The 2011 Challenge, Day 3: Glen Pean to Tomdoun (1)

Sunday 15 May. Overcast. Steady drizzle falling. I struck camp and packed my tent away as quickly as I could, anxious to get going.

The path went into the woods, as the map said it would; and then it forked, as the map said it wouldn't. I chose the right fork, because it was going the way I wanted to go, but this may actually have been the wrong fork. It did eventually connect with the well made up track through the woods, but not before I'd had to struggle through all manner of unspeakable bogs masquerading as a path.

Once on the track, though, I made good time and was soon at the bridge over the Dessary river. I took this photo looking upstream. Without the bridge, I thought, this would be impossible to cross ... which begged the question, of course, whether the Kingie was going to be any more fordable.

There was only one way to find out, of course, so I struck on up the path between the Meallan Dubh and the Dearg Allt. Like so many Scottish hill paths, this soon becomes a mere suggestion of a path, and then degenerates into do-it-yourself route finding. Or not finding. As I struggled on up the hill, the valley below me was swathed in mist. When it parted momentarily, I could clearly see the waters of Loch Arkaig below me. Clearly I had drifted too far to the right above the Meallan Dubh; so I altered course and soo picked up the Dearg Allt again and a semblance of a path.

I took no photographs as I slogged over to Kinbreak. The camera stayed in my rucksack. It was hard going. Little in teh way of discernnible paths for much of the way, and on the descent I took a couple of tumbles when I slipped on the wet grass. It was nearly 1 pm by the time I reached Kinbreak bothy! Lunchtime, and I had managed less then seven kilometres! This was not good.