Carie to Loch Bhac
(16.5 miles/516 metres ascent)
I soon fell asleep again, snug with LPW in the sleeping bag, and it was 7am before I woke up. I was still tired, though, so I turned over and slept again until 9am. At that stage I looked out, and the Nallo had gone.
It was yet another sunny morning, and I got up and went over to the toilet block for a wash. The little camp had the cleanest toilet facilities I've ever seen, but it didn't have showers or hot water. Not to worry, though: the wash in cold water was refreshing.
After that I washed my pots and made a flask of coffee in the pot washing facilities (what luxury!), and went back to the tent to pack up. As I was doing that the warden arrived, and I walked over to pay for my pitch. £3 - pretty good value, I thought.
It was about 9.50am when I left, and this time I decided to try turning left along the blue route at the entrance to the field, rather than right in order to retrace my steps of the night before. A couple of minutes later I found myself at the entrance to the park... I thought back to my 20 minutes' slog the night before, and wondered again how I ever manage to navigate as far as I'd got!
Loch Rannoch was absolutely gorgeous in the early morning sunshine...
...and the flowers were lovely along the banks.
It was quiet on the walk to Kinloch Rannoch, and quite amazingly beautiful along the way.
As I walked I noticed that Thursday's slug had somehow got ahead of me, and I noticed a sheep wearing only part of its coat.
As I rounded the head of the loch I looked back in the direction from which I'd come, and I can rarely remember seeing a lake so blue and absolutely calm.
Arriving in Kinloch Rannoch itself, I was intrigued to see a man talking to a hedge...
...but it wasn't long before I arrived at the general store and put down my pack outside to see what goodies I might find in there.
I was relieved to find suntan lotion and lip salve, and there was also a cheese and onion pasty and some nice post cards. I decided to treat myself to a cheese savoury and cucumber sandwich for an early lunch (by now it was 11.30am), and after that I made my way to the Post Office to collect my second parcel.
To my great joy, the Post Office turned out to adjoin a coffee shop, and so after collecting the parcel I was able to relax in the coffee shop as I unpacked it, and then re-pack it with the used maps and spare food that I was sending home. As I was doing that I chatted with the post mistress and a group of other women sitting at another table. They knew about the Challenge because of all the Challengers collecting parcels over a period of many years, and talked about the possiblity of having a go themselves next year, possibly supported by a donkey :-) I thought they should, and I hope they will!
It was lovely to sit chatting in the coffee shop, but I knew I had to move on as there were still some 17 miles between me and Blair Atholl, my destination for the day, and by now it was after 12 noon! I left my homeward bound parcel with the post mistress, and set off along the road, eating my nice sandwich as I went.
The views continued to be stunning, but I was confused about where Schiehallion had gone. The Dutch women had told me I'd see it in Kinloch Rannoch, but I saw nothing that looked quite as I was expecting. Is this it below, I wonder?? If so, it's not quite what I was expecting. Maybe that's it, though, as a quick web search suggests that it may not be the conical looking mountain I had in mind. Hmm...
I pressed on past Dunalastair Water, keen to get to the Tummel Forest as soon as possible.
I saw a magnificent Horsetail at the side of the road, which is something I've not seen for many years at home...
...and then an intriguing sign near Balmore - they do things differently in Scotland :-)
At a particularly sharp bend in the road there was a mirror, put up by the occupiers of the house opposite in order to avoid collisions with oncoming traffic. That presented an unmissable opportunity for some mirror photos...
...although it took two before I was able to get my legs in as well.
I passed some very pretty waterfalls...
...and not too long after that I finally reached the left turn onto a smaller road, leading up to the path through the Tummel Forest. This little road was full of beautiful things. First there was a very interesting bracket fungus at the base of a small silver birch...
...and then the first orange tip butterfly I've ever seen! I was quite thrilled to come across it, and I didn't see another. In fact, there were two, flitting about together on the same plant. I assumed at the time that they were a mating pair, but a bit of reading has revealed that the female is much less vividly coloured, and so perhaps they were fighting, or playing, or maybe vying for a female I didn't notice. Apparently the cuckoo flower is the orange tip's favourite food flower, and I'd been lucky enough to see quite a lot of that.
There was also another pretty head of Bugle in the grass.
The only sad sight was the body of a small, dead chaffinch lying at the side of the road. I picked it up and moved it to a more comfortable resting place.
The road through the forest was pretty, but it went on and on and on...
...and I got to the stage where I had to get out my walking poles so that I could stop to lean on them for a little rest, from time to time. My feet were bruised and beginning to tire, after the experience of the long road walk from Rannoch Station to Kinloch Rannoch, and I tried to stop on a fairly regular basis to wiggle my toes about.
I'd decided before setting out that if Loch Bhac turned out to be a good wild camp then I'd stay there for the night, rather than walking on to Blair Atholl, and eventually a little sign appeared pointing me left to the loch. By this time it was 6.10pm, but the sun was still out, and warm. I put down my pack with enormous relief next to the fishing hut...
...and went off to scout for a decent pitch. I found one, and it didn't take long to get the tent up. What an idyllic spot!
There were two boats of people fishing on the water.
After I'd put the tent up I unpacked into it, and then took my spare Platypus and went off in search of some water to cook with. Looking back, it seemed to me that my little tent blended very well into the background.
Once I had the water I got into my tent, made a mug of soup and put some more water on for Beanfeast with Smash.
The view from the tent was stunning, and I took a number of piccies as I waited for my Beanfeast to cook.
Eventually I finished dinner and lay back on the mattress to read. There were little bats flitting around above the tent as the light faded away, and from time to time I heard the whoosh-whoosh of large-winged birds flapping slowly overhead on their way back to the forest. The fishermen stayed late, but eventually they put up the boats and left. An owl began to call, and eventually I dozed and fell asleep over my book.
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