The 2011 Challenge, Day 3: Glen Pean to Tomdoun (2)

Kinbreak bothy, when it finally came into view, was a welcome sight indeed! I had never found the place where the map says the path crosses to the left bank of the Allt Chinn Bhric, which did at least mean that I did not have to re-cross the allt to reach the bothy. The bothy is the building on the left, the one on the right being a ruin.

I stopped at the bothy and had my lunch. There was plenty of firewood, so I lit a small fire which cheered the place up and did wonders for my morale. The chimney at Kinbreak draws exceedingly well, and the fire burned itself out in the time it took me to settle in and to cook and eat my lunch. Oddly, I could find no entries in the bothy book from other Challengers, yet I had understood that quite a few had been staying there the night before. This had been discussed on the Challenge message board. I had said that I thought trying to get to Kinbreak myself would be too long a day - and so it had proved. However, what had happened to the others? They had booked a Challengers' table in the restaurant at the Tomdoun Hotel for 7.30 - but again, I had been unsure whether I would be able to make it in time, so I had not added my name to the list.

When I had finnished lunch I made my entry in the bothy book, made certain that the fire was safe to leave, and headed down to the River Kingie to find out whether it was in a crossable state or not. If not, I was going to be in severe difficulty.