House of Mark to Charr Bothy
(16 miles/914 metres ascent)
I read for a while and then Joy woke up, and at 7.10am I finally crawled out from under the covers and remembered to spread out my tent to dry. It wasn't actually very wet, but a little bit of airing doesn't hurt.
I then had a wash and began to pack up, but the night before we'd arranged breakfast for 7.45am and I went down with my packing unfinished. Breakfast was as delicious as dinner had been, with cereal (or porridge), orange juice, sausage, bacon, egg, mushrooms, tomatoes, toast and unlimited coffee. I think there was also a large bowl of yoghurt on the table, but I was so busy tucking into the toast that I didn't see it until I was already full. Drat... ;)
After that I settled up with Bea, and asked her to say hello to Barbara and Jean for me that night, as I knew they were expected, along with a group of Jean's friends and colleagues, including her husband, Allan. My original plan had been to stay at House of Mark on the Tuesday night, but at the planning stage I just couldn't make it work with the rest of my route without leaving myself a very long final day, which was something I was keen to avoid at all costs.
I then went back upstairs to finish getting my things together. It was 9.15am by the time I was in the porch, putting on my Roclites, and I saw that everyone had left except Colin, who was also walking in the direction of Tarfside. In fact, we were both aiming for Charr bothy that night, but I was planning to go up and over Mount Battock, whereas Colin was taking a lower route. We set off together at 9.30am, and I ended my lovely stay by forgetting to take a picture of the fantastic House of Mark!
It was another warm, sunny morning, and the walk over to Tarfside was very pleasant, with only a teeny bit of climbing to do. Colin and I chatted away about children, schools, music and other things, and soon we arrived at the low building next to the church, in which Challengers are guaranteed a warm welcome and sustenance on an annual basis. Colin had been there before, but it was all new to me.
We went in and sat down at a large table surrounded by an even larger bunch of Challengers, engaged in various animated conversations. I spotted Joy again, at the other side of the table, and soon I was supplied with a welcome mug of hot tea. There was all sorts of food on offer, but I was still more than full from breakfast and so didn't have room for more.
After I'd drunk my tea I went out for a cigarette, and spoke for a while with John and Mary Allcock. This was their 11th and 8th crossing respectively, and they had lots of interesting stories and helpful advice. While I was there I also spotted a pair of Atmos 50L sacks just like mine, and wondered who they belonged to. In due course the owners came out and put them on, and they were just as pleased as I was with the way the packs had performed on the crossing.
Standing around in the porch, conversation turned to people's intended destinations for that night, and when I said I was going to Charr bothy a Challenger who'd stayed there before told me a most interesting story about a strange experience he'd had there, when he and his companion heard someone walk right past them in the middle of the night wearing heavy boots, and go out of one door and through a locked door into the other side of the building... There hadn't been anyone else there, though, and I couldn't quite decide whether I was charmed by the exciting prospect of a night there which lay ahead of me, or likely to be completely terrified! :)
An hour had now gone by, though, and so Colin and I set off together for the farm at Blackcrags, which was where our routes were due to diverge.
The day was still sunny and bright, and we passed a large field of very contented looking sheep as we left the church behind us.
Soon after that we left Tarfside itself...
...and I began to grow excited at the prospect of the walk over the hills before me.
It was fortunate that I was walking with Colin, because there came a point near the Burn of Laurie at which the map didn't quite appear to be showing what I'd expected to see, and I'm pretty sure I'd have gone the wrong way had Colin not deciphered it accurately. We arrived at the farm in warm sunshine, though, and a very friendly farmer came over to say hello, and pointed me towards the path that led up to Mount Een and would eventually take me up to Mount Battock. Colin and I said goodbye, and hoped to meet again later that evening at the bothy.
The walk up the hill was immediately exhilarating, and I stopped at the far edge of the trees adjoining the farm to get out my MP3 player. It was very windy, though, and as I made my way up the track I looked back and saw what looked like a pretty fearsome bank of rain blowing in behind me.
A little of it reached me a short time later, but it soon blew off and as I got higher the views back to where I'd come from grew prettier all the time.
Near the top of Mount Een I encountered a convenient gate post, and perched my camera on top for another timed picture.
I then pressed on towards Bennygray, and after that Wester Cairn. I was having a brilliant time singing along to the rather eclectic range of music on my little player, so it's a good job there was no-one else around! Somehow music on the hills always manages to make a great day even better for me, and for the umpteenth time on the trip I gave thanks for my Atmos and the lighter load I was carrying this year, because I could barely feel it on my back.
The path continued easily over Bennygray, and then turned sharply to the right towards Wester Cairn.
At some stage I passed some burned heather too, and stopped to take a closer look at its gnarled and blackened branches.
It was still very bright and sunny but the wind was strong and icy, and unfortunately I managed to lose my Buffalo mitts when, having parked them between my knees on stopping to take a picture, I walked off forgetting about them, and by the time I realised I'd lost them they must have been far, far away. I was quite concerned for a minute or so, because my hands get cold very quickly and when they're cold they become very painful, but it occurred to me that I could put my down smock on and pull the sleeves down over my fingers, and fortunately that worked perfectly.
I continued again, and - absorbed in the music - I almost failed to notice a path striking up to the left to the summit of Wester Cairn, but fortunately I noticed that I'd begun to walk downhill, and stopped to check my position. It was only 20 metres or so back to the point at which I should have turned off, and so I walked back and re-established myself on a small path going in the right direction.
When I'd left the House of Mark that morning Bea had reminded me that I'd ordered a packed lunch on booking, and although my first thought was that I'd never find room for it in the sack I was now enormously grateful for it, as I finally sat down to shelter from the wind in the lee of some very large boulders on Wester Cairn and have some lunch. Bea had provided two mega-yummy rolls, as well as some home made biscuits and various other lovely things, and I spent about half an hour lolling about on the soft grass, re-folding my map and playing with my camera. I could see the top of Mount Battock not too far ahead of me...
...and I felt no pressure to dash on in any sort of hurry.
Eventually it was time to go, though, and one long but not terribly demanding further push got me to the top of the hill. I was a little concerned to find an electric fence there, though, with no apparently safe way of getting over! (The following day, Lorraine told me that there'd been a point at which it was possible to unhook the wires, but somehow I missed that.) I eventually steeled myself to give the wire a poke, and it didn't seem to be live, and so I climbed over with the aid of a little wooden bit and arrived in safety on the other side.
There was a very weathered looking trig point on the summit, and looking to my right I could also see a thin path making its way along the side of the fence. I wasn't sure whether it might take me, though, and so I took a bearing off the map towards the track a kilometre or so below me, and set off to walk on that.
There was an interesting view of striped hills ahead of me, and I remembered that someone a few days earlier had said that heather is somtimes burned in strips from the sides of the hill in order to encourage grouse to nest.
It seemed to take me quite some time to get down to the track, but it was a welcome sight when it finally arrived, despite being one of the less attractive paths I'd walked along over the course of the last couple of weeks. I knew that the path should now take me all the way to Charr bothy, and so I settled comfortably into a steady pace and set off to complete the last 6 or 7 kilometres of the day.
Along the path I found a squashed frog - the second I'd seen on this trip - and moved it to the heather at the side of the path.
A little further along I encountered a group of sheep, who seemed just as interested in me as I was in them...
...and a little further on my arrival almost caused a riot!
I passed a small green tent snuggled into a grassy bank near the bridge at the Burn of Badymicks, and the occupants waved to me as I went on.
I wasn't particularly tired, but I was keen for the bothy to appear by now, as I was curious to see it and - most importantly - I was keen to establish that there would be other people in it to spend the night, as I was pretty sure that my courage wasn't up to the test of spending a night alone in an allegedly haunted building :)
Not long before the bothy I passed a little rabbit on a bank, sitting at the mouth of its burrow and quite happy to stay there and watch as I walked by.
Not long after that the bothy finally appeared, and I was surprised to see that there were actually two buildings, and wondered which was the one I should be aiming for.
It was clear on arriving at the first building that that was the one I wanted, and I was greatly relieved on entering to find it filled with friendly and familiar faces. Colin was there, and Sue, Maggie and John, who by then were walking together. I had a quick scan round and it seemed that they'd nabbed the sleeping platforms - swizz! - but I asked John if he'd mind sharing, and he didn't, so I unpacked my mattress, sleeping bag and bivvy and got them onto the platform before anyone else could come in and bag the last space :)
After that I got out my pots and began to think about making something for tea. Food was in various stages of preparation around the room, and it felt like a warm and welcoming place: not at all eerie.
As we were grappling with our pots and stoves the door opened, and the Slowman and Phil came in. It was great to see them again (I'd last seen them in the Fyre arms on Saturday night), and there was hardly time to draw breath before Alan got his Exped Down Air Mattress out to demonstate it to those unfortunate enough never to have seen one before. I'd taken a full length one the previous year (although this year I had the lighter and almost as comfortable InsulMat Max-Thermo), and it's the most comfortable mattress I've ever used.
After that, Slowman got out his gourmet home-dehydrated rations with real asparagus, and began to cook dinner. He offered us all a taste as he had surplus supplies, and once again I was amazed and delighted by how fantastic home-dehydrated food can taste.
After dinner - which for me was soup, followed by my old standby of Beanfeast and Smash - I sat down to write up my diary...
...and people milled about, eating their meals and completing their various chores. When I'd finished I nipped outside for a ciggy, and watched a small group of baby lambs playing chase in front of the bothy and round the corner. They kept dashing round the corner towards me until the lamb at the front of the group ran out of courage, and then they'd all skid to a halt, jump up and down a few times and dash, snorting, back in the direction from which they'd come :)
Although it was dry, it was still freezing cold in the wind outside the building, and I was glad of the shelter when I went back inside.
They say that into every Challenger's crossing a little rain must fall, but nonetheless it was with profound dismay that it became clear to me as the evening progressed that that particularly annoying time of the month had come a whole week early, as a result of which I was almost certainly going to have to alter my Mergie plan for the following day and make my way down to civilisation instead, for supplies. I'm fairly up-front, but it wasn't a topic I particularly wanted to raise in front of the blokes, and so I was relieved when I saw Maggie make her way into the girlies dormitory, and I followed her for an urgent Girly Confab. Fortunately, she was familiar with the area, and she said that she, John and Sue were going to be dropping down to Clatterin Brig the following day, and suggested that I might find the necessary supplies in that direction. I decided to tag along, and also that I'd make a decision when I got there about whether or not I'd be able to retrieve the Mergie plan or whether I'd have to take another route to Dunnottar Castle.
By now it was getting darker, and people were beginning to make the first moves towards packing up for bed. I nipped outside for a loo break, in the hope that I wouldn't need to go again during the night (SheWees being of limited benefit in a bothy filled with other people), and I began to get my things together and sneaked into the other room to change.
John had already climbed onto the sleeping platform and had fallen asleep immediately on his mattress - I really envy campers who can do that: it seems to be almost everybody except me! - and pretty quickly I followed him up. At that stage I was faced with a bit of a quandary. I didn't want to seem unduly forward by lying on my left side facing John - we had, after all, only just been introduced :) - but at the same time I was unwilling to lie on my right side facing into the room in case I opened my eyes in the night to find a ghost bending down and peering into my face! In the end I decided I'd rather brave John than the ghost, and so I settled down facing left and tried to get to sleep.
For some reason there seemed to be some sort of a light illuminating John's face and shoulders, and for a few moments I wondered what it was. I realised that his head torch must have slipped down behind his pillow just at the moment when he woke up and came to the same realisation, and for a moment things got a bit confusing as I began to sit up just as John reached out and swatted me, clearly thinking his torch was lying where I now was :) We both lay back down again, though, and I tried again to fall asleep.
It actually took me ages to drop off, largely, I think, because I couldn't quite get the ghosty stories out of my mind. I was probably also worrying a little about how things were going to work out in the morning, and hoping that I wasn't going to develop a major backache overnight. I did eventually sleep, but it was fitful and intermittent, and my uneasiness about a nocturnal encounter with the ghosty clearly didn't entirely leave my mind because I noticed upon waking on several occasions that I appeared to be gravitating steadily across the platform, in John's direction :)
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