Saturday 22.06.2013

June seems to have caught itself up. Despite an occasionally overcast sky, a spit of rain every now and again and a chilly easterly wind, the cow parsley is now shoulder high,

with patches of yellow buttercup, blue forget-me-not and purple vetch dotted through the lush grasses

which also made for good hunting territory

as well as the opportunity to do Snoopy impressions

Good walking, fresh air, amazing skies, heart lifted, job done.

Sunday 16.06.2013

We made it hard on ourselves in some respects on our traverse of the mountains from Braemar to Aviemore.
The logistics are tricky as you start on one side of them and finish on the other so without much rushing about with various cars it`s a case of On The Buses.
Not a problem in itself but they only take you so far. So how to get to the starting point of the serious walking:six miles on tarmac or a taxi?
We walked......always a bit of a trudge along a road but hey...the sun shone, mostly, it was shirtsleeves order and very pleasant at Linn of Dee where we paused to re-group....and bandage the feet in preparation......

Any excuse for a stop,the next at Derry Lodge, time for a brew and more preventative bandaging.....

before setting off into the serious stuff where in such genuinely awe-inspiring surroundings words become redundant which fortunately allows for the necessary concentration on breathing and moving.

Another stream, another brew:

by now we`ve been on the go for about 8 hours and are lulled into a false sense of dryness, watching the clouds swirl across the tops and pass us by.





Can`t last

but somehow it doesn`t matter, that`s what waterproofs are for. The scenery becomes more dramatic

and if the bivvy turned out to be a bit cold and wet it was at least in a pretty spot and meant that in a bid to avoid hypothermia we were up and away early on Saturday morning

glad to feel the blood circulating again and soon even able to talk........
No more rain,down through the stunning Rothiemurchus Estate

able to look back at where we`d been

and even soak those feet - bliss.

A final trudge on several miles of road and we made Aviemore roughly 24 hours after we left Braemar: three days later legs and feet are recovered, brain`s full of stunning images and heart`s still soaring.

But next time we might take taxis on that tarmac.............

Wednesday 12.06.2013

An evening trot in the bosky woods before a more muscular expotition in The Mountains later this week.

Busy layered sky suggesting any kind of weather you fancy really, one minute grey and damp, the next warm and sunny -

ideal `growy` weather.....

practically turning the woods into jungle in places........

Friday 07.06.2013

A perfect June evening, still warm at quarter to six but with shadows starting to lengthen.


A few warm days and everything`s blossoming and lush and the grass is suddenly so long that the dogs disappear into it.


Rumours of summer then.........

Friday 31.05.2013

Temperature cranked up a bit but only because we went in the middle of the day: warm enough apparently to necessitate a stop at every rusty old bath for a drink



but altogether less interesting than dawn or dusk - less birdsong, `flatter` light, fewer animals scurrying about. Still, better than not going at all. And at least it was Shirt Sleeve Order.........