The weather looked to be the same as yesterday, some chance of rain off and on for most of the day. I had two choices for today's route. My primary route was up and over Mt. Battock at 778 meters, toward the Fetteresso Forest, but yesterday as I was coming into Tarfside I could see Mt Battock, from the Hill of Rowan, and it was completely covered in clouds. My second option was to take a slightly lower route through Glen Dye. Maybe I was learning something after all and decided on the route through Glen Dye.
I was up before even the Challenge staff was ready to receive morning patrons. I was planning to make my own breakfast anyway, since I had a bag full of food that I had sent myself at the Clova Hotel, which included 3 days of Captain Crunch cereal and powdered milk (breakfast of champions!). I used the self catering kitchen in the back of the rectory to make my own breakfast and coffee.
Tarfside is such a delightful little village.
Lovely wildflowers growing from yards and fields along the road leaving Tarfside
It is a fair walk down the road to Millden Lodge to start up to the hills.
Climbing up the tracks, a bit of rain moved in, and followed the hill just to my right. For a while, it was raining on my right shoulder but not my left, as I walked up the track. The umbrella did the trick.
I did end at a fairly precarious climb down to gain the Water of Dye track. You can see how close together the contour lines get on the map. It was not the most elegant way to come off that trackless section, but taking my time, I worked down the cliff face with no issues. (photo below)
Around lunch time I reached Charr Bothy (I am told, the second most haunted bothy in Scotland). The couple that maintain the bothy were there and finishing up some chores and I sat inside to have some lunch.
More outstanding walking down Glen Dye. I was told the owners of Glen Dye also have a plans to 're-wild' the Glen. They will be planting thousands of trees and culling the deer population.
I decided to get a few more miles done and head into the Fetteresso Forest today. The B974 highway runs along this section and it was busy, but I found an abandoned track that cut a good deal off the road walk. Not many people have come this way (below)
Walking out of Tarfside, A hill covered in wildflowers
Another lovely cottage
Other TGO Challenger's pitched on the soccer field
View of the hills across the Glen Esk. The first Highland Cattle (Hairy Cooz) I have seen on this trip.
A hair cut just like my son.
The climb is steady after leaving the road but the views open up.
The tracks are wide and graded so walking is very easy all the way to the top of the climb at 485 meters (Stobie Hillock). A lot of these hill tracks are new and don't appear on the map and some older tracks on the maps are gone. I think this is mostly due to the increased grouse and deer hunting access
For a walker the views are amazing.
Wonderful view, looking back, as I pass from one property to the next
When I reached the Hill of Turret, I thought I followed the path I created in blue, however, the path I walked was not the same. The track had been changed and now led to a locked gate. The original track was no longer on the ground. There was nothing but a field of knee high heather and bog on the other side of the gate. Looking at my GPS and map, I simply walked up the fence line to gain the top of Shank Of Birks. The fence here was old and incomplete, so I easily went through it and carried on toward Stobie Hill.
At the fence line just after Shank of Birks there is no path on the map anyway, so this was just another short section of cross country until I reached the beginning of the Water of Dye at the top of the map above.
This was really boggy ground and you can see from my actual track, in red, on the map, I needed to zig-zag a bit to go in the direction I wanted. I never planned to come this way, so I did not give Google Earth a good look before hand, otherwise I would have seen some faint tracks leading to some Grouse Butts that I could have drawn and followed to make this a bit easier, but it was only 30 minutes of bog bashing.
Gaining the Glen Dye track and looking ahead.
Just a little bit of elevation on the Glen Dye track, and you can see the trackless hill section.
This was just a beautiful walk next to the water and through the Glen.
A nice chair and table for lunch.
Leaving Charr Bothy
I came to the end of Glen Dye and the car park. There is the ruin of Spital Cottage. I had planned to camp somewhere around here tonight, but it was early and it was too 'touristy' with many cars in the parking area. You can see Clachnaben, rising up in the background of the photo below. This is a very popular walker target. Clachnaben was on my original route for today.
Entering the Fetteresso Forest via a gate and then onto a very wide track that serves both the forest operations and recently the wind farm creation. These tracks at one point were just normal size but have been expanded to accommodate all the heavy construction traffic over the years.
The Fetteresso is a production forest. The trees are planted so close together that there is virtually no room to stand under them, let alone, pitch a tent. I realized almost immediately that I had probably come too far for today and might have trouble finding a place to camp.
The rain was coming and I just kept walking to try and find a spot. I finally found a little bit of flat ground that a bulldozer had made that was bit enough for my tent. It was partially under a small pine. Literally right next to the track, but I did get set up before the rain arrived and made one of my homemade dinners for tonight. Buffalo Pasta.
Once my tent was up and the rain started, I was an easy target for Scotland's giant black slugs.
The night of the Slug invasion!
Today's Stats:
