Fort Augustus to Garva Bridge
(16.2 miles/1,002 metres ascent)
I went back upstairs and got my kit together, and then went down at 8.30am for a gourmet breakfast, which included some wonderful filter coffee and even home-made honey and banana loaf, laced with honey from the Caledonian Hotel's own bees! After that I got into the pack, and wandered the short distance up the road to Bob and Rose's place. The early sunshine had turned to light drizzle, and in view of the persistence of yesterday's rain I'd decided it should be a waterproof over-trousers day.
Bob and Rose were still getting ready, but I had a friendly chat in the garden with the proprietor (who'd had to sneak outside for a cigarette), and then I went in to collect them.
We set off for a final trawl through the shops at about 9.15am...
...and while we were there we met Terry Leyland, tending to Stefan's painful blisters.
We then continued along the road towards the Corrieyairick Pass in a bit of light drizzle at about 9.45am.
Before we arrived at the pass we met May and Colin, and they took a piccy for us :)
At the entrance to the pass we met the La Borwits, and we all stopped at the gate to record the auspicious moment. Bob lent me his ultra-light camping tripod, and I was immediately entranced. (It was the first thing I bought when I got home...)
Soon after that Lou, Phyll and Gretchen set off in front of us, looking, in their rucksack covers, like a small shoal of horseshoe crabs picking their way delicately up the path :)
The Corrieyairick had been my foul weather alternative, but Colleen had told me it was beautiful and I soon began to see what he had meant.
That sort of rolling track through hilly, moor-like country isn't to everyone's taste, but I like it very much, despite the rather rocky path. We encountered a number of friendly but slightly kamikaze cylists near the beginning (I don't think Rose and Bob realised quite how close they'd come to a rear-end shunt!)...
...but soon they were gone, and we all wandered along engaged from time to time in fairly desultory conversation. Our aim for the first break was the engaging Blackburn bothy, just off the track in a grassy hollow, and by the time we got there the sun had come out and we were able to laze around outside on the grass.
I'd managed to acquire my favourite backpacking lunch - a cheese and onion pasty - in one of Fort Augustus's excellent shops, and while I ate a bit of it I had some coffee from the flask that I'd finally remembered to fill that morning at the hotel. Bob and Rose got the stove out and made a brew. Most of us weren't really hungry enough for lunch yet, but it was nice to have a little snack. Little Peewiglet was hungry, though, because he missed breakfast, and so he ate a couple of nuts and raisins, and an orange Smarty.
Sunshine and the proximity of a small stream provided the opportunity to try out Bob's patented foot preservation method i.e. a quick soak in some cold water whenever possible, and it was certainly a refreshing and restorative sort of experience!
Soon after that I detected Bob and Rose apparently engaged in some sort of weird, post-wedding anniversary bonding ritual, and felt I ought to record the moment for anthropological purposes :)
Little Peewiglet finished his lunch early, and so Bob took advantage of the opportunity to interview him for the Challenge Podcast. Little Peewiglet got quite excited at the prospect, although I think it's possible that he may have misunderstood the microphone and wrongly identified it as a little furry pal... He wouldn't tell me what he'd said :)
In common with all good times our break eventually came to an end, and it was time to move on. The good weather remained with us, though, and the splendour of the path began to reveal itself before us.
Lambs were out frisking with their mothers...
...and young men walking with their fathers...
...and after a while Stefan Leyland came striding up the hill behind us, looking fit and strong, trailing Terry in his wake :)
We all went on in a bunch, Bob chatting with Terry for a while and then Terry and I walking on towards Melgarve bothy while he told me exciting tales of past Challenges and Challenge Legends, and how he became involved in the Challenge in the first place :) (I'd never realised, for instance, that there was more than one Cider Cruncher!)
I was excited by a distant prospect of snow-capped mountains, and my thoughts turned to the Cairngorms, which I hoped were lying a couple of days ahead in my future, some distance north-east of Kingussie.
After a while some woods appeared in the distance, and Terry said the bothy was only a little way into them. About that time Rose approached from behind, and the three of us walked on for a while. Shortly afterwards we heard Bob calling, though, and it turned out that he was suggesting a snack stop since we'd not actually taken a break since Blackburn bothy. Terry went on, and Rose and I returned with Bob to a lovely spot beside a stream, where Bob got out a bothy bag and we all cuddled up inside for warmth and protection from the returning drizzle.
I finished my pasty, and Bob and Rose had some pitta breads with tuna, and I think we all felt better for the rest. As ever, though, it was soon time to get our things together, and we packed up for the last push to the bothy. I wasn't sure what I was going to do that night, and decided to see how I felt when I got there. If it was warm and welcoming then the idea of an overnight at the bothy sounded good, but I decided to keep an open mind because I also quite liked the idea of snuggling down in my tent.
The bothy soon came into view, and there was a distinct line of Challengers approaching it along the track.
We soon arrived, and when we went in we found it quite crowded with Challengers cooking meals, and generally relaxing in a bit of a fuggy haze. It was pretty dark, and there didn't seem to be a great deal of space even upstairs, and at that stage I decided I'd move on. Bob and Rose were downstairs chatting with Ali Ashton, whom I'd met briefly at the Caledonian hotel the night before. They'd decided to move on too, and so we all struck off in the direction of Garva Bridge.
I was quite keen to camp at the first decent spot we came to with water, but that turned out to be the bridge...
...and so it was there that we all made camp.
There were a few Challengers there ahead of us, and I was delighted to see another Laser Competition just across the path from where I was planning to erect mine. I decided to go over to say hello to the occupant once my tent was up, and swap Competition erection experiences :)
We looked around for the driest of the remaining sites, and once we'd found them Bob obligingly lay down in a couple of places to find the flattest parts, and we marked them off with walking poles. After that it didn't take long to get the Competition up, and just after I'd done that the owner of the other Competition came over and introduced himself. He was Colin, and he too wanted to swap Competition erection experiences :) I passed on the tips I'd been given, and Colin went back to make some adjustments to his tent pegs.
I then went to get water, where I found the bank descending to the river to be so steep that I had to go down it on my bum - good job I was still wearing my waterproof over-trousers! - and then I went back to make something to eat. I wasn't actually very hungry again, and so I made do quite happily with a mug of soup and a couple of oat cakes with Primula.
Not long afterwards Rose and Bob invited me over to their tent for a taste of their home-dehydrated meals. I've been meaning to get a dehydrator for ages, but somehow I'd not got round to it before the Challenge. I knew the meals would be good, but quite honestly I was taken aback by just how extremely delicious they actually were. Rose gave me part of her Thai green curry, and there were even little gooseberries in it! Amazing! Bob's Thai red curry was good too, but that green curry was actually one of the best things I'd eaten for quite some time anywhere at all, and as soon as I tasted it I decided I'd be getting a dehydrator as soon as I got home. After the curries we shared a rhubarb and custard leather - amazing! - and Bob and Rose offered me some food to try for myself later in the trip; I gratefully accepted an interesting looking bag of vegetarian chili.
Bob is an extremely inventive bloke, and I was enormously impressed by the clever method he was using of lifting up the door to his Terra Nova Solar 2 to provide both shelter and extra space for cooking. I resolved to buy the necessary bits and pieces as soon as I got to Braemar...
Once we'd finished eating, Rose snuggled down in her sleeping bag and Bob and I sat up for a short while longer to enjoy a wee dram. After that, though, I went back to my tent, got changed into my sleeping kit and propped myself up as far as possible against my rucksack, to try to get to sleep.
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