Felt very refreshed and strong 💪 this morning. I managed to get everything dried … even the tent (I was hanging it up in my room turned the heater up and opened the window 😱).
BTW – more than half of the days and distance completed!
Left around 09:30 after saying goodbye to my TGO fellows and the host and went straight to the BEACHHOUSE which promised to have breakfast starting at 09:00 … GOOGLE was right this time. Two breakfast rolls … that’s all for the day … no food till I arrive in the evening.
BTW: My OURA still says I am sleeping well – Readiness 64 (I am not worried at all!), Sleep 84, Activity 84.
I was unsure which route to take and eventually decided to go through Lairig Ghru … the mountains got a lot of snow yesterday and that was not an alternative. The only other route would have been through beautiful Glen Feshie, the tour I did on my first TGO in 2022.
The weather forecast said 0% chance of precipitation … completely off! Around 3-4 hours of hail and snow again! The pictures don’t show that … because one preferably takes pictures when the weather is nice 😊.
To get there I had to first cross the Feshie river and then walk for about 12k through the Rothiemurchus forest — very nice old trees … reminded me of the Feshie valley.
And then the Ben Macdui and the Cairn Toul showed their white top. Yesterday was heavy snowfall … my original tour (planned on the weather assumption from last year — 15 – 20 degrees and sunshine 😇) would have led me over the ridge and I would have camped on top of Cairn Toul. There is probably one meter of snow up there right now with temperatures of around -10 degrees. I am neither technical prepared nor have warm enough sleeping equipment.
But Lairig Ghru was difficult enough … completely rocky on top, fully snow covered and a not distinguishable track.
It was a great tour however … very glad that I did it and I am sure that you agree looking at the pictures and video.
I continued passing Corrour Bothy … looked like it was full already. Further down I met one of the wardens of the bothy on his way to check if everything still works.
My original camping spot was taken 🤦♂️ … so I had to walk for another 3k for a total of 36k and 1000 altitude meters today to set up my tent at this wonderful spot.
Tomorrow ist a short walk (20k) to Braemar where I will stay at the Youth Hostel and eat at the Five Arms bar restaurant 😊.
🚶♂️ : lots (>20) – about one third TGOC Participants that I passed
🦌 : nothing really … but honestly did not intensively look … and why would a deer be in the cold if it can be further down 🦌
Learnings:
- Having more than half completed gives you renewed energy to complete everything.
- It does not take much to motivate one again … I am sure … you just need to find what it is and be able to apply it. This is a personal thing!
Magic Moments:
It was all in all a wonderfully stimulating day.
I had that last year too that I felt very happy and content with my live during this trip — live is wonderful and I really have had a great one so far … don’t want it to end, but if it would I could not complain!
My Travel Adventures 