Had a nice dinner at the FIVE ARMS HOTEL in Braemar … one of the best hotels in the UK … they also have an excellent Bar/Restaurant that I visited several times in the last years.
Awesome setup and really decent food. The bar was completely filled so they placed the lonely walker in a side room that I have not been before.
I checked my OURA and saw a weird pattern. Everytime I staid at a hostel my sleeping was not so relaxing and my body temperature was high … and fine when I slept in the tent ⛺️ … interesting, isn’t it?
Anyway will stay again in a hostel in Ballater … let’s see if the pattern continues. The two remaining nights will be tent 🏕️ camping again.
The day looked a little boring on the map with lots of street walking … well, it was luckily more exciting and less dangerous.
Braemar was filled with TGOC participants and several also followed my obvious route … met them several times throughout the day.
First needed to climb the mountain at BRAEMAR and then was positively surprised to see that they build a very nice path a little above the road that brought us directly into BALMORAL FOREST … beautiful old trees.
And then I saw BALMORAL castle … some tourists, but considering that it was Sunday today and the weather quite decent (at least around noon) it was not bad at all.
Talking quickly about the weather … it was my first short pants walking day (8 degrees). Till 2pm it was quite nice and then started to rain pretty continuously till I arrived in Ballater.
After leaving the immediate BALMORAL grounds with destination ROYAL LOCHNAGAR WHISKY DUSTILLERY I passed a very gourgeous golf course with absolutely no one playing … maybe exclusively reserved for the royal family???
The king apparently prefers Macallan but the DIAGEO owned distillery ROYAL LOCHNAGAR is on his property.
This was after roughly half the distance which was followed by about 7km road walking with very little traffic.
At a track junction into the forest I found that little sign (from the place that I am staying tonight 🥳).
The box contained delicious homemade cookies 🍪. I found a second box closer to Ballater.
Lots of storm damage along the River Dee till I crossed the old pedestrian bridge only allowing a max of 4 people on it 😱
The last 5k led through a very nice forest into Ballater, a place I visited several times in the past. Many restaurants and quite busy.
After setting in at the Hostel I went to the BARREL restaurant and ordered CHICKEN BALMORAL (filled with Haggis) … the walk must have inspired me I normally never order chicken.
Less than 100km to go!
🚶♂️: 10 – 8 of which were TGOC Participants
🦌 : –
Learnings:
- A live without challenges and with a high degree of certainty is boring and likely not fulfilling … at least not for characters like me.
- Living without risk taking … see above.
- Said that before … keeping your body in shape should be an obligation for everyone … and keeping your mind fit is ultimately key … a waking trip like the TGOC covers all aspects.
Magical Moment:
I was actually hesitant to write about that, because it destroys my reputation as a tough guy 🤨.
Actually happened to me during last years trip as well.
I started having tears 😭 during the walk … not because of sadness, but because of happiness and personal satisfaction. This is really weird and you probably experience that only (I at least) when you are for a longer period of time alone with yourself and have time to reflect. This is reason alone to to that – or something like it – again and again. Reflection is so valuable … I also finetuned my new plans and my career #4. You will hear about it soon!
My Travel Adventures 