TGO Challenge - A Walk from Glenuig to Montrose

Day 12 Tuesday _ People

I was woken up at about 4am by the appallingly loud noise of grouse and seagulls squabbling. I wouldn’t have had to put up with that at the hotel.

The plan for today was to walk over the hill to into Glen Lee, and then walk down Glen Lee into Glen Esk and camp the night at Tarfside, a popular stop-over point for Challengers, and a short day.

I was away before eight in thick cloud, and wasn’t to see much of the world for a few hours. I followed the path up the east side of the loch onto Green Hill which was a bigger pull up than I been expecting. From here I followed the track SE as marked on the map, but missed the junction and found myself walking downwards toward Shank of Catstae. I had to go back a little way and turn the GPS on to find the path to Glen Lee. What was confidently marked on the map as a path turned out to be a mere suggestion on the ground. At first it was cairned which was helpful. Obviously it had once been an important through route between Glen Clova and Glen Lee, but I guess it is rarely used now except by a few Challengers every May.

I managed to find my way along it quite well, but at the dip between East Cairn and Wester Skuiley it was a bit boggy, and stones for cairns had obviously been in short supply. I took a guess at the right path and found I’d veered off to much to the north, but rather than turn back I skirted some crags and dropped down to the Burn of Inchgrundle joining the path half a mile down the valley.

The path took me through Inchgrundle and out onto the flat land at the head of Loch Lee. Off to my left, coming down Glen Lee were little groups of Challengers. I was joining one of the popular Challenge through routes, this one being from Braemar to Tarfside. From here to the coast two days away I would be in the constant company of other Challengers.

Where my track met the main through route I was immediately joined by a couple of other Challengers. One, Patrick, a quiet thoughtful chap from London I was to see a few more times, eventually sitting with him at the Challenge dinner on Friday evening. The other Challenger took our meeting as a chance to sit down and take his socks off.

I found myself walking with several people in turn on the track, then road, down to Tarfside, but most memorable was a Challenger called Vince who’d heard of the Challenge only three weeks before it started. He certainly had a zest for life, and I found him a very entertaining person to walk with. He’d walked all over the world, and after the Challenge was planning to walk from Braemar to Aviemore, and then The West Highland Way.

Eventually Vince and I arrived at Tarfside and he burst into St Drostan’s with an instant all-encompassing friendliness which I could only admire. His enormous personality filled the already busy building.

After a cup of tea and one of St Drostan’s famous bacon butties I left to pitch the tent in the Tarfside playing field. There were a few tents pitched here already, and I met Bob and Rose Cartwright who run a lightweight backpacking company, but our conversation was cut short by a shower of rain, and I hurried back to my tent.

After sorting things out in the tent I emerged into sunshine and chatted to my next door neighbours who’d arrived in the rain.

After pottering around for an hour or so I decided to walk down the road to see what The Retreat was. I’d heard of this establishment and seen signs at the playing field. It turned out to be a community run museum and café. In the café there was one other person, another Challenger who, despite it bing mid-afternoon, was working his way through a three course meal. Humphrey Weightman was a breath of fresh air after eleven days of thinking my own thoughts. It only took the slightest of prodding to get Humphrey to expound on all sorts of unlikely subjects, and I was only too happy to listen, no matter how unlikely the subject. We were only disturbed by the arrival of my Scottish Tea, which consisted of tea, scones, pancakes and home-made rhubarb jam, and then a bit later, getting chucked out at closing time. Humphrey was heading back into the hills, but I would meet him again when we'd reached the coast.

Wandering back up to the campsite I found it had filled up considerably, and by evening there were well over fifty tents. It was all very friendly.

The Retreat were delivering meals to the campsite, and at about seven some fish and chips which I’d ordered turned up.

A bit later on I saw Bob Cartwright talking to the occupants of a tent near me, which had arrived whilst I was at The Retreat. I kept hearing the name “Shirley” (aka PW) so went over and asked the tent if it was Shirley inside. After asking who I was the tent burst open and I was given a friendly hug, a mat to sit on (what a great idea), and a flapjack. Shirley was the only person on the Challenge who I’d met previously, and it was great to see someone I knew. I'd met PW in the Lake District, and her contagious enthusiasm had overcome my lack of confidence about my ability to do the Challenge. I don’t think I’d have been on The Challenge if it wasn’t for her, and this thought hadn’t escaped me when lost on Sgurr na Ba Glaise in the cloud and hail. After a chat we agreed to walk together the next day.