forest but the path was clear.

Bridge of Oich

Fallen trees

Up a steep track behind the cafe and then it was heather bashing over the hill to the Corryairack Pass and the bothy. There were two Slovenians at the bothy when I arrived who were on an east-west crossing.

Looking back to Loch Oich

The weather remained good so I put up the tent only for a huge thunderstorm to come over the hill.

Blackburn bothy

A few more arrived later and in the morning there were 4 Tgo'ers, 2 cyclists and the 2 Slovenians!

12.5 miles walked 760 meters ascent 

Day 3 Kinbreak to Laddie Wood

 11th May

A bright sunny morning. No-one arrived last night so I had the bothy to myself,not even a mouse for company.

River Kingie

The hardest part of wading the river was climbing up the bank on the far side.

Glen Kingie

This is a beautiful empty glen and I didn't see anyone until reaching Glen Garry where I met a few Challengers who had. started at Sheil Bridge.

More Glen Kingie, it seems to have changed colour

The path takes a high route on the North side of the glen with fantastic views back to the bothy and the hills beyond. including the sight of a Golden Eagle that took off from beside a burn well below the path and after a couple of wing flaps found a thermal and went up to at least 500 feet before climbing up and across the glen, all with no more than 20 wing strokes.

No eagle picture, I tried but only got sky and blurry bits.

When I did enter a stand of trees, giving some welcome shade, I looked up at one point and there was a pair of White Tailed Eagles flying just above the trees.

River Kingie 

There has been extensive tree harvesting in this area so the walk has much better views than the last time I was here, there was one section  that was hard on the feet where they had improved the track for lorries with 2" stones.

Felled Forest

A hot walk in the sunshine, good training for Spain. Three ticks today, I must have picked them up after crossing the river because the rest of the walk was on a track. There were a lot of deer in that area last night. FC

I even needed to practice putting stones on the tent pegs due to the stoney ground, will be useful in Spain.

17.5 miles walked 650 meters ascent

Day 2 Kinlochmorar to Kinbreak bothy

 10th May

The day started cloudy but rapidly opened up to give more and more sun until in the evening there was a clear blue sky, warm as well.

Looking back to Kinlochmorar

A beautiful walk up the glen before tackling the extremely steep rocky side of Carn Mor, I don't think I'm as fit as I hoped.

Looking down from the ascent of Carn Mor

Great views from the top but the wind was fairly strong and didn't encourage me to stay.

View from the top 

I did have a phone signal at the top but it was gone as soon as I found a sheltered bit, so you will all have to wait for this episode.

Going down 

Again a steep cliffy descent, the joys of hills around Knoydart. I wasn't too far from Glen Pean bothy so called in for lunch.

Glen Pean bothy

An easy walk down the forest track to Strathan was followed by a boggy climb up to the bealach. The walk down the other side to Glen Kingie and the bothy was much drier.

Kinbreak bothy with the red roof 

Sitting outside the bothy drinking tea and reading a book someone has left, enjoying the evening sunshine.

12.5 miles walked 1500 meters ascent