TGO CHALLENGE ON THE FLY 2013


Part 3



The main event

Friday 17^th May White Bridge to Braemar

   Click on this colour for links 

   Today I was one of the last challengers to get up, pack up and set off for the day, there had been frost during the night so the tent was packed up wet. Another lazy day lay before me, a shortish walk to Braemar which was all downhill.

The sun was out and after just a short walk of a couple of miles following the river meandering down the glen,  for the first time the area was full of wildlife, deer, rabbits, Dippers, Buzzards, pigeons and red Squirrels.  I arrived at Mar Lodge, a stunning building, tea or coffee was being offered too all Challengers by the National Trust for Scotland. On entering the Lodge it was awash with Challengers, where they all came from is beyond me because all morning I only saw a couple of challengers from White Bridge, they were  all blethering while supping on their cuppa.

I met up with Carl again at the lodge and following our break, together we walked down to Braemar in the warm sunshine discussing our routes and the events of the first week. During the previous day I had lost one of the rubber tips of one of my walking poles, as today was a day of walking on the black stuff it wasn’t long before it began to irritate on me, clank, silence, clank, silence, I took the other one off but that was worse, clank, clank, clank, clank.

 

This was the first time I had been to Braemar, in fact this was the first time I had been walking over in the East, what was obvious was the difference in map reading. I am used to walking on the West and the terrain there is completely different, the horizons are always much closer, map reading is more confined meaning that features are abundant at a short distance from you, but over here everything is so vast, most of the features I look for were so far away that they weren’t even on the map that I was holding, they were on the next map.

Arriving in Braemar Carl explained where everything is located in the village and we went our separate ways, Carl was staying in the bunkhouse and I was staying at the campsite. Walking through the village I noticed that one of the tearooms had a special menu and a price list for TGO Challengers, “that’ll do me once I get my tent up to dry!” I also spotted the Outdoor shop, time to sort out the irritating clank of my poles, having done that it was a nice silent walk to the campsite where I collected the food parcel I had sent forward and purchased some washing tablets for all my stinking clothes. Once the tent was up it was time to get a shower and do my laundry, all my clothes went into the wash, only leaving me with my Montane Prism jacket and trousers to wear, I clearly hadn’t thought this through properly, the sun was beating down outside and there I was wearing a thermal suit, the heat was ridiculous. After collecting my washing it was back into the showers before heading down to the village for dinner. A three course meal, Prawn cocktail to start, followed by an Aberdeen Angus, bacon cheese burger with chips and salad, which was then followed by an apple pie, so big that hung over the edge of the bowl with custard and a mug of coffee, all for only £14. Feeling bloated I had a nice stroll about exploring the village before heading back to the campsite to relax for the rest of the day.

This afternoon was a sad and embarrassing afternoon for me, I WAS MUGGED IN THE CAMPSITE!

 

Relaxing in my tent with the door tied back, I lay there eating a couple of Hobnobs in the sun whilst admiring the view, Lapwings were doing their tumbling thing in the sky, rabbits were playing , Oyster catchers were bobbing about stabbing the ground as they went, a male pheasant sat in the shade of a tree, sheep were gazing in the field and two beautiful Mallards were going about their business, the drake was protecting the duck, they were obviously a couple in love,  the pair passed the door of the tent a couple of times,  casing the joint, because on their third pass they shot into the tent, they had the element of surprise on their side, I froze like a rabbit in a headlamp as one snatched the Hobnob from my hand and the other lunged and made off with the packet of biscuits, B******s! They even had the cheek to return to the crime scene looking for more, but this time I was ready for them, they left empty billed but at least I got a mug shot of them.

 

The afternoon passed by snoozing in the warmth of the sun. By the evening the tent area of the campsite was filling up with Challengers arriving in dribs and drabs. After catching up with home it was pub time, The Fife Arms followed by the Moor Field and an end to a good day, back in my tent by 22:00

 

ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz!

 

 

Saturday 18^th May Braemar – A day off

 

        This was to be a day of rest, the weather started dry but by midday it was lashing down. I spent a lot of the time sorting out my kit for the second week, this also included sending home all the maps I was finished with. I also sent home my luxury item, the candle lamp, I had only used it once to warm up the room at Ben Alder bothy, I didn’t need it for light as I was asleep most of the nights by 21:30 and it didn’t get dark before 22:00.

The rain this afternoon was heavy, lying in my tent it wasn’t a gentle pitter patter on the canvas, nor was it like a roll of a snare drum, it was more like the sound of a heard of stampeding  Wilderbeasts passing both sides of the tent. The rain did go off later in the afternoon, I took this operchancity to nip down the village for some grub from the Co-op, whilst doing this I took the shortcut down through the car park, as I turned the apex of the path, I felt a pain in my (L) knee, Oops!, by the time I arrived back at the tent all was well and I had forgotten all about it.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent in the tent relaxing and snoozing until it was time to go down to the village for dinner, tonight it was going to be had at the Fife Arms Hotel, Haddock, chips and peas, but I didn’t get the peas, I got salad instead. Now I don’t mind salad, but when I was looking forward to peas, as stated on the menu, and didn’t get any, I was a bit pissed off because there was no explanation as to the switch so I asked what had happened to the peas, believe it or not, I didn’t even get an acknowledgement, they just blanked me! I know it was busy but just an explanation or to be warned forehand would have been nice, that’s my moan out the way so onto the Moor Field to meet up with Ade, Garry and Fred for some refreshments before bed at 22:30.

ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz!

 

 

 

  Sunday 19^th May Braemar to Sheilin of Mark

 

           This is the start of the second half of the walk, refreshed by the day off yesterday and a good sleep I was up, organised and away by 08:30 with a renewed spring in my step. Again my pack was as heavy as the first day which I noticed it as soon as I picked it up, Laden down with the resupply.

The weather was dry, cool, overcast and the air was still. The radio had mentioned mist/low cloud base on high ground so I will use my foul weather alternative, I’m just being lazy, I was supposed to be going up and over Loch na Gar.

    

 Out of the campsite and down to the village before walking along the roadside which follows the meandering River Dee down- stream.

Today I am heading for the bothy at the Sheilin of Mark, from the information I had gleaned from reading articles and talking to other challengers the final approach to the bothy from where the path ends may be challenging, the bothy is hidden from view until you are actually at it and the approach is over a featureless  heather moor with bog and peat haggs. The end of the day played on my mind for most of the day. There seems to be three different ways to approach it depending on who you talk to.  

   The roadside was quiet and easy going, only a couple of miles on I turned off at a bridge onto a forest track, this part of the day was beautiful, walking through a Caledonian forest which is obviously managed and protected by a deer fence and double cattle grids, well spaced scots pines which allowed the forest floor to flourish with all sorts of plants and wildlife, not like the forests back home which are so dark and dense the floors are sterile.

 Once I had popped out of the forest on the East side it was open moorland which undulated up and down without too much severity, this is where I met Lindy Griffiths, another solo challenger, we blethered all the way to the Royal Bothy where we stopped for lunch, we were now in the cloud base and visibility was getting poor. This bothy isn’t actually a bothy as I know them, solar panels on the roof and a septic tank, electricity and running water, that’s called a house!

 

Following lunch and a good rest Lindy and I went our separate way, I was now heading for the Spittal of Glen Muick. Once I left the bothy it was heather bashing for three or four miles with no track or footpath, steadily gaining height with visibility deteriorating. By the time I had reached the track I was to connect with my (L) knee was starting to ache, I had obviously aggravated the damage done in Braemar .

The descent down from the Bealach to the Spittal was painful and long, but once I came out of the cloud base the sun was shining and it was hot. At the ruins in the Spittal I had to stop and sort out my knee, Pain killers and strap it up, this is the first time I have used my first aid kit in all the years of walking and by the time I finished the walk there was very little left in it. Onwards for the last leg of today, across the Spittal and into the gorge following a burn upstream which leads to the final heather clad peat bog.

Now then going back to what I was blethering on about at the start of today, three choices of approach to the bothy across the heather, 1. You can follow the burn all the way round to the South and then hook East downhill to finally reach it, 2.  you can follow the line of wooden Grouse butts up and over the hill and then hook south downhill to reach it, 3. I chose to take a bearing directly to the bothy as by now the pain in my knee was becoming unbearable and I wanted the shortest distance to walk. On finally reaching the Bothy a few other challengers were setting up camp in the grounds around the small, dark and damp structure.  I set up camp down by the riverside in front of the bothy,

 choosing the spot wasn’t easy as the ground was tussocky and lumpy, because of this the other challengers tents were scattered all the way down the riverside where they could find a flat spot. Dinner was had and consideration was given to my route out tomorrow, I could see the hill top I would be aiming for in the morning, it was a long way off on the horizon with no path or track to cross the uphill route over more heather and bog. I was not looking forward to the mornings challenge given the pain I was in now. Bed early with my leg strapped up and raised, Oh my god, please don’t let the knee lock up during the night, if it does, how will I get off the hill and will this be the end of my walk?,  that’s what was going through my mind as I drifted off to sleep.

 ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz!

 

Monday 20^th May Sheiling of Mark to Tarfside

 

            I awoke at 06:30, how was the knee? I got up and dressed without too much discomfort, but when I got outside and stood up I almost collapsed back down. Oh shite, it’s locked! I decided to wander slowly up and down the burn side for about 20 minutes with the aid of my walking poles to loosen it off gradually, as it warmed up the pain increased so I had to pop more painkillers.  I was no longer focusing on the TGO Challenge, my only priority was to get off the hill and back to civilisation where I could attend to the knee.

 From the bothy it was across the burn and then over the heather bog to the ridge where on my map there was a track that traversed the ridge and would take me off the hill, but as we all know, tracks and paths shown on a map sometimes aren’t there on the ground, Oh how I prayed this one was. As soon as I put my pack on my back the pain eased a bit, strange, it was more comfortable with the pack on than when it was off. I slowly and painfully progressed up the hillside in thick fog, picking a route on the grass which lay in the gullies between the heather, my mind was sure that the challenge was over. Once at the top I was an elated walker, the track was there and easy to follow in the fog, this was going to make the day more bearable, a lot slower than all the previous days but at least I knew I would now get off the hill.

The descent wasn’t too bad, steep and good underfoot with the occasional slip on the way down which didn’t help the knee, each slip was met with me slamming the foot down to gain stability and the air filling with obscenities as the pain shot through my leg. I was glad to get to the bottom, now it was an easy walk all the way to Tarfside along the shores of Loch Lee.

The day was now warming up in the bright sun shine, I was in pain but enjoying the afternoon.

On reaching Tarfside I met John D who vetted my route all these months before, I informed him of the last few days and that my state of mind was that I was giving up. After a fantastic big bacon butty, endless cups of tea and words of encouragement from Team Tarfside my mind was back on the Challenge, after all it wasn’t far to the end now, St cyrus was my end but it made sense to change this to Montrose because there is a minor injuries unit there and it was a few miles shorter in distance. I decided to take a room for the night at St Drostans to give my knee the best chance to rest because throughout the day it had swollen up quite a bit, this was the first soft bed since the start and oh how I was looking forward to it. Following a good hot shower and dinner whilst drying my tent out on the lawn and catching up with home it was time for an early night, 20:30 with the leg strapped up with my Buff (I had run out of bandages) and the leg well elevated to try and get the swelling down, it wasn’t long before I fell unconscious.

 ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz!

 

Monday 21^st May Tarfside to North Water Bridge

 

             Today I awoke at 06:30, following a shower, breakfast and wandering about outside to warm up the knee, which wasn’t as sore as yesterday, most of the swelling had gone down overnight so things were looking better for getting to the end. The weather was bright and warm with a gentle breeze.

I was toying with the idea of stopping at a Glen Esk campsite, about half way to North Water Bridge if my knee started to give me problems, but this wasn’t necessary.

 

The walking today was simple, on the black stuff, mostly downhill in the beautiful Glen Esk which follows the river Esk with Scattered houses dotted all about the glen.

Now then, for a single track road it was extremely busy, estate landrovers continually up and down the road, delivery vans were just a blur as they passed at such a speed you had to clench the cheeks of your backside together to prevent the vacuum caused by them passing turning you inside out.

Bad hair day!

Road kill = 22 rabbits, 8 pigeons,  4 pheasants, 1 gull, 1 chaffinch + 1 probable chaffinch, 1 rat and a banana, What chance did they have with vehicles going at such a ridiculous speed. Having said that there were thousands of rabbits about, the high number of rabbit kills was obviously down to Myxomatosis, an introduced rabbit disease that eventually causes them to go blind.
 

The walk down Glen Esk was on the black stuff, nice and easy.  Because I was going so slow Craig and Alan caught me up whilst I was having a rest by the roadside, the knee was still painful but either I was getting used to it or it wasn’t as bad as the previous days. Craig and Alan were heading for Edzell for lunch but I was taking the more direct route to North Water Bridge.

The last leg of the day would take me passed Edzell Airfield on a four mile stretch of road that was as straight as die.

Arriving at the campsite by 14:30, the tent was up in a jiffy and a good long soaking shower before dinner, again just like my previous walks I had over-estimated how much food I required for the event, looking into my food dry bag I had 4 main meals and 3 puddings left on the penultimate night, so tonight I pigged out on 1 main meal of chicken korma and two puddings of custard and mixed fruit and rice with raisins. Now content and bloated the rest of the day was spent lying in the doorway of my tent soaking up the sunshine, blethering to Craig and Alan, who had arrived from Edzell, whilst watching all the other challengers arriving and going about their different routines of setting up camp.

This campsite is sandwiched between two roads, the A90 and the minor road that comes down from Glen Esk, This will mean it was going to be a noisy night, which it was. 



ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz!

 

 

Tuesday 22^nd May North Water Bridge to Montrose (not St Cyrus)

 

 

 

This was the last time I would be packing up the tent, I had organised a camping pod at the Montrose campsite for tonight.  Not far to go now, the end is in sight today so I was more determined to suffer the knee.

Out of the campsite and over the A90 and the river Esk, again today was going to be on the black stuff all the way, normally I avoid the black stuff as much as possible but now I was grateful for it.

 

Easy going in the sunshine, what a fantastic way to end the walk surrounded with great views, gone were all the hills, the landscape was now flat and full of arable farms. 

 

 

It wasn’t long before I got my first glimpse of Montrose away in the distance, it was all downhill from here. Again Craig and Alan passed me, again I was going so slow, my knee was getting sore and was starting to swell up again, some thought went into the logistics of how to finish. I would go straight to the hotel to officially sign in, then I would make my way to the Minor Injuries Department, before I went to the beach, If I had gone to the beach before signing in then I think I wouldn’t have bothered going back to the Hotel, I would have phoned in instead, the thought of passing the hotel to get to the beach and then walking/limping back again didn’t excite me.

 

Arriving in Montrose and finding the hotel, it was great knowing that I was finished and that I hadn’t given up at Tarfside, thanks to team Tarfside.

 

 

After signing in and receiving my certificate, TGOC T-shirt, Buff, Bridgedale socks,  foot gel and a cup of tea and bicuits I was off again, Now  where ‘s the Hospital? Into the first shop to ask directions (a chemist), armed with the directions I made my way there. Shortly after leaving the shop a car pulled up beside me and the window went down, a very nice elderly lady asked me if I wanted a lift to the hospital, how did she know I was going to the hospital?  Now get this……..the lady was in the shop when I asked for directions and realised that the girl had made a couple of mistakes in the directions, rather than correcting her she decided to offer me a lift there instead, now wasn’t that kind of her? A huge thank you goes out to her as it turned out to be further away than I thought.



Minor Injuries Department
Diagnosis = Medial Collateral Ligament (partial tear)

 

Once the knee was properly strapped up and I was happily drugged up with painkillers and anti-inflammatory tablets I made my way to the beach to wet my feet in the North Sea. I set the camera up on a rock and set the timer, the water was a fair distance out from the rocks and it took me a number of shots to get one with me facing the camera in a relaxed pose instead of my backside as I limped my way to the waters edge, I couldn't move quick enough.

 

all that remained was for me to book into the campsite and relax. Being drugged up and having had a good hot shower I was feeling great, so I decided to go to the train station to find out about the train times to Glasgow tomorrow. Having done that, I went next door, into Tesco for something nice to eat instead of yet another freeze dried meal.

Unbelievably I met Carl Oddy inside, he was just off the train from Aberdeen and was in to get something to eat before going to sign in.

 

 I walked with Karl out of Oban on the first day, met him again at the half way point where we walked into Braemar and now I would walk with him to the hotel for him to sign in at the end.

The job was done!

 

 

 

 

Part 1
Part 2