Ah, the glory of a day off! The three Challengers in the dorm rose in great spirits. Malcolm's achilles looked badly swollen and he was off home. Rob was positively excited at spending a day with a newspaper. A good breakfast seemed high on my list of priorities - we had already identified the Gordon's bistro, on the high street, as our venue.
The bistro didn't open until 10.00. Malcolm and I strolled to the campsite where he had booked a place for this evening; he collected his food parcel and I took over his reservation. After setting-up the tent, and relieving Malcolm of his spare porridge, we both set of for breakfast. Gordon's served-up the best breakfast so far. Highly recommended; we only wished we'd decided to eat there the night before.
Malcolm was in good spirits despite the disappointment of achilles strain. He wondered whether he could aim for a new Challenge record; the person with the most abandoned crossings to his name! His wife came to pick him up and we parted with a loose plan to go backpacking in the Knoydart together next spring.
Get your highland attire hire!
I strolled around the village and marvelled at Braemar Mountain Sports, as good a gear shop as you are likely to find. The (relatively) new owners were full of enthusiasm, very helpful and keen walkers - something I'm finding increasingly rare in the gear shops near me. I was particularly taken with X Socks. I'd read about these but had never had a chance to look at a pair. Matt Hazely reckoned that they were, by far, the best socks that he used on his record-breaking, USA, three crowns hike in 2005. I decided to try a pair. My light hiker Smartwools were doing OK but they did seem a bit heavy at times in the trail shoes I was wearing.
I then followed Rob's lead and bought a Guardian, went back to the campsite, washed some clothes and sat down to read the newspaper in the sunshine. I even stripped my cut-offs down to shorts. This was certainly rejuvenating. And that is how I spent the rest of the day, interspersed with the odd stroll into the village. I bunped into Rob again who - despite his Scottish accent - turned out to live only five miles from me in Birmingham. Down in the village hikers were beginning to arrive in serious numbers; rucksacks were stacking-up outside of the Fife Arms; the Hearty Highlander chip shop and café was doing a roaring trade and I joined some Challengers there for a chat. Back at the campsite the tents were rolling in too. The Akto clustering effect was well in evidence. My Akto was now at the end of a long line of Aktos (six or seven of them); I was quite relived that mine was at the end of the line and not in the middle.
These ducks were everywhere - the noisiest ducks ever!
I also had my first chance to have a good look at some Terra Nova Laserlites and the new Terra Nova Competition tent. I'd been interested in the Laserlite when I'd bought the Akto, but I couldn't convince the store to let me open the bag and have a good look at it; I decided to stick with the Hilleberg as I know their tents well. Malcolm had gone one better than me; his local store had allowed him to take the Competition home and try it for the weekend. He'd found the tent far too short for him, short on vestibule space and had changed in for an Akto; he reckoned that the Competition was a good foot shorter than the Akto. Looking at the tents I could see what he meant. Their owners were pretty happy with them although each of them pointed out that they were smaller than me! Apparently, these tents are stable enough out in the open and - after practice - can be put up quite quickly. Unlike the Akto, these tents have only one small poll at the ends, unlike the two small carbon poles that are stitched into the Akto. Several users were reducing weight further by using their trekking poles as rear poles.. They were happy with their tents but I decided that I was happier with the extra space of the Akto, especially in poor weather.
I lazed around all afternoon. The weather forecast for the next few days seemed to be good, although some Challengers had heard warnings of snow and white-outs. I rang Challenge Control and changed my route again. Originally, I was planning to go over Jock's Road to Glen Clova and then over Loch Brandy to Tarfside. This was exactly the kind of terrain I was racing over too quickly and I decided that my foul weather alternative, through Balmoral and on to the Shiel of Mark bothy might be better. Even more tents joined the party. Lightweight Bob (the other one) set up next to me, proudly demonstrating his Go-Lite Gust pack but then putting up a 2 kg Nallo which seemed to be missing the point a little. I'm not really sure about the Gust; it's hip belt has no stiffness to it which means that all the weight is taken on the shoulders. During the challenge I was regularly carrying five days of food and in the summer - in mountains - this can be supplemented by quite a bit of water. I was glad of a lightweight pack that had a more effective weight distribution system.
As evening came the town was beginning to buzz. Many of those I talked to were planning a rest day on Saturday and a long drinking session at the Fire Arms in the evening. I was quite glad to be moving on. The weather began to cloud over and it became quite cool. I ate at the Hearty Highlander - what a place. This chip shop was pure quality; each piece of fish was individually battered and cooked. My huge piece of haddock was the best fried fish that I had eaten for years far better than the Fire Arms.
I wriggled into my sleeping bag quite early, totally refreshed and happy at the prospect of walking on. The rest day had been a good idea, and Braemar a nice place to take it in.