Bill...wondering what the hell just happened
I woke to rain rattling on the flysheet of my tent - I gulped a fast coffee as I packed, then I returned to the warmth of the lodge for a mug of Michael's excellent coffee...and a couple of mugs of tea. And a bacon butty. Or two.
Poor Tracy was in trouble. she and Mick had
decided to stay another night anyway, but her feet were blistered to blazes,
she just couldn’t carry on – she’d have needed a good few days for her feet to
recover. I only found out some days later that she’d had to retire, there was
no other option. Mick, being the great bloke that he is (did I tell you
what his Dad did for a living?) opted to stay with his daughter and also
retire.
Leaving Callater Lodge
I didn’t leave Callater until far too
late on the Sunday, I left Tracy
with a load of antiseptic cream, but her feet needed a proper seeing-to.
My route, one of the trade routes out
of Glen Callater, took me round Carn an Sagairt Mor and Broad Cairn. The
weather was pretty miserable: raining and thick mist – thick enough to have to
use the compass a fair amount.
The top of Broad Cairn is very rocky,
it’s very easy to slip and fall. I was on my own, so if I’d have taken a tumble
I’d have been in trouble, so I opted to follow the path marked on the map that
goes around the rocky summit and then descend eastwards.
Big mistake! The path may be on the
map, but there’s very little evidence of it on the ground – it took me an age
to contour round the summit on really rough ground. Eventually I picked up the
very good track leading off the top and followed it down to the pony hut, and
then down to Loch Muick.
Loch Muick....if you look REALLY hard
Looking back at Loch Muick
It was around here that I realised
how hungry I was – Bill’s bacon butties had fuelled me well up until now. I
found a flat rock with a stream running by….all I needed to rehydrate a meal,
make a brew, and enjoy a restful dinner.
At the Spittal of Glenmuick I headed
SE and uphill until I found a nice little spot to plant my tent, and so to
sleep.
Shielin of Mark Bothy
Next morning I didn’t bother with
breakfast, a couple of coffees sufficed. The yomp to Shielin of Mark is a good
one to exercise compass skills – it was with some satisfaction that, by relying
on walking on the needle, the roof of the bothy soon appeared dead ahead
of me.
Breakfast time! Muesli and a brew –
in the company of many other Challengers going my way.
Lindsay and Pierre
Another yomp, this time up and over
Muckle Cairn, in the company of Sir Dave, Powerful Pierre, and Lindsay (famous
for helicopter rides). We stuck together for the rest of the day – and what a
fun day it was!
The sun had returned, big time.
Sunscreen applied, knees were exposed, whilst other bits were covered up, it
was hot.
The LRT by Glen Lee and Loch Lee is a
well worn Challenge route for those heading to Tarfside, as we were. It was
good to see Bernie Roberts again – he reckoned this was going to be his last
Challenge….yeah, right Bernie, anything you say – see you next year then!
Pierre feeding Sir Dave the Beaver
Sir Dave, ready to roll
Invermark Castle - in need of modernistaion
I'm fairly sure that tree shouldn't be there
This is always a sad bit of the
Challenge for me – others too, I’m sure. The big hills are behind, from
here on the terrain begins to lose it’s wilderness – slowly but surely
civilisation returns.
Arriving in Tarfside we called in to
St Drostan’s to report in – mobile phone coverage in Tarfside is
non-existent.
St Drostan's, Tarfside
I resisted the temptation
to head straight to the Mason’s for beer and a burger, instead I put my tent
up, had a cuppa, a good wash, and THEN hit the Mason’s. To quote some of our
politicians who delight in dishing out crap in the hope that the Gullibles will
swallow it, it was ‘the right thing to do’.
The Tarfide campsite was as busy as
ever I’d seen it, with a huge variety of lightweight tents, I managed to
squeeze my tent in to a nice flat spot – not too far to walk to the Mason’s!
TWO delicious burgers and a
couple of beers later, I was at last feeling human again. A very pleasant
evening followed – it was good to catch up with Mole, my original plans
meant it was unlikely we’d meet up.
Around 10.30pm we were turfed out of
the bar – those running the place had homes to go to! The Mason’s really is a
very welcome ‘pub’ – warm, dry, something to sit on….not much not to like. If
Tarfside is on my TGOC2024 then you’ll certainly find me in there at some
point.
Leaving the campsite next morning in glorious sunshine, I decided to have a look at the church at Cairncross. I'd walked past it many a time, but this time curiosity got the better of me:
My usual breakfast stop after
Tarfside used to be the Retreat, a mile or so down the road. Unfortunately circumstances
have changed in recent times (Covid related?), it just wasn’t cost effective
for the place to open up with catering staff for a limited number of customers.
Coffee and cake was all that was on offer. I had a coffee.
The Retreat has a museum with many interesting artefacts, it's well worth having an explore....even if you can't get your breakfast. Although the coffee was nice.
Google / Blogger continue to bugger up the order which photos are posted, heaven knows why.
I followed Andy and Martin, we chose
the Blue Door route by Rocks of Solitude – a truly beautiful walk to Edzell.
I’ve only done the route once before, I’d forgotten how spectacular and
peaceful the path was.
Edzell can only mean one thing: the
Tuck Inn….but it was closed! The good news, and something of a relief, was a
rather nice café just across the road. A tasty, late lunch set me up for the last
leg of the day to the campsite at Northwaterbridge…..henceforth known as NWB –
because I can’t be mithered typing out ‘Northwaterbridge’ every time I want to
mention Northwaterbridge. That’s going to save me loads of time. .
For those in the know, and that’s
nearly every Challenger these days, there’s a quiet route which bypasses enough
of the very busy Edzell Woods to NWB road to make the walk almost bearable.
A much needed ice cream was devoured
on my arrival at NWB (see how much time I saved there?) before putting my tent
up. The site was full of chatty Challengers, all sharing tales of their crossings
– only one more day to go!
Another one for Dawn and Alan R
The Challenge village at Northwaterbridge campsite
The sunset that evening was quite
spectacular, lots of oohs and ahs as camera phone were clicking away in a NW
direction.
My last day was almost all on tarmac.
I was away fairly early. The day was forecast to be a hot one, and the forecast
was right - I was grateful to be plastered with Factor 50.
Hillside's War Memorial, always beautifully tended
One for Rob
Another ChallengerBrunch of decent coffee, an even more
decent bacon butty, all followed by a strawberry meringue was more than
satisfactory. The Charleton Fruit Farm’s café was full of Challengers – this
place has taken over from St Cyrus as the place to finish, and with very good
reason:
After all, who, apart from the
Pieman, DOESN’T like strawberries?
It’s but a short 1km walk over the
dunes to at last reach the end of my TGO Challenge: the North
Sea coast.
The pebble I carried over from Oban’s
sea shore was duly thrown into the briny – heaven knows how geologists will
explain how all the non-native rock types found their way from the west to east
coast!
Boots eventually came off, feet in the cooling sea –
my tootsies felt deliciously fresh for the dunking in sea water.
I was in the company of an American
Challenger. To my shame I can’t remember her name, and we walked, in bare feet,
along the beach as far as Montrose’s golf course. We navigated our way, fairly
successfully, to the Park Hotel where we were able to officially sign out,
collect our certificates, t-shirts, & badges, and then guzzle biscuits and
drink copious amounts of tea until the cows came home.
And then I had a bath – navigating to
the allocated hotel remote bathroom was harder that finding my way across the Highlands!
Challengers have been using this
bathroom for years, yet after all this time the taps are STILL jammed. Come on
chaps, if I had my tools with me I’d have repaired it in 5 minutes, it’s not
that difficult.
A number of Challengers escaped to
the PictureHouse pub in town for our evening meal, cheap and cheerful, and it
did the job.
A couple of beers back at the Park
Hotel gave us the chance to catch up with other Challengers, renew friendships,
hear their tales of woe – and discuss plans for TGOC2024.
Thanks to Sue & Ali, all the
route vetters, and all the many folk who work, unseen, in the background to
make this hugely popular event possible.
Without you lot the Challenge just wouldn’t happen.
That’s it until my 16th
Challenge which, fingers crossed, will be in 2024.
Edited to add this map showing my (West to East) approximate route:
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