Hiking in the Cairngorms - Day 4
| Munros bagged: | ZERO. *Sigh* |
| Distance walked: | 20km |
| Song stuck in head: | Lana Del Rey - Off To The Races |
| Celebratory meal: | A pretty disappointing burrito from Roo's Leap in Aviemore |
During the night, something weird happened. Tom woke up around 1am, convinced he could hear footsteps. This is something I have terrified myself by imagining from time to time. You know, young couple, camping in the middle of nowhere, no defence, no weapons, stumbled upon by a complete psychopath who just HAPPENS to be wandering around the hills looking for someone to eat... Anyway. Tom had got himself a bit spooked, and shook it off, supposing it was just the wind in the trees.
But suddenly, a flash light came on, and there was someone - with a dog - stood right outside the tent.
And they said,
"Is that Gillian?"
Tom replied "No, sorry."
At which point, I finally woke up too. Very confused, since Tom had just shouted in my face.
But that was it. They just walked off. Tom relayed the story to me, and I felt a bit ill. Just the likelihood - we had seen one other person ALL day. And the awareness of our vulnerability was creepy too. We tried, in our disorientated, just-woken state, to come up with an explanation. We failed. (Although, upon reflection, it's obvious isn't it? They just really wanted to eat Gillian.)
So we survived the night. First thing in the morning, it pissed it down. We enjoyed bringing the wet tent down and bundling it into its bag. (Nnnott.) Then off we went, on our Munro-less trek.
To be honest, there isn't a great deal to report from the day. Just plodding our way through valleys, on paths - fairly good paths in fact - and stopping occasionally to consult the map, remove layers, or nibble some dried mango. Ha, I know, mango! We are super-posh twatty wild-campers aren't we?!
We passed the Devil's Point (which, from yesterday, we were now in the habit of pointing at, whenever we saw it. Hilarious fun. Clearly.) and the Corrour bothy beneath it. It looked very popular; we could see five or six people pottering about close by, and a tent pitched next to it.
We had a very long straight hike through the Lairig Ghru, slowly gaining a bit of height. We had to stop halfway to deal with my one and only blister of the trip. (Shout out to Compeed! The greatest plasters in the world.) And we had a nice chat with a reasonably old man who had decided to go for a tough jog through the valley. He told us he was welcoming any chance to stop and get his breath back. Indeed we saw him stop to talk to some more people just a 100m up the track!
We also saw a man with an interesting pointy hat.
We came to the beautiful Pools of Dee. Had it been warmer, and less close to the path, it would have been a fabulous swimming spot. I am still waiting for the perfect opportunity for a proper Scottish skinny-dip. It is going to happen. Definitely...
Eventually, we got to start coming back down. It had actually come out sunny too! And after 10km walking along the Lairig Ghru pass, we came to our turning. We would follow the Chalamain Gap route to take us back to Cairngorm Ski Centre.
There's a fairly long boulder field to cross. Typically it started raining just before we got to it, so I had to think about slipping as well as balance. Tut. We saw a man on top of the cliffs teaching his teenage sons to rock-climb. Cool Dad!
We were pretty chuffed to clamber down unscathed. Here is Tom's best "Man Conquers Rocks" pose.
Finally, we were on the home straight. There were trees at last!
[As a little aside: In Iceland, there's a popular hike called the Laugavegur that crosses over glaciers and very barren volcanic terrain for about 50km. It eventually ends in Þórsmörk, translated as "Thor's Wood". After a few days hiking without any greenery, you know you are reaching the end once you spot the first tree. And apparently you must shout "Mork! Mork!" in celebration, which Tom and I now dutifully do on all of our hiking trips.]
It was pretty, mind.
At this point, we had our hearts set on catching the 5pm bus back to Aviemore. But we had a steep climb back up out of the valley. Plus, the scenic route had been closed for maintenance, so we had to walk along the main road instead. I think we looked a bit tragic. We were feeling quite beaten at this point; my legs were stinging, there was just no energy left. We were desperately pushing uphill as fast as we could. Sweating. Gasping. But try as we might, we could NOT overtake the elderly couple strolling just a few metres ahead of us.
I love cairngormski
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