Day 2: Loch Mhoicrean to Alt na Lagnair/Loch nan Gillean

Woke to a wonderful morning, the sun warming the tent and the Loch still and glass like. After packing up we walked around the East side of the Loch before climbing through the gap between Carn na Breabeig and Coire na Breabeig. The 'gap' was yet another boggy piece of ground. Though rivers and streams were almost empty the boggy ground was waterlogged; everything seemed far wetter than last year. We descended to cross a river that ran into Loch Mullardoch. Again the river levels were quite low and the river a doddle to cross. After climbing to a path we walked east towards the Glenn a Choilich whose river fed into the South Western side of Loch Mullardoch. We had to cross the river and on to the track on the other side of the Glenn. Again, this was a river crossing that had been worrying me. Scottish Hill Tracks just talks about crossing to the other side of the river, but you can never be sure what this means until you are there on the ground.

The mouth of the river was in the form of a wider, peaty delta and was easy to cross. In wetter times we could have carried on along our track which runs into the Glenn before allowing a shallow crossing above some lovely waterfalls. We reached the track and settled down for a rest under some trees that nestled above the waterfalls. This was good 'Bushbuddy' territory, the Bushbuddy Ultra being a tiny wood burning stove that I'd been using for a few weeks. I'd wondered whether to take the Bushbuddy as a second stove but then decided that there was no point in carrying the weight; I'd simply have a good look around to see where there was fuel. Already I'd been surprised by how much fuel there was when you look around. To use the Bushbuddy as your stove it seemed that you might have to plan a route to end near one of the protected, high, gullies where you could always find some wood. Alternatively, a small stuff sack could easily be filled with dry wood - which is pretty light - and carried to higher campsites. You can always find petrified wood in bogs. While I'd left my Bushbuddy at home Colin Ibbotson has decided to carry his as his only stove. We'd meet in Braemar. I was fascinated to see how he had got on.

The Glenn a Choilich is another lonely and beautiful glen, cutting through the West Benula Forest. Here we met our first Challenger, Ian Whyte, for over twenty four hours. We chatted for a while in the afternoon sunshine before beginning the long, hard climb to the bealach that would carry us down to Glen Affric. The climb down, surprise, surprise, involved dancing through yet more peat bog.

Glen Affric has the reputation of being one of the most special Glens in the Highlands. Our route saw us emerge on the valley track somewhat East of the Youth Hostel at Alltbeithe. The glen certainly looked spectacular with a wide and winding river rolling thoruhg lush green fields and caledonian forest.

By now the weather had broken and hard rain began to fall. As we walked East along the Glen we met a number of Challengers who'd decided to cut short their day and pitch on the grassy banks of the Affric. But the weather didn't seem to be too bad and we pushed on, Kate determined that we should make our planned destination for the evening. Our track climbed higher above Loch Affric, making its way through woodland before reaching a small path, sign-posted to Cougie Lodge, which cut up the hillside. The path was quite faint in parts and was very wet and muddy. The rain began to drive down again. The climb was miserably longer than planned. We trudged on past some lovely looking camp spots eventually meeting the track to Cougie Lodge above the tree-line, meeting the full blast of the icy wind.

The map suggested that there would be few camp spots up here until we got to our planned destination and that was the case. We walked down the estate track with rain tearing down. The only bright spot in the walk was that we could see our destination ahead, a Lochan that looked far larger in life than it did on the map. When we arrived at the Loch we could see a small dam at the outflow; the Lochan seemed to have been extended as a fishing spot. We could also see a lovely, grassy, camp spot above the waters of the lake and we headed there at full speed.

We struggled to erect our new tent in driving rain and strong winds, though it was up - and we were inside - pretty quickly. The day that had started so beautifully had ended in dreadful weather. Just what you expect in Scotland. As we settled down for the evening I couldn't help but think of Darren, sleeping in his tarp; I hoped that he was as warm and as comfortable as possible underneath that tarp. Me; I was glad of my tent.