Day 10 - Geldie Burn to Braemar

Today we must have had wind on our backs because we finished our hike at about 11:45. We had an easy walk from Geldie Burn, through Lon of Dee, past the Mar Lodge, and into Braemar.
We passed by some of our new friends at White Bridge packing up their camp, including our friend Nell who we met at Glen Pean on day 2!!! After a quick catch-up we continued on our way joined by Martin, a gentleman we briefly met the day before. Martin walked with us all of the way to Mar Lodge, which was about the halfway point for the day. We had a great chat the whole way. He told us about his 38-year military career in the RAF as a flight and communications engineer. We traded stories about this challenge and other hiking adventures. Martin only started last Monday (three days after us), and plans on finishing this Tuesday (two days before us). Whoa!!

Heading Out From Geldie Burm Towards Braemar

Before we knew it we were at Mar Lodge, which is a traditional stop for challengers, where you can pick up parcels, have a tea and biscuits, and catch up with whoever has been through already. We stopped in for twenty minutes, saw a few familiar faces, and a few new ones as well.

Tea At Mar Lodge

Anxious to get to the campground in Braemar we pressed on, just as fast as before. Again before we knew it we had blown through the kilometres and had arrived in Braemar. We decided to get to the campsite first, clean up, then head back into town for some fun and some errands. As always, the showers felt amazing, and rejuvenated us for the day. After setting up camp and getting a little organized we walked back into town.

First stop was Gordon’s Tearoom for tea/coffee, and scones with jam and clotted cream. Mmmmmmmm!!! We had a reservation for dinner at 5:00 so that left us an hour or two to walk around and explore a little. I think half of this time was spent walking, and the other half was spent sitting on park benches. It was all very relaxing, and I think we all enjoyed it quite a bit. Braemar is a very cute town in the Cairngorms, with shops, cafes, pubs, restaurants, and a few other amenities. It is an ideal spot for tourists and backpackers alike.
Dinner was out of this world. Balmoral chicken (JM), chicken kebabs (Sam), and beef stew( Ben). We were joined by Fedor (Austrian living in London), and sat at a table beside David (Scottish Texan - long story) and his wife Susan. With full tummies we headed to the grocery store for our re-supply, then back to the campsite for laundry and phone charging. All in all a very nice day, that has left us in good spirits for the final four days ahead of us.
Next post should be in three nights from Edzell, which will also be our last night of the crossing. It’s hard to believe it! Thanks again for following along, everybody. Off to bed for us now!!


Day 10 Route - WILL BE UPDATED

Day 9 - Glen Tromie to Geldie Burn

Even with a 6:30 wake-up this morning we all probably got at least 10 hours of sleep last night. We would need it today as we had a long hike planned from Glen Tromie, up and over into Glen Feshie, and finally to Red House bothy beside the Geldie Burn.We woke up to a lot of condensation on the tent owing to a cooler overnight temperature. The skies were completely clear, with the sun bound to be a factor for today’s hike.

We started off with a couple kilometres of boggy off-trail including a couple of river crossings that cost Ben and I some wet feet/boots.🤬. After that, most of the day was pretty quiet with steady progress.
When passing through Glen Feshie in 2019 on our way to Cape Wrath we spotted three seemingly wild white horses in the field. As we descended into Glen Feshie this year, Ben spotted the same three white horses! We couldn’t believe our luck to be seeing them again.

Starting The Descent Into Glen Feshie

We are starting to meet up with more challengers than the first week. At one point we caught up to Stuart and Alec from the Dalwhinnie hostel, along with some new friends, Steve, Ryan, and Roland (Challenger #100). These meetings with people from all over the world are chances to get information, share stories, talk about gear, and just have a good laugh. It is a part of what makes the Challenge special, and it is really fun seeing the boys experience it.
The bothy we are staying at tonight is a special place for me. Amanda and I stayed here on our first TGOC in 2017, when the bothy was more like an abandoned building with no roof. On that night we met some people who would end up being very close friends of ours - Joyce, Moira, and Martin. Here I am seven years later enjoying an evening at the same place, and meeting some new and interesting people. Very cool! We have enjoyed pleasant discussions this evening with UK locals, as well as people from Vienna, Sri Lanka, India, and the USA.

Tucked In At The Bothy

We will have an easy walk into Braemar tomorrow where will shower and do wash at the campsite, and hopefully meet up with a few more old friends.


Day 9 Route - TO BE UPDATED

Day 8 - Dalwhinnie to Glen Tromie

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SAMMY!!!

🎉🎂🥳🎈🎊🎁

Although this is probably not the way he intended to spend his 19th birthday, I was happy to be with Sam today as the three of us continued plodding through the Scottish hills.

I think I forgot to mention yesterday that we were officially half way there!!! Seven days done, seven days to go. As with everything on this trip, it is confusing to think about. On one hand we are proud of everything we have accomplished so for, but on the other hand we still have seven more days to go…. That last statement is also confusing in itself - we have seven more days of beautiful scenery, friendly people, and quality time together, but we also have seven more days of sore feet, sore bodies, potential rain, potential bugs, etc…. There’s no sense in trying to make sense of it all, it’s just the nature of being out here and trying to do this.

We woke up around 6:45 to get an early start today. The consensus was that sleeping in a bed with actual covers and pillows was awesome!! As mentioned in yesterday’s blog we had a very pleasant time at the hostel, and made a few new friends. After a quick tea we headed out at 7:45.  

Heading Out From The Dalwhinnie Hostel

We Passed The Distillery On The Way Out Of Town

The first section was to be a road walk for approximately 8 km. This was one of our quietest stretches of the trip so far. No banter, no conversation. I think we were all a little sad at the comforts we were leaving behind again. The boys put earphones in - Ben podcasts, Sam music. I let my mind wander where it wanted to go, and watched the scenery slowly go by. Before we knew it we were through with the road section, and on to a section Ben and I had been on going the opposite direction during our SNT2019 trip. It is fun to think of our routes from different trips intersecting on the map, and walking in the same exact spot several years apart.

Same Place, Five Years Later

We were blessed once again today with a low-level RAF flyby right over our heads. These two fighter jets were much closer to us than the ones we saw on day one, and they pumped us up just as much!

With a spring in our step we continued on, getting into a more remote area than where we started the day. We stopped for lunch at about 11:45. We found a small cabin being built literally in the middle of nowhere with an inviting wooden deck to sit on, so we dropped our packs, cooked some rice packs and had a nice little break.

A Place To Sit For Lunch!!

 After lunch the next section was to be a few kilometres of the bog that we have become so fond of…🤪. This particular section of bog has history - in 2017 Mandy and I nearly got divorced going through it 🤪, and in 2019 Ben, Zach, and I had good luck going through it in the opposite direction. Today was closer to 2017, but we made as short work of it as we could knowing the rest of the day would be walking on good tracks.

Ben has taken on the role of wildlife spotter on the trip. Today he pointed out a decent-sized snake with diamond pattern on its back (we think it was an adder). It looked very cool for the brief moments we were able to see it, and I was quite happy it was going in the right direction!!

We made it to our planned campsite at around 3:00, and found a nice tick-free sandy beach area beside a river weir to pitch our tents.

Camp Spot With Makeshift Table!!

With so much time left in the day we were able to casually set up. Ben and I went in for a river plunge to soothe aches and refresh bodies. All three of us had mini-naps in the tents (some of us for longer than others!!😁) which was quite nice! We had early dinner (freeze-dried chicken fried rice), early hot beverage and cookies, and have been in our tents since 6:30 🤣. It will be an early nigh tonight, which means a potentially early start tomorrow.

Eight down, six to go!!

Thanks for reading everybody!! Goodnight!

Day 8 Route - TO BE UPDATED

Day 7 - Culra Bothy to Dalwhinnie

As we have grown to expect, some days on the trail are wonderful, and some are terrible.  Today was wonderful!!

With the events of last night fresh in our minds we all wanted to get up early and get out of our latest tick infestation.  I set an alarm for 6:30, and we hoped to be hiking by 7;30.  With all the hard work we did yesterday, we left ourselves a relatively easy 15 km walk into Dalwhinnie all on well defined, dry trail and forest track.  We enjoyed the views all the way up Loch Ericht, through the Ben Alder Estate.

Wild Horses?

View Back Up Loch Ericht

With a couple of very short breaks we arrived at The Old School Hostel in Dalwhinnie at around 11:30, way too early to check in.  Lee agreed to let us in at 13:30 so off to The Apiary Cafe we headed for a snack and some relaxing.  This felt so nice.  We headed back to the hostel for showers, clothes washing, and re-supply parcel opening.  Thank you so much to our very special Scottish friend, Joyce, who hand delivered our parcel just to be sure it would be here when we arrived!!!  You are amazing, Joyce!!!!

Re-Supply Goodies!!!

After some more relaxing, tea drinking, chatting, and catching up we headed back to The Apiary for dinner -  mac and cheese.  I don’t know how to describe it, but am confident in saying that we North Americans don’t understand mac and cheese yet.  Scottish Mac and cheese is out of this world!!!

After dinner we returned to the hostel and  suited with some of the challengers that started showing up.  Stuart and Alec were the first two.  They are from Hamilton, UK not Ontario!  They were expecting two of their friends, who were bringing dinner, drinks, dessert, and clean clothes.  Nice!

After chatting with them I was very lucky to receive a video call from Joyce, which was such an amazing treat!!

Next, the boys and I sat around, had another hot beverage, while Ben and I played our second game of chess of the trip.  It was such a calm and relaxing evening and I know it did the boys and me so much good.

Relaxing In The Hostel’s 

To cap it all off before bed we ended spending an hour trading questions with Stuart and Alec, and their two friends Gordon and Marie-Claire.  It was a true Challenge experience and we were all thankful for it.

The three of us are now in our bunks at the hostel listening to different styles  of snores and other interesting sounds…🤪

We have modified our route for tomorrow to remove a little path uncertainty and to keep it a bit more manageable than what we have been doing the past seven days.  I am so proud of the boys, and how they have coped with this wild trip so far!!!

Next post should be in three days from Braemar if everything goes according to plan…🤞🏻. Thanks everybody!!

Best Moment So Far:

Sam - Bothy night

Ben - Walking the Tarbet Ridge

JM - Cona Glen

Worst Moment So Far:

Sam - Boggy spots😠

Ben - Ticks!!🤮

JM - Ticks!! 🤬

Please note that we plan on adding some of Ben’s amazing photos once we get home.  It has been too difficult to do it on the go here.  Stay tuned!!!

Day 7 Route - 23.7 km, 327 m ascent

Day 6 - Abhainn Rath to Culra Bothy

Intended - Abhainn Rath to Uisge Labhair
Actual - Abhainn Rath to Culra Bothy

We had a comfortable night at Staoineag Bothy last night. After dinner we relaxed for a bit, and then Ben and I played a game of chess while Sam rested and watched. It was very civilized and it felt nice not to be checking each other for ticks…. We woke up this morning at about 7:45, started to get ready, and eventually headed out around 9:00. The stepping stones that were partially submerged when we came in last night were more exposed so we opted to cross the river right away instead of bushwhack down the side we were already on. Everybody’s bog tolerance is at a bare minimum right now due to the copious amounts we’ve done so far - more than Ben or I have ever done. The plan worked out and we started cruising towards our first destination of the day - Corrour Station.

Corrour Station is a train station in the middle of the Highlands. A famous scene from the movie Trainspotting was filmed very near by. We stopped at the bridge where the scene took place before crossing the tracks over to the station. 

Ben On Trainspotting Bridge

The Train Tracks At Corrour Station

 There is a very nice cafe/restaurant there so of course we all got a pop and a delicious slice of homemade carrot cake. It was a very good pick-me-up for the rest of the long day.

It Was Onviously Very Good - I Couldn’t Get A Picture Before It Was All Done!!

The next part was an easy walk up the side of Loch Ossian, followed by a rough stretch along Uisge Labhair.

Lots Of Flowering Trees Along The Loch Ossian Trail

On the map a clear path exists, in reality it was a boggy mess. As the day drew on, and we realized our campsite was going to be less than desireable. Sam started campaigning for us to head farther, over the pass and down into the next valley. Ben and I grew to like the idea more and more, so we all agreed to go for it. There was another Bothy about 8 km past our planned stopping point, that looked to be the next best stopping point. We all caught second winds, put our heads down and just kept walking.

Beautiful View Back Towards The Pass As we Approach The Bothy

When we arrived we found an idyllic spot to pitch our tents right beside the river. We met another challenger nearby who had just performed a 10-minute tick check and she gave us the green light. We started the nightly routine of unpacking and setting up. Ben and I had a sit in the river and washed up while Sammy started getting dinner ready. We all enjoyed our noodle pots and cooked chicken dinner. What started out as a perfect night unfortunately ended in disaster. When Ben went to set up his tent it was covered in ticks. Nooooooo!!!! Since then we have spent a couple hours getting his tent decontaminated, checking each other over, and packing everything up for the night. It was a sad end to what could have been an amazing day.☹️

While we have been having an extraordinary experience so far, the tick issue is becoming overwhelming for us. We all don’t mind a little hardship but this level of ticks is almost too much to bare. I am having doubts about wheter or not to finish this crossing, and whether or not I would want to do another TGOC…

We have a short day tomorrow thanks to our hard work today, and will be ending up in Dalwhinnie where we will be staying at a hostel. This will allow us to decontaminate, wash up, and try to get ourselves settled. Hopefully our frame of mind improves and we have a happier post tomorrow.

Thanks everybody for reading and good night!!


Day 6 Route - 20.7 km, 469 m ascent

Day 5 - Fort William to Abhainn Rath

Written By Sam

After a refreshing night in Fort William, today was sure to be an easy one, right?.. Nope. The day started out beautiful, some nice double track and then a well trodden path up the Water of Nevis, a gorge behind Ben Nevis (tallest mountain in the UK). The trail was beautiful with waterfalls lining both sides.

Massive Waterfall In Distance

Shortly after the tallest of the bunch, the people we passed became few and far between indicating the commencement of the more remote part of the day. The trail condition quickly worsened the further we went, complete Scottish bog. Ben remarked that the conditions were so difficult to walk in you couldn’t really enjoy the scenery, which is how it felt. Lots and lots of bog. I think this was the point where everyone had pretty much had enough and we just walked in silence. After a quick stop for some salami and cheese sandwiches we were back to the monotony. Even though conditions were sub optimal, we were surrounded by some of the most vast and beautiful landscapes this country has to offer. Grassy peaks lined the trail on either side with Water of Nevis flowing through the middle. Massive boulders and sharp rock dotted the landscape as well.

Just as the trail conditions began to improve we stumbled upon ruins of an old house that was beginning to be reclaimed by Mother Nature. Not much but enough of a pick me up to keep slogging on. 

Sam By The Abandoned House 

After the ruins and a mandatory river crossing the trail conditions declined again and it was back to our new normal. We followed Abhainn Rath - another river, for the remainder of the day. I quite enjoyed this part of the walk, the river was beautiful with massive rock slabs creating lots of mini waterfalls. After about three more kilometres and everyone feeling pretty tired we were once again blessed with some trail magic. Right where Dad had us camping on the map was a Bothy. A bothy is a building that is maintained by an organization and kept unlocked for backpackers to use as needed. Most are pretty rustic, with no power or insulation, however to us it is pure luxury. After a hard slog it is just what we needed. A sheltered place to stay dry and sleep for the night. After a quick river shower, we cooked up some grub and enjoyed a much needed meal. Some warm drinks, coffee for Ben and I, and tea for Dad made the day complete. 

Our Upstairs Bothy Room

This will be the first time not in the tent in five days and I think we are all excited. We are headed to Uisge Labhair tomorrow and a possible cold drink at a remote train station in the morning looks promising. Will update then!!

Health Update
Ben: good, no blisters
JM: managing blisters, sore body
Sam: recovering from 3 blisters, good


Day 5 Route - 22.8 km, 565 m ascent

Day 4 - Cona Glen to Fort William

We started our day waking out of Cona Glen, which was very beautiful. The Scots pines, blooming gorse, and flowering bushes made it very picturesque. The walking was easy, and the weather was very favourable - variable cloud and cool.

West End Cona Glen

East En Cona Glen

Once out of the glen we  had a long section of road walking.  This can be very tough on the feet so none of us were looking forward to it.  Sometimes it helps to walk together, and other times it’s better to walk alone.  Sam was having a rough day with his body, so he put his head down and walked most of the 10 km road section on his own.  Ben and I couldn’t keep up so we hung back and caught up with him at the ferry.

Once at the ferry things started to seem a little better for all of us.  We caught the ferry from Camusnagaul to Fort William.  It is a short 5-minute ride and is a legal ferry on the challenge - no advantage is gained by taking it.

Relaxing On The Ferry Ride To Fort William

First order of business after getting off the ferry was dinner - our first proper meal in four days!!!  We stopped at the Ben Nevis Pub, and of course we all got fish and chips.  It was soooo good!!!!  Sam and Ben washed it down with a Ben Nevis IPA, and I did with a draught cider.

Happy Hikers!!

After enjoying our meals and relaxing for a bit we headed up the road to the grocery store to resupply for the next few days.  We have decided on rice packs with pre-cooked chicken (tikka, and sweet and smokey bbq) for dinners.  For lunches we are enjoying salami and cheese flatbreads.  Breakfasts are going to be powdered energy-type drinks and breakfast bars.  We also picked up some small oranges, cookies, crackers, and a few other snacks.

Once supplies and packed up we headed up the road a few kilometres to our campground for the night.  The luxury continued with hot showers, clean laundry, and charged devices.  Sooooo nice!!!  We are currently settling in for the night.  It is past ten and we are  all tired from our exiting day.  We will be sleeping in the shadow of Ben Nevis, the UKs tallest peak.  Tomorrow we will be walking up Glen Nevis, which we expect will have some more great scenery with lots of waterfalls.

Health:

Ben - Spirits high, no blisters

Sam - Body issues resolved, feeling better

JM - Developing a few blisters, hanging in!

Day 4 Route - 25.0 km, 289 m ascent