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We awoke to another reasonable morning. Our first task was to assess the state of Kate's knee. It was still giving her some pain and she was nervous about taking the Lairig Ghru route to Braemar. We decided to change the route and amble, more gently, to Braemar via. Glen Feshie and White Bridge. Although Challenge Routes are submitted and vetted walkers always need to be alive to changing routes through new circumstances. This route was effectively our fair weather alternative. I reckoned that Kate could probably have managed the route OK but she has a great deal of experience of boulder fields in far bigger mountains than these and changing the route was obviously the right thing to do. I rang Challenge control to let them know of the change of route; we would still be in Braemar early on Friday.
Hopefully a gentle couple of days into Braemar, coupled with a day and a half of rest would help the knee recover.
The few of us at the campsite were all breaking camp at the same time. I had a long chat with Dave Godfrey who'd arrived later than us the evening before. Dave's a lovely guy who comes from Sutton Coldfield, just up the road from me. Like most Challengers Dave's a bit of a gear freak and we talked about new gear and also about simple little innovations, many of which had come from Ant Cathart. My favourite was Ant's method for creating an ultra-lightweight water container for camp. He takes a wine box and removes the foil wine container - after having drunk the wine! The difficult bit is, apparently, turning the container inside out, but when you've succeeded - and sanded down the plug a bit - you have an exceptionally light, four litre, container.
From the campsite we joined a track heading over open moorland to Phones Lodge, where we connected with Wade's Road again, walking East towards the old Ruthven Barracks that was Wade's base. This stretch of walk is very pleasant, you amble along without facing any real degree of difficulty, with the Cairngorms stretched out on one side and the Monadhliath on the other. Eventually we were joined by Dave Godfrey who was on his way to Kingussie for a much - awaited all day breakfast. Dave pronounced the route to be one of the most enjoyable he had ever done in Scotland. I offered the opinion that it was lovely to be having such an easy day, and one with no navigational challenges. Dave smiled and suggested that these were always the worst!
We didn't have long to discover the obvious wisdom of Dave's words. Somehow the three of us managed to drop off Wade's Road too quickly and we found ourselves on the verge of the main road. We attempted to carry on over small streams but found our way blocked by a whole succession of wire fences. After crossing three or four of these we gave up, clambered up to the road, crossed the highway and dropped down onto the other side. We thought we'd be clever and find a little track that would take us under the road, but we were in the wrong place. Every route we explored was barred by the Spey which was too large to cross.
We must have wasted a good hour or more trying to find clever ways to avoid walking alongside the main road - which is a very fast and unpleasant highway. But there was nothing for it but to take the plunge and follow the road through a major cutting. Eventually we joined a small lane that took us to Ruthven. Dave turned the opposite way, developing an impressive turn of speed as he set off in search of that all day breakfast.
After strolling along tarmac roads for what seemed like hours we eventually stopped for lunch in the lovely meadow that sits at the side of Tromie Bridge. We were now at what I had thought of as the start of the day's real walk, through the forests to Glen Feshie. But it was now 2 in the afternoon and we'd been already walking for 6 hours. It felt as if 5 hours had been spent trudging along the road, being blown over by the huge trucks that rumbled Westwards. I was in a bad mood!
But as soon as we hit the tracks through the forest my spirits were raised . This continues to be relatively gentle walking but the forests provide for a kind of 'chill-out' walk. Several locals chatted over cottage walls, all careful to give us directions and raise our spirits.
Strolling Down Glen Feshie
By the time we reached Feshie the sun had disappeared but that didn't detract one little bit from the beauty of the Glen. We took a long break by the side of the river and then ambled down the estate road, very slowly indeed, so as to thoroughly absorb ourselves in the surroundings. Just before the main lodge the track crosses onto the other side of the river and within no time at all we were in the beautiful, grassy surroundings of Ruigh-aitechain bothy. I'd hoped to walk on further south than this to some other lovely camping spots. But the trek alongside the road had taken its toll and we were more than happy to set up the tent on a lovely, grassy, spot, next to a small tributary stream of the Feshie.
We didn't drop into the bothy but just sat in the sill warm evening air, simply enjoying the stunning views and listening to a symphony of majestic bird song.