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The original plan was to visit 6 bothies in the Cairngorms starting from Banchory in Royal Deeside to finish at Crathie, Balmoral some days later. I had my route well planned out using Google Earth.
Things didn't quite go to plan.
On the final night of my trip I couldn't find the Shieling of Mark bothy (it is well hidden) this meant that I couldn't navigate my way to the next place, which would have been Glen Muick. I became stuck in a valley where I had to wild camp for the night and turn back the following day.
My quickest escape route back to civilisation was a climb over Mount Keen (939 m ascent) from Invermark, to follow a path towards Ballater but the Ballater path wasn't clear so I ended up walking 16 miles from the summit of Mount Keen all the way to Aboyne.
During my adventure I passed through Banchory, Aboyne, Glen Esk, Tarfside, Invermark, Loch Lee and climbed Clachnaben, Mount Battock, Hill of Rowan and Mount Keen (for a second time). I visited three bothies including Charr, Glen Lee hut and Stables of Lee.
I must have walked about 70 miles over the hills but failed at my initial challenge to visit 6 bothies in a row.
I made a series of videos for Youtube:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
