Cairngorms Expedition (10)

I woke up early. It had either rained in the night, or there had been a heavy dew. Either way, the outside of the tent was sodden, and leaving it up to dry out would eat deeply into my day. I had a big day planned, and I wasn't sure I could afford it. Indeed, last night, as I contemplated the mountain range from below, I had nearly talked myself into wimping out and just heading back from Sgor an Lochain Uaine over Braeriach, giving Cairn Toul and The Devil's POint a miss, along with the Lairig Ghru, and just settling for three Munros out of this expedition. However, this morning, things felt much better (apart from my feet, which had rubbed badly - particularly the heels: however, a little compeed and a the insertion of my tired old orthotic inserts changed the feel and persuaded me that I could carry on).

I had packed six assorted cereal bars (of the kind that I CAN eat) by way of breakfast, but I only felt like eating two of them. Then I packed, put my sodden tent back into its bag, and set off upstream. As I did so, the sun was just rising ...