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A promising start as I left the nice car park and headed into Kilbo, no wind and bright skys
Met a group of Americans on the lower path and chatted to them; over for their daughters graduation at St Andrews
On up the track which dipped into the forrest again, very civilised walking through the dingly dells
Soon out of the forrest and up the path to the bealach at the top of Kilbo which has an interesting short rocky section
Just before this I met first a couple and chatted to them for a while and explained my route with the short cut back down off Tom Buidhe and was informed in grave tones that once I got to the bealach I still had ages to go to reach Dreish and that short cuts weren't always the best option and that I'd be better going on to Crow Craigies to pick up Jock's Road
Armed with this encouragement
I pressed on up the path enjoying the views and the fresh air and met a happy and jovial couple of Glaswegians making their way back down.
Got to the bealach and took the scenic path up next to the edge with a nice view down Kilbo
The path was good and it didn't take long to get up to the first level section where I met a young man coming back down and chatted to him for a while. He was migrating from London up to Perth to be with his girlfriend and finish is dissertation for his masters.
On up to Driesh, doesn't take long and there is yet another couple at the cairn. This is evidently a popular place
Had a nice chat with them and had some lunch
As you can see the clag was starting to roll in
At the summit an elderly Welshman happened along and we descended to the top of Corrie Fee where he continued down and home.
I carried on through the clag which was now starting to get quite thick towards Mayar encountering several noisy Golden Plover distracting me away from nests presumably, although it seems quite late in the year now for that.
Also happened upon a Grouse confused as to whether it should be change it's wardrobe from winter to summer
As you can see it was getting pretty claggy by this time
Found the summit of Mayar
and carried on towards Tom Buidhe.
In the monotonous gloom
I managed to descend a bit too low into the gulley which hosts the Mayar burn, but climbed back out and picked up the landrover tracks I'd seen on Google Earth
Such a shame about the clag as I'm sure the views around would have been fabulous.
Anyway followed the landrover track to the end of the road as it were
and beyond as the original tracks were still there.
Eventually ran out of track to follow and also I was by now zig zagging my way along the plateau and hence taking a longer route. Although I had planned this walk, my late rising lifestyle means that my starting time was the crack of early afternoon
Bearing this in mind and the fact that the clag would mean light later on would be limited I wanted to get it done. With no views to either entertain me or provide landmarks the zig zagging continued and eventually I got the compass out so that I could follow a more direct bearing even if it meant going through the peat hags. The phone sat nav was fine, but viewing it continually drains the battery and I wanted this helpful tool fully functional.
The peat hags were peaty and haggy, but reasonably dry and easily crossed
Got to the base of Tom Buidhe and the only way is up
It's a bit of a disappointment so far as a summit is concerned, flat and featureless, although as I say I know I am missing out on some amazing views all around
No hanging around, back down to my short cut, a bit of a long cut to start with, got the compass out again
Encountered more peat hags on the way down to the White Water burn and Glen Doll, but very manageable and was soon at the burn. Was the pessimist right
would my planned short cut not always be the best thing to do
I got to the burn at a point where I couldn't cross being a five metre drop
but there are plenty of places I could and did
about fifteen metres further up.
Looks like Jock's road is a about three hundred metres straight up; I traversed along and intersected further down.
Evidently I wasn't the only person to pass this way
Photo opportunities were few and far between.
Passed the shelter and memorial to the 1959 sadness and carried on down the path occasionally getting tantalising glimpses of what I was missing due to the clag
Eventually got below the clag line
and the forest in front of me
There were some deer grazing just before the forest, but they smelt, saw or heard me just before I saw them and were quickly up the slope and away.
There's a choice of track at the forest and in hindsight I should have taken the path over the small bridge and down the other side of the burn as I am sure it led onto a good modern landrover track soon after.
Anyway I trudged back through the forest with increasingly sore calf muscles, they were burning
it's been a while since I've done a long walk.
Back at the car and one of the delights of finishing after everyone else is long gone is you can strip down fully and put on fresh clothes for the drive home
Finished the last sandwich and headed out of the Glen, turned a corner and encountered a couple of deer trapped on the wrong side of the deer fence
There were loads of rabbits and even a hedgehog ( haven't seen one of those in a very long time ) trying the same delaying tactic as the deer, though not for so long
Beaner's dad is right, finishing in the dark does mean you get to see things you wouldn't otherwise
A delightfully amusing end to an aesthetically challenging day.