Oh my word

What have I done? I should have been weight training, not walking.

Dry weight for travel, the pack is currently 10.479 kg (23lb roughly to me)

So once I’m wearing gaiters, Tilley etc. and using my poles, it brings it down (??!!) to 10.282 kg. (22 lb roughly)

But then, of course, I’ll have water on board instead, so there’ll be little difference.

Crikey.

(Actually, I’ve done the sums from my kit spreadsheet. I live in hope that the spreadsheet is inaccurate…)

If you walk with someone with short legs, it slows you down

So I went for a walk with Ciara to make me walk at a pace more like the speed I’ll walk on the Challenge. In theory.

This was yet another variation of the Loch Romach walk through Newtyle Forest, because it is remarkably pleasant and extremely quiet. It was a bit of a damp, grey day for the most part, but it never quite rained enough for me to deploy my waterproof jacket, the Dynamo was quite sufficient.

Romach Reservoir

More uphill?

We perched on the ends of some logs, sticking out from a wood stack for our picnic stop. Naughty I know, but it was a low stack and the ends were sticking out quite a way, I felt safe. We then took an alternative route to the Scurrypool Bridge and onto the Altyre Estate, so that we could check on the osprey.

They’re back!

I was very happy, so happy I took a dreadful photograph…

Just trust me, ok?!

And we saw dippers too.

  The white dot is a dipper, honest guv

Another pleasant stroll.

8.44 miles

803 ft ascent

2 hours 40 minutes moving

45 minutes resting

3 mph average roughly

Funny thing though, didn’t really slow me down, Ciara must be a little taller or a little fitter!

300 lemmings heading eastwards

Final Details arrived in the post this morning.

So, there are 64 of us lemmings leaving from Shiel Bridge, 88 of us finishing at St Cyrus, (45 of us on the 26th) and 11 of us leaving Shiel Bridge and finishing in St Cyrus on the same days.

I don’t know why I felt the need to highlight all that information in my copy of the details.

I’m wondering why there are only 21 solo lady lemmings, there must be something someone hasn’t told me.

I’m putting the sudden overwhelming feeling of nausea whilst reading the details down to excitement, not panic.

I am very excited.

I am.

Another fine day

Today was a good day to meet up with Laura and take a catch up stroll along part of the Speyside Way from Cromdale. We both arrived early and after a mini-faff (me), we set off on ‘my’ route.

Posing as we left the car park (Laura has an equally posed one of me…)

The route was initially along a quiet, slightly uphill, road which gave very pleasant views of the Hills of Cromdale and the ridge we both fancy doing another time.

After a while (chatting), we realised we’d missed my intended turn at Easter Rynaballoch to contour Tom an Uird before rejoining the Speyside Way to return towards Cromdale. We rerouted to take a path from Balnallan, as neither of us like to retrace steps. This was a wriggly little path that also turned out to be a wet, boggy path. My route planning is living up to my damp reputation! There were a couple of handy bridges, but we only needed to cross one of them.

With style

The track was difficult and boggy, we eventually took a leap of faith and crossed it to carry on through the trees, but having embarked on a ‘shortcut’, we were having a little difficulty finding the path again to then meet the Speyside Way. Eventually we found a fence, worked out where we were and decided to risk the wrath of the (shirtless) farmer working at the bottom of the hill by climbing said fence and sneaking around the corner. So glad we did, there was the path, yey!

This section of the SW was a vast improvement on the spur we tackled last November by Tomnavoulin, it was actually really pleasant and the views would have been great, if it hadn’t been for the trees.

Lunch stop on a handy rock

Nice view, no idea which direction

Onwards

There was nature too. We saw

Peacock butterfly

and Larch blossom

  More pretty views, south east-ish. Maybe

We were eventually followed for a short way by a couple of walkers, but we think they must have been eaten by the killer sheep, because they never reappeared around the corner.

We never caught up with the one legged walker

This part of the SW is obviously along a disused railway and we soon came to the old station at Cromdale. It’s rather pretty, they should have a tea room.

Rather pretty

We were, at this point, roughly back at the beginning of the walk, but as we’d only covered about 8 miles and still had some oomph, we extended the walk across the bridge (I nearly got run over) and into the Anagach Wood near Grantown on Spey. This is a really pretty wood, reminiscent of Rothiemurchus or Abernethy Forest, with good paths underfoot and beautiful trees. Sadly, it’s just like any other forestry, the paths on the ground do not match the map the in the hand, but by the miracle of science (Laura’s magical GPS!) we still managed to find the (a…) path to Craigroy. Neither of us fancied our chances of passing through this odd looking place in one piece, they had killer sheep, so we took the faint path that led around the perimeter and eventually ‘dropped’ very elegantly onto a nice track along the bank of the Spey.

Careful does it!

This way would take us to Grantown on Spey

So we went this way!

The Spey looked very high and fast.

The track took us easily back to the bridge and our return to Cromdale was straightforward.

13 miles roughly

957 ft ascent

Not sure of timings, again, my GPS gives up in the trees so I would have to guess, but it was roughly 6.5 hours including rests and faffs and a comfort stop.

I had a wonderful day, strolling through beautiful countryside with easy chatter. Bliss!

Five weeks today, by the way.

Eeek!

All sorts

A couple of weeks ago, this little lady came for breakfast.

The next day, I went for a walk on the marshes and saw pink-footed geese, whooper swans, a mad march hare and a stoat in ermine! Of course, I didn’t have my camera with me, doh!

When I went back the next day, just in case I got another glimpse, I was disappointed to find something that had not been there the day before.

Fly tipping isn’t something we usually have a problem with here, so I took photographs on my mobile and reported it to the council. It’s still there…

Since then, David has been in the Lakes for a week, taking part in a Summer Proficiency Course. He got very wet and blown about. He also was not impressed with the Terra Nova Voyager Superlight, it bounced off his head all night and was soaked through. Hey ho, could have taken mine.

I took a walk down to Findhorn and around the bay, in the hope of catching a glimpse of osprey. Sadly, none, but I did see this noisy crowd on the sand bank.

Trust me, they are seals.

As I walked home along the cycle path, I had an interesting encounter. I always walk tucked in to the edge of the path, furthest away from the road, a habit I have picked up to avoid major puddle splash from inconsiderate drivers and to allow cyclists to pass without tinkling their bell and giving me a huge fright! However, apparently I didn’t leave enough room on this occasion and the Psycho Cyclist that came towards me just kept coming. And coming. Even when I leapt into the long grass the two and a half metres to the left of me was still not enough room and he followed me onto the grass! I politely yelled, “Excuse me!” as he sped away. I still can’t quite believe how close he got to hitting me, I’m convinced he’d been to the pub.

I’ve been to check on ‘my’ osprey nest, but no sign yet. I’m worried about what happened to them last season as they disappeared mid-season and I’m just hoping they come back. I’ll pop back for another look in a few days time.

Walking has been less in the last week, due to various appointments and time miss-management. The next two weeks will be tricky as the children have two weeks off school and life gets mundane, but there are plans afoot for Friday and I’m really looking forward to a stroll and a natter.