Happy birthday, Benny!!!!!!
🎉🎂🥳🎈🎊🎁
Another day crushed and another early finish!
We had a nice evening at the Bothy last night. Ben and Sam slept inside, and I stayed outside in the tent. They seemed to be pleased with their decision to stay inside, despite some high decibel snoring from their bunkmate. I was pleased with the lack of snoring noises by my tent, but did struggle a little with the near zero temperatures. Fortunately we woke to another blue sky with sun quickly warming the temperature up. We were first of about fifteen groups to get rolling and never looked back.
The first couple of kilometres would be the last of our pathless walking for the trip. We followed a river then made a climb to the top of Muckle Cairn where we found a defined path that would take us the rest of the way to Tarfside. The walk down and through Glen Lee was stunning and very pleasant.
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| Back On Trail, Heading Towards Glen Lee |
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| Abandoned Building In Glen Lee |
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| Best Buds - Invermark Estate (BJJ) |
We exited the Glen via the Invermark Estate, and then a short path took us right into Tarfside at about 11:45. First stop at Tarfside is the St. Drostan hostel to check in with Challenge Control, and then to enjoy some treats. We all had a bacon butty and a glass of squash. So yummy!!
Next we headed down to the village green where it is customary for challengers to pitch tents. We were first to pitch, but by the time I crawled into our tent to write this there is over thirty tents pitched for the night.
After some setting up, some exploring for the boys, and some napping for me, we headed back to the hostel for showers which I had paid for when we first arrived. Next we headed back down to the tents for dinner #1 - noodle cups with pre-cooked turkey tikka. After a little cleanup, it was back to the hostel for some tea/coffee and visiting.
As the land continues to filter challengers to similar locations we continue to meet new friends and reconnect with old. Today was a great day for both!! We finally caught up with Sabine, one of our very first TGOC friends (2017) and crossing legend!! I also met up with Jamie and Pieter, who kindly invited Amanda and I to Indian dinner on our final day in 2022. Finally, I met up with Immo, who Amanda and I met at Corrour Bothy in the Lairig Ghru also in 2022. I feel so lucky!!
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| Sabine!!!! |
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| Immo!!!! |
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| Stuart and Alec!!!! |
The final activity for the night was a community barbecue where they were serving delicious burgers - dinner #2!! The three of us had a drink in honour of Ben’s special day. After some great visits with several friends we headed back to the tent for our nightly hot beverage and cookie snack before tucking ourselves in for the night.
The village green is alive with bird song (at 9:00 at night), the sound of people pitching tents, the community barbecue, and maybe the first signs of snoring neighbours…. It might be rough to get to sleep, but we aren’t too worried because tomorrow is a relatively easy day that will see us end at our first hotel of the challenge. We are all excited and looking forward to it.
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| Our Tent Village For The Night |
That’s it for today. Thanks again for reading, everybody!!
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| Day 12 - Route - 19.3 km, 186 m ascent |
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