Garva Bridge to Kingussie
(21 miles/497 metres ascent)
There'd been some heavy rain in the night, so conditions were damp, but it wasn't actually raining and I was very impressed by the lack of condensation on the inner tent. I ate two oatcakes with Primula for breakfast with a mug of filter coffee, and slouched around in the tent listening to Bob and Rose chatting away about oat bars, and wondering whether I could hear the start of rain on the outer. I couldn't, though, and eventually I got up to find what wasn't a bad morning after all.
Colin was the first away, and I took a piccy of him setting off.
Not long after that Rose and Bob were ready to go. They were heading up into the Monadhliath mountains, intending to make their way along a ridge and then down to Kingussie where we were all booked in at the Tipsy Laird bunkhouse for the end of the day. They stopped for a quick chat with the other campers on their way up the hill, and then they were gone, and not long after that the other campers were off too.
I'm always pretty slow getting away in the morning, and so I wasn't surprised to be last again. I left Garva Bridge at about 9am with the weather clearing...
...and set off along the road towards Laggan Stores, where I hoped to be able to have a sit down and maybe find something delicious to eat for lunch.
This soon developed into a really excellent day :) The view ahead was most inviting...
...and I passed a number of interesting things along the way, including an old but now disused bridge.
Not long after the bridge I came across the other campers from that morning, and found Christine Roche enjoying a bit of a sit down :)
The day was bright and sunny by now, and the view back to where I'd come from was lovely. As I was walking my spirits were lifted even further upon recept of a text message from a friend, telling me that OMer Conan Harrod had summitted Everest, and was safely on his way down :)
The road continued along the side of a loch, and led eventually to my first real navigational challenge of the whole trip. I wasn't sure whether I was meant to be turning right into the woods to follow a path down to Laggan, or whether I should be going left towards the river. In common with my long-established practice, I made the wrong decision and took the first few steps towards the wood. Fortunately, at that very moment two blokes came along in a landrover, slowed down and looked at me enquiringly. I went over to ask for some guidance, and they pointed me towards the road, so I re-traced my steps towards it.
Having been reminded of my navigational deficiencies, I took the opportunity of a walk along a straight bit of road to practise my pacing (68 double steps to 100 metres are what I generally take), and once again I was impressed by how accurately it works. If only I could interpret the map as accurately as I can count my paces! :)
A couple of lambs lazing in the daisies turned to watch as I went by...
...and I took advantage of a gate post in a farm yard to get a quick piccy.
The little village of Laggan eventually appeared in the near distance...
...and - hungry and a little tired by now - I grew even more excited at the prospect of finding a place to sit down, relax and eat lunch.
Soon I arrived at the village itself, and there I managed to make my second navigational error of the day, turning right into the little housing estate and having to walk all the way through it and then climb up the bank to get back onto the road where the shop lay, in the process neatly circumnavigating the GPs' surgery that I'd also hoped might be there.
When I got there, though, Laggan Stores turned out to be everything I'd dreamed of: welcoming, well stocked and even offering cups of Fair Trade coffee, as well as the small tube of sun tan lotion I'd been unable to find at home and a whole range of organic foods and other delicacies that I simply didn't have room for in my rucksack. They even had tortilla wraps, which I delightedly swapped for the bulkier and less alluring naan breads I'd bought in Fort Augustus!
Several other Challengers were there, including Colin, Christine and the rest of the campers from Garva Bridge earlier that morning, and we all sat at tables in the sun and relaxed. I bought some coffee and made a tortilla wrap with Primula, which was yummy. I also bought a can of very delicious cider, since it was now quite hot and I didn't want to become dehydrated... ;-)
The proprietor of the shop was very friendly indeed, and he came out to chat with us. He told us they now have a 5 person flat above the shop that can be rented for a night by Challengers. They'd not had time to advertise it for this trip, but he said it would be available for the future, and it sounded to me like a brilliant place to stay. I was so entranced by the range of lovely things inside that I asked if I could take a couple of photos.
Other walkers alerted me to the presence of the GP's surgery a short way back down the road, but enquiries revealed that they were closed on Wednesdays. Fortunately, though, a GP Challenger arrived in the form of Ali, and she confirmed that it was ok to continue with my ribs (bearing in mind that it was now 3 days since I'd hurt them) as long as the pain was ok, and that the weight of the rucksack would probably be helpful. That was good news, and I felt able to continue with a clearer conscience :)
I had such a great time at Laggan Stores that I discovered, to my horror, that I'd been there for almost 2 hours! After a quick visit to what must surely be one of the the prettiest public loos in the world...
...I got my things together and set off for Kingussie in the sun.
The road took me first of all past the Monadhliath Hotel - somewhere I'd like to visit at some stage in the future - and there was a very friendly noticeboard as I passed by. It's nice to feel wanted!
After that I continued along the road towards the Mains of Glentruim. As I was walking I was listening to a book on my MP3 player - Jeffrey Archer's Prison Diaries - and I didn't initially notice an impending change in the weather. I noticed it pretty rapidly when I glanced up to my right, though, and saw an evil looking black cloud lurking over the hill above me, and descending towards me with disconcerting speed. I got out my Fuera Smock and prepared for a downpour.
The rain arrived and was pretty heavy, but it wasn't too long before it blew off again. Meanwhile I noticed a rather pathetic looking little lamb with its mother, and hoped it would be OK.
There were lots of lovely flowers along the way...
...and a gate post presented the opportunity for another timed photo experiment :)
I passed a lonely looking cow all alone by itself in a field - we both stopped for a moment to consider each other...
...and not long afterwards I arrived at the top of the hill, and a clan memorial to (I think) the McPherson clan.
There was a truly beautiful view...
...and I sat down to rest, to dry off, and to consider the beauty before me. While I was there two other Challengers came along, one of whom recognised and greeted me by name because he'd been reading my diary of last year's walk just before setting off! :) We had a very interesting gear talk. A third Challenger then arrived, and all four of us chatted for a while.
The third Challenger was horrified to hear that I was still aiming for Kingussie - they were all stopping at the camp site at the bottom of the hill - and suggested that I should stop part of the way along. I couldn't do that, though, because I had a room booked in Kingussie, and it occurred to me that I'd better get moving if I ever hoped to arrive there, since it was already 4pm and there was still quite a long way to go.
I got back into the pack and set off down the hill, this time with music on my MP3 player. It's amazing what a great aid to walking through tiredness music can be, and by the time I got to the bottom of the hill I found myself full of energy for charging straight up the other side.
Both Colin that morning and the third Challenger at the memorial had told me that the route along General Wade's Road was a lovely alternative to the trudge along the path adjacent to the B road, and I decided to take it. I thought I might have difficulty locating the start, but it turned out to be obvious and soon I was striding along towards Phones, still happily buoyed up by the music on my little MP3 player. At Phones I turned left and soon came to a choice where the path diverged. As always, I initially went the wrong way, but I realised what I'd done fairly quickly and set off down towards the trees and the little loch. The path really was lovely - again, it was more of a moorland sort of walk than a route over high mountains...
...but since I love that sort of place it was exhilarating, and I enjoyed the feeling of being alone with the hills as I made my way along.
For only the second time ever, I found a wild pansy...
...but I managed to take a blurred photograph, just like last time. Sob!
Eventually I came to a division in the path that didn't seem to be shown on the map, and spent about 5 minutes trying to decide which way to go. I eventually turned right, uphill, but only a couple of minutes later I decided to stop for a bearing. The bearing suggested that I was going in the wrong direction, and so I turned round to go back, and at that stage I saw what looked like two other Challengers making their way along the other path, below me. I soon caught them up because they'd stopped for a rest against a rock, and I stopped for a chat.
One of the blokes noticed that I was wearing Inov-8s, and I then noticed he was wearing Terrocs. We were both wearing Montane Terra pants as well, and I think we both had Osprey ruckacks. It turned out that we'd spoken together on Outdoors Magic, and that he'd offered me advice in relation to couriering gas! They weren't Challengers, in fact - they were walking from Elvis Voe, in Shetland, to Presley, in Moray, to raise money for Cancer Research - and they were great blokes: Nick and David. They've got a JustGiving page here, which is well worth a visit. Every little donation helps.
I took a picture of Nick's Terrocs, which had been quite a long way by then.
Nick was quite pleased with them, but - like me with my Roclites - he'd found they didn't dry out as quickly as he'd have liked, after getting soaked. We discussed the possiblity of fitting them with little eyelets, like the pumps we used to have at primary school, and I made a mental note to contact Inov-8 when I got home...
We walked on together into Kingussie. By now it was getting on for 8pm and I really was getting tired - it had been a long day, especially after my 2 hour stop at Laggan Stores - and I had to stop for a couple of Neurofen when we finally got down to the main road. We entered Kingussie from the south, passing the amazing Ruthven Barracks - not at all like the collection of mouldering nissan huts I'd somehow envisaged... - and finally we were there!
I wasn't sure where the Tipsy Laird bunkhouse was, and - unwilling to walk any further unnecessary distance in the wrong direction - I rang to find out. It turned out to be only a couple of hundred yards down the road, and so I turned right and almost immediately I arrived. It was a friendly and welcoming place, and soon I'd paid my £10 and been issued with my room key. The bunkhouse was almost full, but I was lucky and had an almost empty room, because there were fewer women in that night than men. I pulled what I needed out of my rucksack and went straight down for food, because by now I was starving, and afraid that they might stop serving before I'd managed to take a shower.
In the bar I met David and Tom again, having first met them at Glasgow Queen Street, and also Dave and Caburn. I treated myself to smoked mackeral pate with oatcakes and bread, mushroom stroganoff with rice and chips, and a large bottle of Magners. Yum! :)
Eventually the others left for bed, and I was thinking of following them when I spotted David and Nick from earlier in the day at a table in the corner, and stopped for a drink with them. It turned out that there was a pub quiz, and they entered as "Not the TGO Challenge" :) The questions were largely incomprehensible to me - even the one that seemed easy ("From what fruit is kirsch made?") turned out to be a trick question, since the answer was *wild* cherries rather than just cherries - but Nick and David - both geography lecturers from Aberdeen University - managed to win it, and proudly added their £20 prize to the funds they were collecting for Cancer Research. Pretty impressive stuff!
By that time I was virtually asleep at the table, and so we said goodbye and I made my way upstairs. I'd managed to forget to take my head torch down, but didn't want to wake the person with whom I was sharing a room, so there was a bit of ferreting about in the dark to be done before I could locate it in my bits and pieces dry sack, but I eventually found it, changed into my sleeping things and settled back to sleep.
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